Business Standard

A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

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Arati Menon Carroll Mumbai
Photographer to film stars, Daboo Rattnani collects matchboxes.
 
It's not easy to get an appointment with celebrity photographer Dabboo Ratnani. After all, one would have to compete with the lionised personalities of the principal subjects of his photography "" India's leading film stars. Shahrukh Khan is the reason our first meeting is called off. Next day, its Rani Mukherji's turn. Ratnani is scrambling between Fame Adlabs and Mehboob studios and his own in Oshiwara shooting for publicity stills, magazine photo shoots, and celebrity endorsements, and somewhere between all of that we grab 20-hurried minutes.
 
It's nearing the end of the day and his smile is looking strained. It doesn't help that its the busiest time of year for Ratnani; he's in the midst of pre-production work on his annual calendar, considered the pioneer in the genre of sensationalistic calendars, Pirelli style. A non-commercial venture; only friends and business associates are at the receiving end of his artistry. "It's the one project in the year when I get to call the shots," he says. And, he adds, he gains at least 10 new clients out of it each year.
 
But, we're not there to talk about the calendar, particulars of which anyway Ratnani conceals judiciously. We're here to talk about his other little amusement "" amassing matchboxes. Everybody is allowed their whimsies, but matchboxes for a non-smoker? He isn't a pyromaniac either, it must be said. "My work takes me to so many exciting cities that at some point I realised that I should be getting back souvenirs from all the places I visited," he recalls. The matchbox that set the ball rolling was picked up in 2002 when Ratnani was shooting with Amitabh Bachchan for Khalid Mohamed's book To be or Not to be in Paris. A break from work led them to the then-exclusive Buddha Bar in Paris. "Buddha Bar was hot property then and I wanted something to remember it by," says Ratnani. His favourite pnemonic device, until then, he says, was always his assignments, now its also his matchboxes that set off memories.
 
Nice, Cannes, Dubai, edgy bars, exotic hotels, chic restaurants and the collection kept swelling. Even wife Manisha has been primed to slip one into her handbag each time she eats or drinks out. Ratnani has a fish bowl full now, with at least 200 boxes, out of bounds even to friends. For the longest time Ratnani didn't reveal his hobby to anyone. "I had heard of people collecting coins, fish, even boarding passes, but not matchboxes. And I wanted to be the only one I knew," he lets himself smile. "Did you know, only in Scotland was I ever asked to pay for the matchbox I walked out with. Twice," he recollects. Fifteen pence, though, was no hindrance to his persistent accumulation. Given that he's a creative professional, he is instinctively drawn to boxes with attractive graphic design elements. Any favourites? "Yes, one made out of terracotta, picked up from a spa in Kerala," he says.
 
He has favourite subjects for his photography as well. Riya Sen is the only actress to have been featured five times consecutively in his calendar. She's Ratnani's perennial "January girl". "She has a stunning face, and besides she's one of the few who is willing to do anything to make a good picture," he says. Hrithik Roshan and Shahrukh are similarly favoured. "And all those stories of star tantrums on set, I've never been exposed to any of it myself," he adds for good measure.
 
His spanking new Apple iPhone rings (he's a self-confessed Apple junkie) and Arjun Rampal's attractive face flashes up on its high resolution and very large screen screen. It not a photograph taken on the phone's two megapixel camera. "I'm a quality freak. There's no way I would shoot photographs on holiday if the light or the frame wasn't flawless and there's no way I'd shoot with a two megapixel," he says.
 
Does Ratnani only ever fraternise with actors? "They're not as uni-dimensional as people make them out to be, you know," he says. "Vivek Oberoi, for example, loves collecting art so we talk a lot about that," he adds. Ratnani himself has just bought a home and is looking to begin investing in art. Maybe even pick up a Richard Avedon or a Herb Ritts print off the Internet.
 
Suddenly we aren't alone anymore. As if on cue, a grinning Vivek Oberoi walks in, and an entire coffee shop full of faces turns star struck. He's here to moot his possible involvement with the 2008 calendar. Once again I realise I am no match for Ratnani's stars and take my cue to leave. And then I realise, there isn't a matchbox on the table for him to pick up. Oh well...

 
 

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First Published: Oct 21 2007 | 12:00 AM IST

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