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Instep: How long has it been since you started working with Bollywood actors – the stars and the supernovas?
Dabboo Ratnani: Time flies seriously… This is my 19th year now…
Instep: Tell us something about Dabboo Ratnani’s calendar…
Dabboo Ratnani: I started it in 2000 and at that point I couldn’t have guessed that I would be doing it for so long! You know it was a new millennium, so I thought of bringing something which identifies the dates together with something that goes with the millennium. So I brought out my first calendar in white, for which I pulled only 12 of my pictures from my whole year of work. I put it down, printed and mailed 1000 copies to the media, gave it out to friends and the people I’ve worked with and the response that I got was tremendous!
Instep: How did the idea float into your mind?
Dabboo Ratnani: I just looked at the work I was doing. Like I said, it was a new year and a new millennium… it was just a thought process as nobody else had done it before. I was the first person to bring out such a calendar and am still the only one with whom actors shoot for a calendar. There’s no calendar which has sustained for so many years especially which features so many stars…
Instep: What keeps you coming up with a calendar every year?
Dabboo Ratnani: I believe the response I got kept me going for so many years. It’s what pushes me year after year. It turns into a competition with your own previous work; there’s a need to out-do your whole work… I think that is what keeps me excited about my profession.
Instep: Did you grow up wanting to be a photographer?
Dabboo Ratnani: Yes! I’ve known since I was quite young. I started assisting a photographer when I was only 16. I worked with him for four years and at 20 I was a full-fledged photographer! But even two years before I started assisting him, I used to experiment and practice on my own with a semi-professional camera. So in short, I realized that this is what I wanted to do when I was just 14.
Instep: Do you ever think of visiting Pakistan?
Dabboo Ratnani: I would love to! Actually my second passion is music and I think Pakistan is very rich in music and culture. So, I would love to visit it someday and do a photo shoot there because I think it is home to many beautiful locations too.
Instep: Have you worked with any Pakistani celebrities?
Dabboo Ratnani: Yes, I have worked with a few. I did a shoot with Ali Azmat, and with Meera. I have even worked with couple of Pakistani fashion designers and music bands as well.
Instep: How about Ali Zafar?
Dabboo Ratnani: I did an ad campaign with Ali a few years back and have been doing photo shoots with him off and on. He has such an interesting personality with versatile looks and great expressions. He’s such an energetic person that it’s always fun to work with him.
Instep: Give us an insider’s tip on the King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan. The two of you seem quite close…
Dabboo Ratnani: Shah Rukh and I have been working together, rather I have known him personally, ever since he came to Bombay to be an actor. I knew him more through our common friends and I’ve seen him when he was an absolute nobody! I have seen him, you know, from his early days when he really worked hard from just being a Delhi boy to a newcomer in Bombay and making his way up in this industry. I have known him since his bad times. I have been out to dinners and parties since those days. I think he’s extraordinary and a cool guy to work with.
Instep: How about working with the senior actors?
Dabboo Ratnani: I would love to share one thing that I have noticed while working with big actors… that the bigger the actor, the less tantrums they have. I feel senior actors like Mr. Bachchan, Shah Rukh, Hrithik, they completely trust the technicians they’re working with and give complete respect to them. I feel that’s why they are where they are, you know… the kind of trust they have has won the industry over.
Instep: So, how many celebrities have you shot so far?
Dabboo Ratnani: I have lost count, man; like many, many, many! It has been 19 years now since I’ve been shooting musicians, actors, socialites, etc.
Instep: Share your first ever experience of shooting with Bollywood stars.
Dabboo Ratnani: 1993 was the first time when I went for a very big assignment to Mauritius for a feature film called Aatish starring Sanjay Dutt, Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor. My friend Sanjay Gupta was directing the film and I had asked him to speak to the producer that I would like to come with them for the shoot and that they don’t need to pay me or anything, just take care of the cost in terms of the hotel, tickets and the cost of the material of the film that I use – only to pay me that! So the producer agreed to do that. I think it was a life changing for me because I connected with Sanju over there and I connected with Karisma, Raveena and everybody else… It was a start to my career because when the pictures got published in 1994, I started getting a lot more work.
