Published in Mega Modelz magazine – June-July 2009 Issue – © Manali

In the shadow of his own legacy, he has given celebrity photography a whole new meaning. Every picture he clicks becomes an extravaganza in itself. His forte of delivering on a consistent note, years after years is a longing dream for many others. Never bowing down to any commercial diktats, he has won laurels of gold. His success story truly warms the cockles of many hearts. Manali H. Shah traces down the trails and tribulations of the Bollywood’s beloved legendary photographer. Dabboo Ratnani comes undone!

After thrashing that little bit of oblivious anxiety, I finally fix my index finger on the doorbell and ring it. Within less than 15 seconds, the door springs open… and I see the maverick man himself. Fairly built, dressed in a traditional chaste white kurta-pajama, he already emanates an air of easy amiability.

Smilingly, he leads me towards the drawing room couch. The room looks white, clean and serene, very unlike a celebrity photographer’s residence. On the other side, I notice two desktop machines interfused on a huge glass table. For photography technicalities, I assume. By then, a young girl, apparently in her mid 20’s, walks in and offers me a glass of water… and I hear him asking me if I would like tea, coffee, juice or anything. I deny, politely. So finally here we are, I smile.

Many people consider his job to be one of the best on earth. Tell him and he thrills, “It’s great to be a celebrity photographer, it feels really superb and I thoroughly enjoy my job.” In hindsight, he thinks most people have a misconception that being around bollywood stars and clicking their pictures all the time is an obstinately glamorous life. But it’s not as simple and glittery as it looks. He explains, “Like any other profession, there is a lot of pressure involved in this job too. You are dealing with high celebrities here and you simply cannot afford to go wrong. These stars come very time-pressed and each day of theirs is very precious. So within that short period of time they to do the manage shoot, you need to deliver great results.”

Does that mean these stars are quite finicky? “Most stars are not fussy. But they obviously want to look good. They trust you and that’s why they shoot with you. You also got to be capable enough to take care of screwball scenarios that may unpredictably occur in any shoot. So basically, that one picture people see on the magazine cover comes out after clicking hundred’s of them. It’s definitely challenging,” he affirms.

This means that he turns into a different person once behind the camera? He shakes his head. “No. I am as I am, very easy and relaxed. I have been in this industry for 15 years, so my rapport with most of the stars is quite honky-dory and they know my personality. I am a patient person who doesn’t express. But when it comes to work, I am a rather fast photographer who shoots in lightening speed instead of pretending to do that extra work… and that’s what they like about me. They know if they are shooting with Dabboo, its going to get over within 2-3 hours and not go till elongated 10 hours, and of course they know that they are looking good too.”

Unlike most peers of his ilk, Dabboo is not very rigid about having a firm plan for each shoot. “It actually depends on the nature of the shoot. Like for a magazine’s regular fun shoot, you have the liberty to try different things and that’s where you can afford to go impromptu. Otherwise for print campaigns and publicity, it’s a different ball game altogether.” Talking about peers, I prod him to name those photographers whom he considers to be a competition and he minuses, “Everybody has their own style in photography. Even if anybody is number one in the pile of 1 to 10, it doesn’t matter. All that counts for me is the amount and quality of work I do. I am shooting at least 25 days a month and I cannot physically shoot more than that. Though I don’t complain if someone is doing more work than me.”

Warming the topic, he further stances, “If the competitor is doing more work or as much work, even if I had a choice, I cannot do his share of work. It’s immature to consider competition as a threat, because for me, I am very self-satisfied with what I am doing. I don’t believe in undercutting or badmouthing anybody to get work. There is enough work for everybody in the industry. Particularly this over-hyped recession gaga, it just doesn’t bother me at all. Incase if there is no work, I get that time to spend with my family.” Waxing eloquent, he indeed admires work of his colleagues and ace photographers like Prabhudas Gupta, Farook Chotia and Bharat. Amongst the international sheen, he really enjoys the work of the Spanish pro photographer Sante D’orazio, Hollywood’s favourite Herb Ritts and the like.

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Dabboo worked with his dad at their Bombay Dying shop until he turned 17 and decided to build his career in photography. “During my school days, I actually used to be selling bed sheets, shirts and stuff like that. It was a very basic and boring mundane where I never got the job satisfaction,” he says with candour and also reveals that he has always been a gismo guy since his childhood. “Once there was this new music system my dad bought and I opened the screws in-and-out to understand the system’s functionality,” he guffaws heartily and continues, “And one fine day I found a good-looking camera in my dad’s cupboard. I slid that and started experimenting instantly. Progressively, I started shooting sunset, people and things around me and I completely loved it. And since then I was very much clear that this is what I wanted to do in life.”

