Come back flying in the afternoon to shoot 12 men, 10 women, 5 kids, 5 main models, a group of bandwallas, superman, one car and I don’t know what not…TV channels around, newspapers, designer, stylist, client, production, studio staff, spot-a total crowd of 80 people for four pictures, one shoot. Wonder what I was thinking!

It all started six months back. We did an impromptu shoot for a car brand for the Fashion Week in Mumbai. They loved the images and made a calendar out of it. So we planned that I’ll do a more elaborate shoot for this Fashion Week.

Six months have flown like the wind and here we are again. Ideating, meetings, ideating, meetings and more.

Tired now. At last count we’ve had maybe 15 meetings ranging from 1 hour to the longest one going into 12 hours. And finally we’re at the shoot – screaming, laughing, and going crazy. But it has been a ball.

So many people involved in the shoot. Priyanka, my better half in crime, who is a designer and styles most of my shoots, has been through this whole process every step of the way, going through every concept and I owe this shoot to her. Meghna, my friend from the client’s side who has been after me to do this shoot for them; Thomas, heading the brand is one of the most creative people I have met; and Payal and Delara, creative directors from the advertising agency who’ve been with us right through the shoot and the post work which is still in progress.

My studio team comprising Vidhi, Vishal, Vikas, Jayant,Sidhika, Jatinder, without whom we wouldn’t be able to do anything. Manish Malhotra, who’s designing for the Fashion Week, has given us his clothes for the shoot. And, last but definitely not the least, my production controller Rakesh who has done a wonderful job in the stipulated budget.

So many people involved directly at every step… I’m humbled. I hope that the images come out right and everyone likes them. So much is riding on it.

Suddenly it’s all slowing down…I’ve been running for so long… so many days, so many months, so many years. And here I am – so many people who touch my life everyday and every minute. They pull me, push me, carry me, hold me, take me along, guide me to where I am today and to wherever I will be tomorrow. Thank you.

I was watching a movie yesterday, The Princess Diaries. It’s a cute, feel-good movie. There’s a point in the movie where the Princess’s friend tells her, ‘It’s not what you have to go through, it’s what you can do with your power to help the world.’

For a couple of weeks I’ve been thinking a lot on how to carry the post 26/11 feeling forward and do something substantial. I think I’ve finally realised what I can do to help a little.

I was shooting at Nita Ambani’s residence with her and her pets. Every time I shoot with her, I’m amazed at how even after having so much money; the Ambani’s are one of the most down to earth people I have ever met. They are total humanitarians at heart and help every cause they possibly can.

Guess all of us have the heart to do something good for the society, but either the will or the money is lacking. I’ve realised it’s the smaller things you do that can cause a chain reaction of good things in the world. So, do the good deed and pass it on!

This week has been a little slow – working on a few campaigns, ideating, concepts, models, make up. Apart from that, I was also working on the images for i-Diva’s women’s day special images, writing my views on women, a couple of shoots, coordinating the printing of my calendar, a friends launch party. But overall it was slow.

It is funny how when you are used to working odd hours and long days, a little slowing down can suddenly feel like everything has gone dead!

Times are bad. Recession seems to be finally trickling into everyday life and work. A model friend calls up and is distressed about the lack of work. I tried cheering him up and asked him to sort things out and make a plan of action. Clients too are in trouble. Payments are not coming, in fact have lost a packet on one client caving in and cheques bouncing.

We need to keep the energy up. Be careful and don’t let it get to you.

Damn! I have a lot of lot of issues yaar…
I didn’t think I’d end up growing up with so many things I don’t like. I love life, genuinely love life – it’s the biggest gift to be able to think, speak, feel, create…And what we have not done with this gift! It’s just amazing.

We can think about all the rubbish happening out there and not do a thing about it. Speak all the bull s*** out there and then go to sleep. Feel remorse, anger, helplessness at the plight of the world and go to sleep. Create madness, enmity against each other, bloodshed, and go to sleep again…

Amazing! We are too intelligent for ourselves.

