Dabboo Ratnani’s 2015 Calendar Part 2

“I make the calendar for my creative satisfaction, ” said Dabboo Ratnani in an exclusive chat with Faridoon Shahryar as he poured his heart out about his 2015 Calendar. In the second part of Bollywood Hungama‘s exclusive slideshow, Dabboo shares his thoughts on the pictures of Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Varun Dhawan, Read More">SiddharthRead More

"I make the calendar for my creative satisfaction," said Dabboo Ratnani in an exclusive chat with Faridoon Shahryar as he poured his heart out about his 2015 Calendar. In the second part of Bollywood Hungama's exclusive slideshow, Dabboo shares his thoughts on the pictures of Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Varun Dhawan, Siddharth Malhotra and Ranveer Singh. Ratnani also shares some interesting insights on the importance of back lighting, creative styling and locations for a given shoot.

Hrithik Roshan
No one will believe Hrithik has just turned 41. The choice of his t shirt is interesting because of the tinge of red. Many a times he has done bare body shots. What was the idea in choosing his attire?
I'll be very honest, we went completely impromptu. We shot at Tandon garage. Akshay the stylist brought a few outfits. We had a few options. Hrithik trusts me to a great length. He said.. whatever you want! Our Calendar shots have always just happened. We've worked together so much that we know how we shall proceed.

"With Hrithik Roshan, We Went Completely Impromptu": Dabboo Ratnani

Sidharth Malhotra Sidharth Malhotra’s picture looks like a scene out of a movie. It’s a very candid moment. Last year, it was a straight, lot of body, lot of skin kind of a picture. This time, we decided to go more moody where he’s not looking into the camera. Also, Read More">this was because he hadRead More

Sidharth Malhotra
Sidharth Malhotra's picture looks like a scene out of a movie.
It's a very candid moment. Last year, it was a straight, lot of body, lot of skin kind of a picture. This time, we decided to go more moody where he's not looking into the camera. Also, this was because he had a beard for Brothers. Hence, the look was already there. Then, we added the tattoo. We got a leather waistcoat for him. We kept it very simple in terms of styling. Just sitting in a corner, giving an expression in that particular character…that's all we wanted. We didn't want Sidharth to try hard or over pose. We wanted a subtle, moody picture. And there were no lights or reflectors used. We just shot it in 4 minutes at a location where we didn't have the permission to shoot! We had to quickly go in and do our work before anybody caught us!

"With Sidharth Malhotra, We Kept It Very Simple In Terms Of Styling": Dabboo Ratnani

Ranbir Kapoor Ranbir Kapoor’s picture is black and white and he’s wearing black and white clothes as well. Is it shot in RK Studio? No. This is a set and the idea was to depict Ranbir’s study. It’s the whole RK Wall behind him featuring records, Read More">posters of his father and grandfather’s films and there’sRead More

Ranbir Kapoor
Ranbir Kapoor's picture is black and white and he's wearing black and white clothes as well. Is it shot in RK Studio?
No. This is a set and the idea was to depict Ranbir's study. It's the whole RK Wall behind him featuring records, posters of his father and grandfather's films and there's also an old typewriter, old boxes etc which gives a vintage look.

Ranbir is not looking at the camera. Does it convey the entire thing that Ranbir in real life is a method actor and a thinker?
I didn't give it so much thought. We clicked some pictures where he's looking at the camera while in some pictures, he was looking away. The mood was to look a bit thoughtful. So even when he was looking into the camera, he gave an intrigue, thoughtful kind of a vibe. But I just preferred the picture looking profile and hence this image was finalized. I even sent Ranbir the picture and told him that I am thinking of using it. He replied, "Dabs, whatever you want"! So he was totally cool with it!

"With Ranbir Kapoor's Picture, The Mood Was To Look Thoughtful": Dabboo Ratnani

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan For Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, first thing that comes to notice are obviously her eyes but you have taken a black and white tinge to her picture. So why did you opt for a black and white shade? I have shot with Ash so many times, Read More">including her several magazine shoots. But theyRead More

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
For Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, first thing that comes to notice are obviously her eyes but you have taken a black and white tinge to her picture. So why did you opt for a black and white shade?
I have shot with Ash so many times, including her several magazine shoots. But they were always in colour, including my last 2 calendar shots. Hence, I thought of giving it a variation. Rather than going colour and soft, I decided to go for high contrast and dramatic with the black-and-white tone. She was wearing black and had a silver belt. Everything was very mono tone over there except for the eyes and the skin. We always shoot in colour and then decide what kind of tone will suit the picture just before we go into printing. But somehow this year's calendar has quite a number of black-and-white pictures. In fact, last year I have worn lot of colourful clothes. But in the last 2 months, I have been wearing more of black clothes! So I guess a lot of your personal style and aesthetics reflect in your pictures.

From a fan perspective, considering that she is doing Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Sanjay Gupta's Jazbaa and that she has not had a release since few years, do you think putting her picture creates interest around Aishwarya?
Though Ash has not been doing films in the last couple of years, I never stopped putting her in my calendar. I make the calendar more for my creative satisfaction. Also, I'd like to point out that after the teaser was out that gave out the list of 24 celebrities featuring on this year's calendar, the fans, rather than getting excited for the new entrants, they were asking me that 'Why Salman isn't there' or 'Why Katrina isn't there' or 'Why Sonam isn't there' and so on! They don't appreciate that I am adding new people or that John Abraham is back. So fans of actors who have featured on my calendar regularly and are missing this year are not ready for change. Ranveer Singh's followers are very happy and some of them are now even following me! I wish they were more than 12 months so that I could feature more than 24 actors.

"I Never Stopped Putting Aishwarya In My Calendars": Dabboo Ratnani

Varun Dhawan Varun Dhawan in your black-and-white picture is wearing black and it goes very well with his Badlapur look. Right. In fact, Read More">this was shot on the station of Badlapur set. But we added the drama of the dried leaves flying around on a stormy night. The railway track was already there and weRead More

Varun Dhawan
Varun Dhawan in your black-and-white picture is wearing black and it goes very well with his Badlapur look.
Right. In fact, this was shot on the station of Badlapur set. But we added the drama of the dried leaves flying around on a stormy night. The railway track was already there and we put the light behind so that it looks like a train is approaching from behind. This picture was actually shot in the middle of the night. The whole drama of it works very beautifully.

What is the importance of back light? How can it give a new dimension to a picture?
Back light works for certain faces and doesn't work for certain faces. It also depends on the hairstyle that you have. There are also various ways of back lighting. You can do a soft back light, hard back light, flare back light. You can do a backlight which is very close to your subject or far to your subject. The kind of light modifiers that you use to create a backlight also matters. Nothing is wrong - it's all different styles. Certain styles suit certain hairstyles and silhouettes. Some people look better without any back light. It depends on who you are shooting. You need to have that visual in your head as to what you want to create. And that's when you decide your lighting.

"Varun Dhawan's Picture Was Clicked On Badlapur Sets": Dabboo Ratnani