Interestingly, he bought his first camera from his brother who was an aspiring photographer then. “It was a semi professional camera,” he muses. Dabboo started clicking pictures for his friends, did some college AV’s, all working in his favour, and that’s when he finally decided to assist some photographer. “I was doing my commerce and after completing 12^th grade, I decided go for correspondence over regular college and use that time to assist photographer Sumeet Chopra, an ex Brooks Institute student himself.”

So did he ever attend a photography school? “I did not go abroad to study photography because it was very expensive,” he says in a humble tone. Conversely, Sumeet Chopra suggested him to spend those three years with him. “Doing that, you are learning on the job and actually interacting with clients and models. Also, you make a lot of contacts and meet the crème people from the industry. I feel it’s very important to learn the business along with learning the art and technicality of photography. Besides, I had thought to myself that if three years of assisting doesn’t guide me to my photography, I would go back to my dad’s Bombay dying business.” And as fate had it, there was absolutely no looking back for this magnum opus prodigy.

Nonetheless, he did have his share of knocking quite a few doors before landing a foothold. His first commercial shoot was for a film called Aatish that was shot in Mauritius, way back in 1993. “It was director Sanjay Gupta’s first film as well. Being a very close friend of mine, I told him to take me along and offered him to shoot the campaign free. I just asked to get paid for the travel, stay and material cost. It was a 40 days shoot and my first time abroad. We really did some good work and also partied harder… Certainly, it was a very memorable one. Infact, one shot of Sanjay Dutt fishing, is amongst my all time favourites…” he mutters in a nostalgic tone.

The movie starred Raveena Tondon, Karishma Kapoor, Aditya Pancholi, Atul Agnihotri and of course Sanjay Dutt. No wonder, the film forked a trail towards his ambition and this indisputably became a turning point in his life. “Seeing my pictures on huge billboards and hoardings, numerous magazines and newspapers for the first time was such a great high. People noticed and liked my work and this automatically snowballed into getting myself a stronger grounding in this field. That’s when I decided to branch out from assisting and start on my own…” The rest, like they say, is history.

With the number of nascent photographers basking out from every nook and corner of the country today, is he ever concerned about failure? He promptly retaliates, “No. It really doesn’t bother me. For me, consistency is very important and year after year you got to deliver good work. It’s an art; it has to be within you, something that has to be in your bloodstream. For me photography is… well… let’s just say I breathe photography. Even if I walk into a party or a restaurant, I keep looking at the location and I think if I could do a photoshoot here. It’s just that I am a complete ad infinitum when it comes to photography.” Now that’s a numbero uno!

So what is his all time favourite ideal photoshoot like? “My passion lies in my annual calendar that I have been publishing since a decade now. Its one thing that I enjoy shooting a lot, because there I am shooting only for myself. No client, no agency… it’s only me.” The passion for calendar comes naturally to him because he ropes in those actors with whom he has worked all through the years, hence it gets very awe-inspiring for both the parties.

Especially the 2009 edition of the calendar with 48 actors that became quite a hit has still left most of us flabbergasted. Wonder how did he make it happen? “Because it was 10^th anniversary of my calendar, it had to be special. Also the fact that a calendar has a desk value and it lies in front of your face for the whole year, unlike a magazine. Thus, I started conceptualizing in April itself and went on floor in August. The plan did take a little longer because this time it was 48 actors and not the trademark 24. I went about doing meetings with the celebrities for theme briefing, sharing ideas, getting inputs. Happily, most of the actors were as excited and passionate about the picture and calendar as I was.” This annual calendar releases on 23^rd December of every year. “It happens to be both, me and my wife Manisha’s birthday,” he gushes.

How does Dabboo decide a theme for his calendars? He parries on this one and remarks, “Any theme that does not restrict creativity and variety works for me. For instance, Water was my theme in the 2007 edition. Here, water can be seen as an element in your glass, in the sea, in the fish tank, as a tear, a drop and likewise, so this doesn’t confine me. Although, personally I am not very adamant about themes, because then themes become the hero when photography is what I am trying to project.” Well said. So, what does he plan for 2010 calendar? “Nothing is planned as yet. Probably a theme this time but definitely not nature or anything, but some theme bound calendar for a change to 2009.”

