Mallika Sherawat

We created a dream world around her — a brain wave of Rajiv Chudasuma from Marching Ants. The background looks like an illustration.
Mallika is very easy to work with. She takes the photographer’s instructions very seriously. You have to keep talking to her. It is a very interactive session. If you keep quiet and shoot, she gets nervous, and she’ll ask if the shoot is not going well.

I’ve shot her when she was a model as well. But we didn’t do sexy pictures those days. Modelling shoots are usually when selling a product. When you’re looking at a fashion catalogue, you look at the outfits, and the overall picture. Here, you’re looking at the personality, the celebrity. The whole perspective changes.

Mallika is quite reserved as a person. She doesn’t let people access her easily. Which is fair, considering the lives that these celebrities live. But she’s always up to masti (fun). And still scared of my dog, Flash, when she comes to the studio.

Rani Mukerji


find this picture absolutely stunning. Her eyes really speak!

To carry off a calendar picture with just your face is quite a lot. Finally, you’re seeing such a tight close up for an entire month. And she looks right back at you. Interaction is very important. When you’re looking at a calendar, there has to be some kind of story in the picture.

This time, in my calendar, I’ve accentuated more on the eyes. It’s a desk calendar, and it must speak to you. A wall calendar is bigger, usually kept at a distance, you can get away with body language. But for a desk calendar, there has to be a connection for the person who’s viewing it.

Just like Rani is a director’s actor, she needs to exactly understand what the photographer has in mind. But there have been times when she does not like the concepts I have in mind. It happened in the 2004 calendar, I think. I wanted to do a dark, arty picture, with heavy shadows. But she didn’t like the ‘dark’ concept. She was like, ‘You want to shoot me in the dark every time!’

I’m always open to suggestions. Besides, finally, they’re doing the calendar just for me. They have no purpose behind it. They don’t charge me money for it. In fact, that’s why I don’t sell the calendar. If they don’t charge me, I have no right to make money on them.

Aamir Khan


I always knew Aamir, but we got back in touch due to the Coke shoots last year. Besides, I also did a Filmfare cover with him, as he was promoting Mangal Pandey.

Over the year, I was constantly in touch with him. So I sent him an SMS that I wanted to shoot him for my calendar, and he agreed. He invited me over to Mehboob Studio to discuss the concept. He was shooting for Coke there.

I told him I would like to shoot him as the Indian version of Robin Hood. I felt the intensity of his face and eyes suited the concept. Besides, Aamir keeps changing his looks, and the calendar has a one-year desk value.

If I shoot him with his Rang De Basanti look, the picture may look dated by the end of the year, if he changes his look.

This picture will make him look timeless.

Aamir was very busy through the year, and couldn’t give me a date. Finally, he called me up a day before Diwali and told me he was free only on Diwali. I had a studio pooja on Diwali. Though I had committed for the pooja, I thought this would be an amazing Diwali gift to myself. He gave me time between noon and 1 pm. Noon was the mahurat for my pooja. But I delayed the pooja and met Aamir at fashion designer Arjun Khanna’s house. Arjun did Aamir’s outfit for the shoot.

Aamir later told me he did this calendar shoot only because he loved the concept. I’ve wanted Aamir to feature in my calendar for the last two, three years. But due to lack of contact with him, I could not convince him. This is the first time Aamir has featured in a calendar.

Kajol

This was not the original concept for Kajol. Originally, she was to wear a white gown and lie down on about a hundred white pillows.

But one day before the shoot, I got to know the picture would not work out because we couldn’t get the right outfit. So I had to come up with a new concept immediately.

I’m a bike lover, so I thought I’d shoot her on a bike, like a biker woman — not a sports bike but like a Harley Davidson biker woman. So I got her one of my bandanas, a black dangee, and a tattoo. She wore her own blue jeans. A friend loaned me the bike.

The picture has been shot in the building compound where my studio is located. There was a crowd around us, but we managed well. Kajol’s very bindaas! Later, we added a road sign in Photoshop, as if she’s actually in the countryside

Kareena Kapoor

er outfit — designed by Manish Malhotra — is inspired from a Moroccan belly dancer. Even the background looks like a Moroccan tent, with the silk bedsheet.

This is one of the hotter Kareena pictures. She doesn’t usually do hot pictures but we share a comfort zone. We’ve done quite a few sexy pictures recently.

I’ve known Kareena since 1993. I had done the publicity stills for Aatish, starring Sanjay Dutt and her sister Karisma. Kareena had accompanied us on location to Mauritius

Saif Ali Khan

I found his shades very interesting. When he came for the shoot, he didn’t have any outfits because he was travelling and it was a last-minute plan. So we did some bare-body shots.

We found this one the most interesting. It’s very unlike a calendar shot, very unlike Saif. It’s just a mood shot. With his green glasses, I thought some kind of a green background would work. But a plain green background was looking flat. The foliage added perspective.

I’ve been working with Saif since 1994. I’ve shot with him with various hairstyles — from his longish hair to his shorter hair, from his Hamesha days to now. His looks have drastically changed. He used to be quite podgy.

I used to do a lot of work with Pooja Bhatt before. In fact, people got to know about my work thanks to her. Pooja and Saif were doing a lot of movies then. When I was to shoot him for the first time, I walked into the room and he told me, ‘Please make me the male Pooja Bhatt of your life.’ I found that quite amusing.

Saif is very intelligent. He has great knowledge because he travels, is very well read. He can talk about anything from music to watches, to places, to films, gizmos.

Salman Khan

Salman asked me to come to Panvel for the picture. When I reached there, he wanted me to spend the night and shoot the next day. I was hesitant, because my plans for the day would go for a toss. But he insisted, so I did.

Salman’s dogs’ names are My son and My Jaan. Shooting with animals and children is very difficult. