1) If someone wants to be a fashion photographer they should be extremely sure of the genre they are signing up for as they have to enjoy it the most, more than looking at it as just a career option. If you are unable to interact with people, you cannot be a fashion photographer. So one should analyse their skills and then pick the trade. 2) Second would be doing it for the passion and self-satisfaction, not with the aim to meet famous people. You have to keep working and climb the ladder and produce good work, only then will you progress. It is not a cake walk but hard work that will pay, hence consistency is a must along with setting a benchmark for yourself as you grow over the years! 3) Also never stop learning, because there is no professional field where you have a dead end in the depth of knowledge. Like for me, this calendar itself had me learning about new lights, new concepts which keep me going and help me better myself as the years go by. So never stop learning and exploring the various opportunities that will come your way while you are at it.

It all started off in 1999 in December where the world was prepping up for Y2K (i.e year 2000) in December that year. While talking about the year, it struck me that I could try exhibiting celebrity portfolio images differently and what better way to look forward to a year than with a calendar. So I took 12 pictures from my stock images, had them printed in the calendar format, distributed them among my celebrity friends and media which were very well received. As I noticed the popularity it received back in 1999, I went ahead and shot 24 pictures of leading celebrities and launched it as an annual happening. Little did I know that it would be appreciated so well, so much so that now it continues to be a year on year concept.

I prefer natural light. I love shooting outdoors, and shooting in natural light is my forte, cause for me when I reach a location, I love doing something different as natural backgrounds lend themselves to add something to the picture. In a studio shoot we use a plain background, but even when shooting indoors, a mix of natural light with the studio lights adds volume to a particular picture.

It all started off in 1999 in December where the world was prepping up for Y2K (i.e year 2000) in December that year. While talking about the year, it struck me that I could try exhibiting celebrity portfolio images differently and what better way to look forward to a year than with a calendar. So I took 12 pictures from my stock images, had them printed in the calendar format, distributed them among my celebrity friends and media which were very well received. As I noticed the popularity it received back in 1999, I went ahead and shot 24 pictures of leading celebrities and launched it as an annual happening. Little did I know that it would be appreciated so well, so much so that now it continues to be a year on year concept.

I hope they do. And most times when I shoot with any of them, they do help me with the visualisation, considering they have so much experience when it comes to posing in front of the camera. As a photographer I put my concept in front of them and from there on it is also their actions or the poses and expression that gives my shot the edge.

None of all that! I have a list of 20 constants… these are the stars I work with a lot and share a great rapport with. They will go the extra mile and enjoy working with me. They take me as a friend and will do what I want with no questions asked. I’ve used some of them every year from my first calendar in 2000. It’s amazing, all of them remember every calendar they have done and they look forward to doing it again. It’s like a tradition. But I also get in newcomers, change one or two names for variety, the others know when it’s December – then Dabboo Ratnani will call!

I do the conceptualizing. For 24 pictures I think of 100 concepts. I then e-mail each actor three or four ideas. These are ideas that suit their personalities. There’s a lot of back and forth. Whatever excites them the most, they go for. They are all very experimental. A lot of them say, “Let’s do something crazy!” There’s no limit to what you can do in this space. I’m the boss of this show. I can do what I want. And for the calendar, I do 24 different shots. This is not one theme. A thematic calendar binds you. Here each picture tells its own story.

Shooting the men is quicker. Not easier. The men come ready with their own clothes. Make-up takes 15 minutes. The shot is done in 10 minutes. With the women, everything from the clothes to the make-up, hair, and styling takes time. I do one shoot a day. But I’ve also done four shoots a day. That’s when many stars wake up suddenly and say we must shoot today! They come with anticipation and are eager to see the pictures. In this digital age, it is possible to see the results immediately. Earlier, when pictures had to be printed, it would take ages. But their excitement keeps me going. It’s always like I’m doing my first calendar.

