Bollywood photographer Dabboo Ratnani redefined the concept of a celebrity photo shoot when he took the activity out of the studio and into the streets. He tells S Mallik that he loves playing with natural light
If an attitude was a person, then Dabboo Ratnani would be his favourite man for it is he who makes this ‘attitude’ speak in his frames. Not just this, every time he unfolds a frame he presents different shades of attitude. These shades were omnipresent as the famous photographer unveiled 10 photographs of Bollywood actors in a recent exhibition at Bollygoods, at Dusit Devrana.
Be it Shah Rukh Khan walking across a waterbody gazing upwards (a symbol of his dream to reach the top), Priyanka Chopra looking sensuously into a three-panel mirror (a reflection of the phases of her life) and Abhishek Bachchan in double role, with one shouting to the other (which brings out the frivolous and funny nature of the actor), each frame depicted these personalities in a new light.
Raveena Tandon, Karishma Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra and Alia Bhatt, Dabboo has shot almost all the big names from the tinsel town. At the onset of his career in 1994, Dabboo was never interested in the way photo shoots were conducted. The shoots, generally done in the studio, looked similar in concept and style. “They all looked staged,” he said. He set a new benchmark for himself, as well as others, when he started shooting out of the studio.
It did not matter to him whether he shot on the streets or in the house of the celebrity. His idea was to make the actors look like international models. “In the 90s every celebrity was shot in a similar fashion and their personalities did not come out in the pictures. I made them look approachable, like real people.
I have always tried to bring out their individual personality rather than making them look the same. When Raveena was at the helm of her career I shot her with a bus and Sonali Bendre posed on the streets of Mumbai,” he shared. The celebrities he shot began to enjoy themselves. The word spread and so did his popularity among the stars.
His signature style involves using a lot of natural light. He loves to play with different shades of light throughout the day. Candidness has always been his forte. He loves to toy around with ideas and believes that the reason of his success in the industry stems from his ideas, which are never the same. Dabboo has created a mark and he has not left it at that. For him it is important to keep evolving and reinventing.
“As a photographer you have to constantly keep your mind and vision open. You have to be open to suggestions of all kinds. You have to keep in touch with what’s going on everywhere and what other people are doing. It gives you the idea of how much to push yourself to reach the next level,” said the photographer. Amitabh Bachchan has featured in 15 of his calendars and in none of them does he look remotely the same.
He shot Abhishek Bachchan in 11 avatars — a camera man, spotboy and many others, he shot Riteish Deshmukh at a petrol station, his body dripping with the fuel with a flaming matchstick on his lips and he also captured Ranbir Kapoor, shirtless, on the railway track.
As a Bollywood photographer one might expect him to face a lot of tantrums but he denies the rumours. “Tantrums and celebrities are overrated,” he explained adding that people need to respect the fact that a celebrity cannot be friends with everybody. “I have known some of them for years and all of them are friends,” he added.
Photography, he said, is a tricky business. “It is not only about knowing the technique, you have to be abreast of trends. If actors ask me if they are looking nice I should be able to gaze and understand whether or not to change anything. Photography has got to do a lot with vision and how you personally visualise an individual,” he rounded up.