Dabboo Ratnani annual calendar shoot features popular celebrities. The wait for this year’s shoot was finally over as Daboo has already unveiled some of the pictures from his calendar. Apart from various other popular Bollywood stars, the calendar also featured Ananya Panday. It was her second time working with the celebrity photographer on his annual signature calendar. This time, unlike others, she posed with Dabboo’s dog Flash.
Dabboo Ratnani got candid about his experience working with Ananya again. Dabboo said, “Ananya and we shot previously too. This is my second shoot with her; the first shoot was for the 2020 calendar and unfortunately, because of this pandemic, we’ve not got the chance to shoot too much. But, both our shots have been amazing. The first shoot which we did with her was the sportiest zone where she was with this football and in a very sporty look and this time we did it with my dog Flash where it was a very cute zone. She’s looking amazing and she’s looking beautiful in the shot and it works very well with her personality.”
Dabboo further talked about the choice which he makes while picking up shots for actors and said, “I kind of conceptualize a picture, when I give them ideas when I give them concepts, the first thing I look at is what they can be comfortable with, what they would pull off easily, what they would feel confident in and what they look forward to. And she’s a dog lover so, I thought why not do a shot with her puppy first.”
Dabboo also talked about the challenges that came along way while he conceptualised the idea of shooting it with a puppy. The photographer said, “So, I asked her can we shoot with the dog. So, she said there’s no way he’ll pose and it’s like literally in her words ‘Ghar ki murgi dal barabar’. Because with her friend, she’s bonding and everything but when she asks if it doesn’t even take a selfie with another. She said there’s no way she’ll pose with me. So, I think you should get some other puppy. So, I got my own dog Flash and he was the part of the picture and I must say he really behaved because it was my first time. We shot near film city in Prime Focus Reliance Studios and I was taking him for the first time, so I was also worried that he doesn’t run away while I am shooting or goes out of the frame. He would listen to me and Manisha (Dabboo’s wife) and both of us will be shooting, so what if he just takes off and I can’t catch him. I was very worried about that shooting in the wild outdoors.”
He also revealed how he overcame those challenges and led to a successful shot. He also shared how did Ananya made her contribution to the successful shot and bonded well with his dog Flash. Daboo shared, “He (Flash) was honestly very well behaved and he actually fell in love with Ananya and he gave us some great expressions as well. So usually what happens is when you’re shooting with celebrities, you can’t waste their time. So, we were also prepared that if required, we’ll keep separate shots of Flash and shoot Ananya separately and merge them. But, we didn’t need to because we got some great shot as Ananya bonded very well with Flash and we got some amazing pictures of them together.”
The photographer concluded, “In fact, we will release two-three more pictures also very shortly, a series of the same shoot. It was very difficult for us to pick the best one. We picked this, but we will pull out three-four more pictures and put them out on our social media.”