Photographer Dabboo Ratnani, who releases a calendar featuring Bollywood stars every year, says celebrity photo shoots have become more complex in recent days.
“A lot more goes into the production of the photo shoots now. Earlier, I used to just call the actor and they would say, ‘Tomorrow we are free, let’s do a photo shoot’. It was simpler,” he said.
“Now we are assigned by a magazine. It is a particular job with details of ‘this is how it is supposed to be as it is for a particular reason or a look’,” Ratnani said.
The photographer, who has been in the industry for two decades, has worked with Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Bipasha Basu, Arjun Rampal, Priyanka Chopra, Rani Mukherjee and other for celebrity calendars and magazine photo shoots.
Ratnani is a judge on the second season of India’s Next Top Model and he said photo shoots have been influenced by fashion and make-up brands and global trends.
“In older times, international stores weren’t there. That isn’t the case now. So, a lot of influence of fashion has come into the photo shoot of the celebrities,” he added.
“The biggest designers, even if they are international designers, they would prefer a celebrity to wear their clothes and pose on a magazine’s cover. A lot of influence from other factors like make-up, hair, international brands... weren’t there in India before,” Ratnani said.