Reports of him being keen on doing a retro calendar with legendary artists made rounds sometime ago. True? He clarifies, “I was actually thinking it to do as an exhibition rather than a calendar, because I don’t know how much I would be able to create as to people watching them for 1 month every page. Besides, the earlier actors and actresses I guess wouldn’t relate to an avant-garde calendar. I don’t know, it is just one of the thoughts. May be I will do it in a couple of years down the line…” Considered.

One thing that truly differentiates Dabboo’s pet project from other calendar is that no photographer has ever featured power-list of 24 or 48 actors ever. “Yes, I am not paying any celebrity to feature in my calendar. My calendar doesn’t advertise or sell anything, there is no money involved and I am not trying to generate any revenue. It’s a completely noncommercial activity that is based on rapport I share with them. It’s pure passion and love for art!”

But aren’t all the fans based far and wide complaining of the unavailability of the limited edition calendar? “I guess so. From the amount of emails I receive from people in Jan-Feb especially, asking where they could purchase the calendar from, is truly gratifying. But how many people can I cater to? I keep it limited edition for a simple reason that I pay for the whole calendar and don’t make money out of it. Hence, I cannot have unlimited pieces. My calendars are usually for my family and friends and people from the media, advertising agencies, film fraternity and other clients that I work with. It’s on its own is quite large and my database consists of around 4000 people.” But the infamous photographer confirms that the day he decides to commercialise the calendar, he will give actors a royalty too. He sallies, “If I can sell millions of pieces than I can certainly afford to pay the actors! I don’t want to make money out of it, but would definitely want people who are featured in it to gain something.”

Further, I ask him about his take on the divergence between shooting celebrities and models? “Honestly, it’s not very different. Be it an actor or a model, I have to make both of them look good. The foremost difference in shooting a model and an actor is that the look completely alters, like the clothes you make them wear and their styling, make up and hair. However, there are times when actors want to look like models and vice versa. It’s all essentially intermingled.”

What about the newcomers? They surely would get goose-bumps shooting with him for the first time. “I usually ease them out. I have a couple of meetings with them before the scheduled shoot. I talk to them, tell them how I see and visualize them and give them tips too. Usually when I meet a person, I kind of figure out how I should be shooting him/her.” With his clout many first-timers would doubt his approachability, but he certainly is very down to earth and an easy person to talk to. “The name Dabboo Ratnani does sound as if he is standoffish, but it’s not like that. I like to meet people and especially when my name is attached to the pictures, I totally want to do justice to them. I make it a point that every picture that goes out from my studio is a great picture. So whether it’s a newcomer or an established actor, it doesn’t matter as I always take a keen interest,” he says, truly like a pin-up photographer.

Dabboo’s recent work campaign includes the new season of 10 Ka Dum with Salman Khan, Provogue, Dabur with Preity Zinta, a Belmonte campaign with Shahrukh Khan, D’damas jewellery with Amitabh Bachchan, Idea with Abhishek Bachchan including the latest campaign for IPL too. Not only print, Dabboo has also clicked for hit flicks like Welcome, Hello, Dostana and the yet-to-release films like My name is Khan and Wake up Sid. Dabboo works are internationally acclaimed too as he regularly shoots for Australian and German based magazines and other overseas clients in Dubai. “I like travelling for work, but I will never leave this city and relocate anywhere else for sure,” he smiles.

So any wise words for the enthusiastic photographers out there who aspire to what he has achieved? “Don’t get into it only for the glamour quotient. Main thing is to have passion for photography. You have to have the fire, the excitement and the complete job satisfaction should be there, irrespective of shooting a portfolio or doing a big banner campaign. The enthusiasm level should prevail. And the day you don’t feel this way, might as well call it quits.” He further digs, “Make use of Photoshop, but as a photo correction contrivance and not as a manipulating tool. That’s not the essence of true photography.”

Turning the focus away from photography to personal and interesting grounds, Dabboo enjoys music when he is not working, “I love music and I have collection of about 4000 CD’s.” Any particular genre he is favourable to? “It actually depends on the mood. I like to listen to everything, from Hindi and Arabic to House, Lounge and Rock. It keeps changing with time.” This endearing photographer has been married for nearly 5 years now and has a 2 months baby girl. “Her name is Deeva and she is very adorable,” he beams.

My curiously meter goes up and as a parting shot I ask him about his wife. “Manisha works with me. Everything from production to finance is taken care of by her. I just do the photography bit.” The photographer who had a love-cum-arrange marriage likes to spend quality time with his family whenever time permits, take his dog out for a walk, go out for splendid dinners and drives. Truly, Dabboo is a radical in his own subtle way!