Dabboo Ratnani’s 2013 Calendar Magic Part 1

“Black and white is a beautiful medium, it just gives that whole drama, ” says fashion photographer Dabboo Ratnani who is basking in the furore of his 2013 Calendar that showcases twenty four big stars of Bollywood captured in their magnificent splendor. In an intimate conversation with Bollywood Hungama’s Faridoon Shahryar, Read More">Dabboo discusses twelve exclusive imagesRead More

"Black and white is a beautiful medium, it just gives that whole drama," says fashion photographer Dabboo Ratnani who is basking in the furore of his 2013 Calendar that showcases twenty four big stars of Bollywood captured in their magnificent splendor. In an intimate conversation with Bollywood Hungama's Faridoon Shahryar, Dabboo discusses twelve exclusive images from his latest calendar and deconstructs the idea, the lighting and the projection of his thought process while designing the respective pictures, first in his mind and then the final visualization. In the first of a two parts slideshow, we present six pictures with Ratnani's thoughts both in print as well as video. Time for some light-n-shade, starry aura and of course, timeless magic….

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Aishwarya has been a part of all my calendars. We decided to go with this little more glam kind of a look and she is looking beautiful in the picture. The face is looking absolutely stunning. She gave us enough time and gave us 100% while we were shooting. We planned the shoot in J W Marriott, Mumbai, in a lovely suite. We got the picture in the beautiful magic hour light. The shoot literally took five minutes. The magic hour light that was coming through the hotel window was there only for 10-12 minutes. Our shoot from start to finish including the placement, the shoot and our behind the scenes pictures finished in 10-12 minutes.

Watch the video: "Aishwarya's Face Is Looking Absolutely Stunning": Dabboo Ratnani

Bipasha Basu This is the tenth year of Bipasha in my calendars. If I pull out all the ten pictures and I see it together, they all look different from each other. She is so experimental with her hair styles, with her clothes. She had this new hair cut with this fringe, Read More">this new lookRead More

Bipasha Basu

This is the tenth year of Bipasha in my calendars. If I pull out all the ten pictures and I see it together, they all look different from each other. She is so experimental with her hair styles, with her clothes. She had this new hair cut with this fringe, this new look in October and we shot right then. It was a new look on its own. She is not trying to over pose in the picture. The drama of lighting, the expressions, the mood, the slight wind in the hair, the lighting through the venetian blinds that we gave her, the whole drama is created through that. She gets really involved. Bipasha is looking really hot and sexy. Her reaction was Dabboo I am looking hot. Job well done! Location we used was Pali Village Café (Bandra). The background is very grungy and has a lot of grain. We didn't try to clean up the background. Eight of the pictures of Bipasha in our calendar have her wearing black while she is in white in this year's calendar.

Watch the video: "Bipasha Is Looking Really Hot And Sexy": Dabboo Ratnani

Hrithik Roshan Hrithik is at his prime in terms of physical fitness. He doesn’t have to try hard. We’ve done body shots before too. This one was an effortless picture. He is just standing, wearing that hoody and has left it open. He looks like a fighter to me. Fighter could be random, Read More">it couldRead More

Hrithik Roshan

Hrithik is at his prime in terms of physical fitness. He doesn't have to try hard. We've done body shots before too. This one was an effortless picture. He is just standing, wearing that hoody and has left it open. He looks like a fighter to me. Fighter could be random, it could be a real fight or facing whatever comes to you. There can be lots of interpretations. For every person who sees this picture, he thinks differently. For me, this shot says a story. The whole drama of lighting that we've done, where we've darkened all the sides and kept the light only on him, almost like a spotlight.

Watch the video: "Hrithik Looks Like A Fighter To Me": Dabboo Ratnani

Katrina Kaif Katrina’s picture is more of a fashion shot. It’s really trendy, it’s very cool, Read More">the whole styling is very slick. It’s black and white. We’ve kept the drama. The background is quite dark with hints of daylight at the back. The whole thing worked as a great black and white shot. There’s notRead More

Katrina Kaif

Katrina's picture is more of a fashion shot. It's really trendy, it's very cool, the whole styling is very slick. It's black and white. We've kept the drama. The background is quite dark with hints of daylight at the back. The whole thing worked as a great black and white shot. There's not much colour except skin tone in the picture. The whole drama comes alive when you make it black and white. Most magazines don't do black and white covers but I feel that on the stands when I see so much colour and one black and white picture, my mind goes there. Black and white is a beautiful medium; it just gives that whole drama. When I shoot a black and white picture, I start visualizing in black and white. I light up the picture in such a way that it looks great in black and white.

Watch the video: "Katrina's Picture Is Very Trendy, It's Very Slick": Dabboo Ratnani

Alia Bhatt I see Alia as a younger Pooja. I’ve captured her in a way that she has never been seen before. It’s a new mood, it’s a new Alia that I am seeing. She is really professional, Read More">she was travelling and I called her. She shot the very next day for my calendar. ThereRead More

Alia Bhatt

I see Alia as a younger Pooja. I've captured her in a way that she has never been seen before. It's a new mood, it's a new Alia that I am seeing. She is really professional, she was travelling and I called her. She shot the very next day for my calendar. There was no stylist for the shoot so I've styled the shoot. She brought her own stuff, her own boots. She was really cooperative and gave me as much time as I wanted. I think the picture that we achieved finally is at par with any of the top star's picture. If you can create the sensuous picture without showing too much, then it leaves a lot for imagination and that's the beauty of this picture.

Watch the video: "It's A New Alia That I Am Seeing": Dabboo Ratnani