I did the first one in 2000. Everybody was talking about the new Millennium, about Y2K, remember, and I thought what better way to bring in the Millennium than by producing a calendar. I put together 12 stock pictures and printed 1,000 calendars. It was to be my New Year gift to Bollywood. I had just started out as a photographer. The response I got encouraged me to consider a second calendar for 2001. But this time, I shot 24 pictures. No stock images. The reaction I got was crazy. The calendar became a trend from then. In a way, it’s generated work for me. People have access to the calendar; it’s there on their desk, a constant reminder. And over the years the calendar has been a blackboard for me. In the initial years there was no social media to showcase my work. The calendar became a good way to show off my portfolio year after year and how I had evolved as a photographer.

With actors it becomes a little easier because they add a lot of value with their persona, with their expressions, with their whole aura so that when you explain an actor what the photographer is asking for, they respond much quicker and also add a lot of value to the image in terms of promptness making it more alive. With models, they give you exactly what you ask for, but again, shooting models has its own charm, they give you a lot of fashion pictures, with actors you do more portraits keeping their personalities in mind.

I think life in general. I think every person goes through phases where one studies life differently. I may believe at one point that black and white is inspiring me, so I start looking at everything in black and white and start capturing everything in black and white and sometimes I’m big on colour. So every person goes through phases and gets inspired with different things, it could be movies, it could be light, it could be looking at interesting locations, it could be travelling. As a photographer I observe characters, expressions and everything around me.

People usually associate me with my calendar and that is exactly how I avoid getting stereotyped. My calendar is something that inspires me to evolve year after year. When I did the calendar last year, I was really happy with it, so much so that I pushed myself more to outdo myself for the next one. You become your own competitor and that in a way avoids getting stereotyped in terms of work because there are 24 pictures in the calendar that depicts 24 different moods, 24 different kinds of styles of photography. So I don’t keep to one theme in the calendar. I try and diversify as much as possible so that I get a great kick from looking at my own pictures. I feel an adrenaline rush inside me every time I create my calendar so that keeps me fired up all the time.

I think it’s very cool. I myself am on Instagram. I feel photography has gone through a tremendous boost with the rise of social networking and I think it’s very interesting to see so many photo apps today. I think it’s more of photography growing as a culture than Instagram in particular. When you go to a mall or a restaurant and when a great looking dish comes on the table, first thing you think of doing is clicking a picture of it, which I find very interesting. People want to remember everything, want to cherish everything, want to share everything on social network. So I love the culture.

I think photography is growing and not fading. Today if you own a camera and you click pictures and put it up on the net, I would call you a photographer as well. Obviously photography is not only about owning a good camera, it’s like saying that anybody owning a good video camera can make a good film. I mean it’s not possible. It’s your essence of composition, your essence of creating moments, it’s the essence of being consistent with your work. So I would say, new photographers coming in, people enjoying photography, it’s only helping the photography culture to get more popular. Earlier you would not interview a photographer as a celebrity, today they are given us celeb status because of that growing culture and it is only because people talk about it.  Earlier when you used to say “I’m a photographer” people would consider it a hobby, look down upon it as a profession and would only regard you as a “function photographer” or a “birthday party photographer”. I’ve been in the profession for the last 20 years and I’ve seen the status of photography grow.

Planning of the calendar happens through the course of the year. As and when the concepts of my shoot are developed I jot them down in terms of anything interesting that crosses my mind. We then start approaching the celebrities around Diwali i.e., late October, early November, then shoot the shots in December, but sometimes for reasons like if the celebrity is travelling or pre-occupied with a shoot, we do their shoots in October itself.For each shot I take, the backdrop really depends on the concept we develop. So if it’s a studio shot then it is not a problem, but if it’s a location shot then we scout for spaces around the same time. Like for Farhan Akhtar andSiddharth Malhotra, the concept of their shoot was water and hence we explored the pool area at JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu for its cool resort like feel and went ahead with shooting at the Salt water pool.