I’ve been driving around a lot nowadays for my shoots. And when you drive in an old car, life seems to slow down and you start noticing things… lots of things. And I’ve realised something. I hate today’s youth, I abhor them. Ok! Maybe not all of them, but a lot of them. Why? Why not!

I thought after 26/11 we would all come together and try and make things better, especially the youth. What after all those peace marches, etc…

But as usual, we refuse to change.

We eat paan and throw the remains on the road, chew it and spit wherever we feel like painting our roads or other people’s clothes…in fact I’ve started making a photographic art series with the different types of spits!

We love to smoke. It’s so cool. It helps us relax. It’s not a habit… I can leave it anytime. And we will throw cigarette butts out of running cars; we will put the butt on the floor and stamp it. So what if, after a while, the place looks like it has been bombarded by crow sh*t!

Think I’m going to be famous shooting all this…

We still drive like maniacs, because we’re young and we don’t care who has to brake or jump out of the way, especially since papa got me a motorbike. We will be rude to others, because we care a damn. We will not listen to anyone, because we are young and we know everything! We will eat chocolates and throw the wrappers around.

My friends and I go around the country by car for days and we carry garbage bags for the whole trip.

We will burn up and break colleges because it’s easier than studying. We will tease and beat women because it makes us feel strong and then blame it on religion and culture. Culture, my a**!

I don’t remember being like this, or anything like this. I pity the world if ‘THIS’ is what is going to take over us… God help us.

The other day, I read in the papers that the Municipal Commissioner wants to bring down our heritage structures because he wants to promote development. I wonder which village they got him from to make him our commissioner.

Does he even understand that these are the buildings defining our city? It is our yesterday which should guide our tomorrow and tell our children what the city is all about. Not some ugly high rise blocks which will dot our horizon and the only way to see the sky would be to look up like a crane.

There are times I want to leave the country… go away to Tibet and become a monk. But then again, this is my country and I love my country and am scared for it.

I’m upset. Actually, quite upset. The week started off well. Most of my work got done on time.

I shot with one of my favourite stars – Akshay Kumar. He’s one of the best looking guys I’ve ever met. He has an amazing personality and a very warm person, though he tries to be very professional. I guess that his job demands that – no matter how much of a fun-loving person you are, you have to be professional, lest people take you for granted and you get ‘abused’!

Working with Akshay is like a dream. He likes to shoot early in the mornings, and I love getting up early.

So, I’m at the location at 6am setting up for a 9am shoot. Akshay walks in at the stroke of nine. I just love people who are on time. We have 6 shots to do and normally with someone else it would take me a whole day or more. It’d start with makeup, breakfast, changes, lunch, tea, etc, etc… and we could go on. Well, in this case, the shoot’s over by 10am!

Can you believe it, 6 shots in an hour… must be one of my fastest shoots… hmmm, actually not really. I once shot with a Ms. Universe for a campaign – we finished 6 shots in 15 minutes! But then again, Akshay’s our Punjabi puttar… and I just love shooting with him. I’m biased, but what the hell!

Anyway, back to why I’m upset. Mid-week I was reading The Times of India and I read that the Shiv Sena and MNS are back to what they do best – breaking things, shops, hotels, scaring people, and being the perfect goondas in town.

You have to hand it to them. They are perfectionists. Every time there’s a riot in town, we can be sure it’ll trace back to them. And what does our government and police do? Watch the tamasha like the bhands (Punjabi for bandwallas and dramawallas in the villages) that they are ! I’m really upset. Disgusting.

In the course of the week, while I was attending my friend Sangeeta Wadhwani’s book launch, I heard about the incident where some ladies were assaulted by a self-righteous right wing morale brigade for drinking at a pub.

