Career
He worked extensively with director-actor Raj Kapoor"s film and his R. K. Studio. Starting with Awaara (1951), he shot all of his subsequent films for four decades, till his last, Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985). He even directed a film, Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai (1960) which was produced by Raj Kapoor, and with Kapoor himself and Padmini as leads.
Karmakar, started his film career in Kolkata with Kismat ki Dhani (1945) followed by Milan (1946) directed by Nitin Bose for Bombay Talkies.
Though the film didn"t perform at box office, his night sequence photography and high contrast lighting got him acclaim. Soon was chosen to shoot, Raj Kapoor"s Awaara (1951).
This started a career long association, which lasted four decades. Working on films like Shree 420 (1955), Sangam (1964), Mera Naam Joker (1970), Bobby (1973), Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), Prem Rog (1982) and Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985).
Early Born in Dhaka,(Bangladesh) in a Bengali Karmakar family of Goldsmiths, the profession which did not interest him much apart from his photography.
Raj Kapoor found Karmakar"s work commendable when he saw his night sequence photography and high contrast lighting in his last film Milan(1946).Karmakar"s family soon shifted to Mumbai. His autobiography, “Radhu Karmakar: The Painter of Lights” was published posthumously in 2005.