The way I work around with this shoot is, I propose 3-4 concepts to them and then what ever gets them excited is what we go ahead with. Sometimes it is the first concept they agree upon and in some cases the last one. For me, rejection doesn't matter but what makes them comfortable and brings the best out of them is what matters the most. Unless your actor relates to a particular shot, he or she will not be able to put their best foot forward. In fact certain actors don’t even want to choose, they just go ahead with what my conviction is, reason being they feel they don’t want to interfere with my creativity.

They are just tools. It’s like every picture we shoot from the camera is a raw file, and hence it requires some colour profile and correction before it goes into printing. You have to match the colours and edit it properly to look presentable and hence you will need a printing software or Photoshop to balance the colours well. For me I ensure minimal use of these tools, reason being the celebrities I am working with are public figures and are seen at live events, so they cannot look very different from what they are in person. I prefer retouching only when really required.

It came up when I was sitting in his van one day and chatting with him. He comes really early for the shoots and he was shaving while talking to me. He was looking so cool sporting a ganji and I told him, "Let's do a shot like that." He said 'kya baat kar raha hai'. I said yeah, let's do it. It was impromptu. We shot for it the next day and it was done. As a photographer, you need to be aware of things, you should be inspired by life. It's all about inspiration.

can't choose or differentiate. For me work is work whether I am shooting a top actor or a newcomer. There's equal effort for every picture that I put in and it is like choosing from your own kids. If some shoots don't work out well I don't take it negatively. On the contrary I feel somewhere I need to improve; I need to learn something new. Like I shot Hrithik recently and suggested him about certain idea of lighting and he was game for it. I am trying something new even at this stage after being in the industry for good 16 years. You have to keep trying harder; you have to keep inventing something new. As an artist you need to evolve, you need to travel, you need to socialize.

Absolutely. There are many big actors including Kareena, Hrithik, Arjun today who have done numerous photo shoots with me before they began their film career in order to understand their look, how they should perform, how they can glow their hair - whether they should have long hair or short hair, whether slimmer look or leaner look or bulkier look what looks better. They will keep trying until they get the desired look so it becomes like a look test for them. In fact, Pooja Bhatt used to do a lot of experiment with her looks. Before using it in a movie she used to do numerous photoshoots and then okay it. If it's a particular wig that she wants to try or something else, she knows in which angle it will look better.

I get inspired from everything and anything in life. It could be a song, lyrics, an interesting location, a nice ray of light, etc. Like, once I was driving to the studio I saw a man unloading stuff from the top of a taxi, he was sitting on the carrier so that inspired me and I shot Kajol like that. In last year's calendar, I shot Abhishek where he played 11 different characters - the actor, cameraman, on set photographer, sound recordist, spot boy, make-up man, light-boy and many more on a film set. Recently I was in Germany where I saw a show-window which had various characters and the trolley camera. Actually, it was the display of the show window with a mannequin. When I came back I shared this idea with Abhishek and we did the same for my calendar. The inspiration can come from anywhere. Like once I was in a store I saw a discount tag hanging and if you see this time's calendar for Ranbir's picture I have incorporated that. As a photographer, you have to constantly keep your mind and vision open. You have to be open to suggestions, open to life and be all the time stimulated with your photography. Photography is in my blood stream. I am immensely passionate about it. And I have turned my wife also in the similar fashion. Before I start, she is already thinking. It's contagious between us. She supports me in my shoots.

I don't have a theme. Every picture is a theme, a concept in itself. But I try to sum up pictures. If I say grunge is the concept it doesn't mean I'll literally do it. Anything can fit in grunge like for this time's calendar I did crazy sexy cool. We shot Ritesh at a petrol pump where he is spraying petrol on his body and he's got a matchstick in his mouth which has got flame on it I think that's crazy. Abhishek is in double role. Ranbir is wearing a discount tag. With Genelia I used a bike and with Ajay, I did a very intense picture. Then Shahrukh is looking cool in the stubble. While I find it to be cool most of the girls found it hot. You can't really define or confine art. You can't tell people how to think of a picture. The whole calendar experience is lot more than just a photoshoot it's an evolution process. Year after year I evolve with new concept, push myself to next level and try to outdo previous calendars.