Who the hell are these hooligans? Where do they come from? What type of families give birth to these illiterate—no sorry – uneducated, pea-brained mongrels, who do not know anything about our culture or sabhyata? We are supposed to be a tolerant country, assimilating every culture and the various people who come here.

We are the land of the Buddha and Lord Sri Krishna. Lord Krishna himself came down to save Draupadi, and these hooligans in the name of Rama are beating up women. They cannot be human beings. They are the dirt, and we need to wash away this muck. And, as usual, our media was taking photos and increasing TRPs while the cops were chewing paan.

All the anger and the helplessness from the terror attacks is coming out. A TV channel asks me what is it that I want to say to our people. I say – Do we really need the terrorists to come and kill us, beat us, terrorise us? Tell the Pakistanis, the Taliban, etc that we do not need you. We are enough to kill, maim, scare, and make the common man’s life hell. We don’t need you.

We are more scared of being a Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Bhojpuri, Bhaiya, or whatever religion or people we are not supposed to be. I’m upset. Upset at us for letting this happen to us. Upset at the parties who have been using religion and caste card for their narrow gains.

Don’t they realise we are on a slow but sure and a scary road to being segregated and becoming a narrow and divided society waiting to explode and burn in this beautiful country of ours?

Can you please grow up and see the destruction, pain and anguish you’ve already caused us? ENOUGH. Please stand up and say we’re INDIANS. And we don’t want your kind anymore.

I’m upset, upset enough to cry…cry for my country…

Yes yes yes… getting it done…
Yes I know you want it urgently… but it’s a physical thing… I can’t help it… it’ll take its own time…

Here we go again… I’m trying to convince clients that photography is not magic. It involves so many things – brand position, planning, conceptualisation, pre-production, casting, execution, post production and final deliveries.

That is the story of my life.

In other things, one of my best friends is down from the US after almost 2 years and I haven’t had the time to spend a proper evening with her…LIFE! We finally do something silly. We catch a 9am boat and head to Elephanta Caves. No signal, no one can disturb us – perfect!

Touch Mumbai shores once more by 3 pm for a meeting at the Times office. I’m supposed to be a guest editor for one of their up-coming projects… hmmm… I think they’re getting lazy and want us to do their work…but then it could be fun.

I’ve been travelling a lot in the city, drive my yellow Volkswagen Beetle and people get curious and weird sometimes. I keep getting interesting people coming up to me to talk and I just love that fact. It forces you to slow down in life and interact and shoot some awesome road scenes.

Last week was a blur – going from one meeting to another, shooting, and then back to meetings. For most part of the week I was upset with all the nonsense going around in the country with self-righteous moral brigades running around, wrecking havoc on the common man and the government and judiciary sitting on their butts while the media raked in the moolah because of rising TRPs.

It’s a dog eat dog world…

This week, I’ve been on a change – a country trip. What can I do… what can we do…small things.

During the week, I also got some silly little 16-year old kids arrested for riding a motorbike rashly, had a motorist fined for breaking a signal and almost killing people, got upset at the watchmen for spitting in our compound, angry at some rich kids for eating paan from Muchad paan wala at Kemps corner and throwing the wrappers around.

What surprises me is that after all that noise, all the kids coming together at the peace rally, we do not seem to have learnt our lesson. We are still brash, negligent, and our chalta hai attitude is not getting us anywhere. We still throw rubbish, we smoke in public, we spit out of cars. India is going into the 21st century! Definitely… bigger, stronger, more materialistic, more brash and more corrupt.Welcome, citizens of the world to the Slumdog Country! Jaihind!

Hello…
Hi Girish, how are you… Yes, I know I need to finalise an actress or a model for your cover. Give me until evening, I’ll get it done. Ok…

The first day of the week and I’m already stressed!

We have a shoot for a new magazine and they want me to help them get an actress or a top model and do a sexy shoot. Clients think that I just need to make a phone call and actresses will throng me like bees near a hive! Wish that was possible.