Instep: What’s your take on the on-going Sanjay Dutt saga?
Dabboo Ratnani: As I told you, my first assignment was with Sanju. He has always been an elder brother to me. I think he’s one of the loveliest and the warmest people I have ever met in the industry. Although I cannot comment on the judgment or anything because that’s the law, but still I will always stand by him and he will always hold a very special position in my life, although we don’t meet very often but he knows and I know that we are always there for each other.
Instep: Tell us something about your education?
Dabboo Ratnani: I did my 10th Standard and then the Junior College which was class 11th and 12th from MMK College Bombay. Right after 10th Grade, I got interested in photography and during junior college, I shot a few fashion shows we had for inter-college competitions. That’s when I really got interested in photography. I did my graduation through correspondence as I started assisting a photographer. Then I applied for Bombay University. I think choosing photography at such an early age was pretty useful. By the time I graduated, I turned out to be a full-fledged photographer!
Instep: How can one be a better photographer?
Dabboo Ratnani: I think it’s in the way he takes the instructions. You know, when you give him a description for what you want to do or what you want in a picture, he takes it, absorb it, puts in all his effort and then gives out the pictures. He has much more involvement than the actor he has in the photo shoot.
Instep: How do you wish to attain glory or fame?
Dabboo Ratnani: It’s a complete process and for me it’s a non-stop journey! I don’t think anyone has ever achieved enough… I always think there’s more to learn, more to do and much more to grow. It’s an evolving thing; it goes on for a very very long time and doesn’t end that quickly…
Instep: So, what is your concept of life?
Dabboo Ratnani: Life is about learning and experimenting; for me everything is about bringing "life" to my pictures. Whatever I experience in my life, be it holidays, observing something in my city, travelling or just about anything, I try to incorporate into my pictures. I guess my life has always been about absorbing and bringing things to life through my pictures and photography.
Instep: Who has been your mentor in the field of photography?
Dabboo Ratnani: Ahhh… my boss, Mr. Sumit Chopra has been my mentor and I learned a lot from him. He was a photographer… after that Aatish was a great learning experience then I met Pooja Bhatt – she was great at photo shoots and I think I learned a lot from her being a new photographer. I think I just loved and enjoyed my process of my growing up and turning into a photographer.
Instep: What changes you observed so far in shooting with celebrities now and then?
Dabboo Ratnani: You know most of the actors like Pooja Bhatt were at the start of their career and didn’t used to have such hectic and busy schedules so we used to shoot whole day long and taking more and more pictures but the times have changed now. We used to shoot on film then and now everything is digital, I think I have been in the great time of photography especially among the photographers who saw the change from the film to the digital media, the actors and the whole business changing. In these 19 years I have seen a lot and learned a lot from this industry.
Instep: Does your daughter have a passion for photography as well?
Dabboo Ratnani: Yes, she does!
Instep: And will you support her to be the photographer?
Dabboo Ratnani: You see, my parents stopped me from being a photographer when I first started. People didn’t look at photography as a very "cool" profession. When I started my career, people asked ‘What do you do?’ And I used to answer that I am a photographer. And they used to respond with ‘Yes, but what do you do for a career?’ You know what I mean…
My brother became a chef 20 years ago, which was kind of like becoming a photographer in those days. It wasn’t a kosher profession either but even then my dad allowed us to do what we wanted. Similarly, I would not tell my kids that I want them to be a doctor or engineer. I am going to let them choose their path. I would like them to be something they are passionate about. So I’ll feel happy if my daughter becomes a photographer but at some point if she decides to be a doctor or a pilot… I’m not going to stop her from being what she wants to be. I’m very open-minded.
Instep: How much does light matter in photography?
Dabboo Ratnani: Light is everything! I think the quality of light, the way you use light, be it natural light, white light or artificial lights… I think it is THE most important thing in a photograph.
Instep: A photography tip for the readers please…
Dabboo Ratnani: I think to be a better photographer, you have to be init for the right reasons. It shouldn’t just be for the glamour, or just to meet glamorous people. It has to be for the passion of photography. So only when you are really really passionate about it, have fire in you to keep evolving and improvising as a photographer only then you can really sustain in this field and can come out with bombastic ideas and innovations.
