In the movie business, the camera is often a star's best friend. Flashbulbs can flatter, flirt and sometimes also show up the flaws. So, having the right 'look' is more critical today than ever before.
In this age of screensavers, instant downloads, and brand endorsem*nts, image is almost everything. And who knows this better than the lensmen who helps create that bestselling look — they are, after all, celebrities in their own right raking in big money themselves. "Today, we are also stars who add to the process (of image building)," says ace photographer Atul Kasbekar.
In the new mean marketing machine that's Bollywood, each picture matters — from posters to billboards to coffee table books. And film makers are willing to shell out big bucks to ideate on and create the right look. The bigger names could charge anything from Rs 50,000 to a few lakhs for an assignment, with billing in hours and days, and photographers negotiate rights as well as outright purchases.
Lensman Gautam Rajadhyaksha recalls that he used to charge Rs 2,000 in the mid eighties for a portfolio shoot, including the fees for make-up artistes. "I guess I could say it all began with me in 1989 when I did Sooraj Barjatya’s Maine Pyar Kiya as the working stills were not good enough. I think the whole cost structure must have not gone over Rs 20,000," he says. It was a significantly large sum in those days, but today, an Atul Kasbekar could set a movie producer back by a few lakhs for a similar assignment.
The biggest change in this profession has come with more photographers taking the Bollywood route now. In the days that Rajadhyaksha who was with Lintas, did work with movie stars it was infra dig, while today, almost 50-60% of the work of ace lensmen is to do with films. "This has also to do with brands increasingly shifting towards stars for endorsem*nts. Of the 50-60%, at least half the work would be advertising related while the rest could be editorial and film publicity," says Kasbekar.
Dabboo Ratnani's annual calendars featuring movie stars are almost as big an event as their movies, and nearly 85% of his work is with Bollywood. From Rs 10,000 a day in 1994 Ratnani now charges between Rs 40,000 and Rs 75,000.
However, he says film-makers do not have the budgets these days to take him along to locations. "I have travelled the world on shoots and had great fun, done wine tasting and deep sea fishing but those days I was paid Rs 5,000-7,000 a day. Today it's two days of shoot in Mumbai, and we are done," says Ratnani.
For the young Jatin Kampani, it was a shoot with Hrithik Roshan for a brand endorsem*nt where his Bollywood connect happened. "Hrithik liked my style and felt that the fashion edge and sensibility worked well," says Kampani, adding that he relates to Ram Gopal Varma's sensibilities, genre, and fashion.
Among his favourites stars is Akshay Kumar: "Akshay goes beyond the edge, is not conscious about his action hero look, his face, very sporting," says Kampani.
Lensman Subi Samuel, on the other hand, finds AB junior a complete sport. "He is the nicest guy around, very confident. What you see is what you get, and his style statement is cool; he does not try too hard. SRK is all about energy. He exudes it. And if one can capture even 10% of that as a photographer, it would be great," he says.
Technology is transforming both the photographer’s world as well as the industry, and with it the approach to movie stills and photo sessions. Rajadhyaksha says he gave up his manual Nikon cameras for the digital variety three years ago, as processing is difficult today and digital technology works better for mass production. Separate photo-sessions have also become redundant as digital technology enables stills to be shot on the sets with a resolution that's good for billboards.