And then, to top it all, you have the briefs like, ‘she should be sexy’, ‘she should be ok with exposing’, etc. Do they think I am a magician? Anyway, my trusty assistants get to work calling up half the world for either actresses or models to do the shoot with.

The first day of the week goes by like a speeding train – meetings, and more meetings – and finally the day’s over and I’ve not done anything I wanted to do. Whoever said being a photographer is fun?!

I spend most of my time cooped up in my studio (which is more like an office now) answering calls, conducting meetings, touching up images. I can’t remember the last time I shot for myself.

I have made so many diaries filled with ideas, but I had to throwthem away because I never found the time to play with those ideas. In fact, I had an idea in the year 2000 and I finally got around to doing it in 2006! It’s almost like family planning!

I am shooting for a new client today. No matter how many shoots I do, every time I pick up the camera, it feels like the first time. I’m scared not to mess up, I hope the pictures come out right, and I try and do something new, I hope I’m not too rude, and everything turns out right… I feel like a captain of the ship with so many responsibilities, so many different thoughts.

It was a good day until I got a call from an actress saying that she wants to do the cover of the magazine that we were coordinating for. What do I do, I can’t say no to her! I start calling up my client, makeup artist, stylist, practically everyone for dates and confirmations. I wish I can actually scream out to the world and say ‘Commercial photography isn’t all about glitz and glamour’.

I don’t remember when was the last time I actually spent the whole day lazing at home, working a little, going through my paper work, or just self-critiquing a cover or a movie poster I’d shot.

Have you ever seen the Taj Mahal at 5 in the morning? That too, from the banks of the Yamuna …if you haven’t, you’ve not seen anything in life… The last two weeks have been one of the most fun filled times in my life.

After 26/11, there was a depression which had settled in, generally in life. Everyone I interacted with was either low, or not in the mood to work, or suddenly lost about life. I guess there were so many emotions at the same time that we were going through. Indeed they were confusing times.

Then it was time for my annual holiday which we planned a year back… something I have only recently started taking.

When I started out in photography I was quite old – by today’s standards. I had a chemicals company before I jumped into photography. I studied maths, law, history, transport business, etc. Don’t remember now, but I was gradually getting lost. That life is a blur now. I call it my past. This is me, what I am today.

Anyway, I got so busy working that I forgot what holidays are and suddenly two years back, I realised that I hadn’t taken a break in the last seven years. And now, all I want to do is take holidays.

And it was time again for my two best buddies Najeeb aka Sheikh Chilli, and Dhunjishaw Bulsara aka Balram Singh and me Vikram Singh aka Ram Singh – the designated driver – to come together and go for our annual holiday.

Did I tell you I love driving, and we go all over the world by car? This time, it was from Mumbai to Nepal by car. The journey was adventurous – Delhi, Nepal, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur and back.

All of us love shooting pictures. So inevitably we would jump off every two minutes to go clickety click all the time.

I’ve been a commercial photographer for so long that a few years back I had forgotten how to be candid and shoot just for the love of photography. I could only imagine and see clients’ briefs and requirements.

These holidays are a way for me to come back to myself – the reason I got into photography, and I think the reason why a lot of us love photography. We all like to shoot, as long as we are shooting something and maybe recording things the way we see them, not necessarily what will come out well in an ad or a magazine cover.

India is an amazing country – you can get the most diverse people and locations every few hundred kms. I’ve shot 6,000 images on this trip alone – people, places, monuments. But seeing the Taj at 5.30 am coming out of the winter fog gives you a new image every minute. It was mind boggling. I have never been so taken aback by anything else ever in my life. Any photographer worth his salt must visit this location at least once.

Well, as everything good comes to an end and now that holidays are over and I’m back to work, I am shooting with one of my favourite persons, Shilpa Shetty for a magazine. The best thing about working with her is that she’s fast and professional. The shoot gets over in a few hours and I’m back home by evening… feels like I’m still on a holiday.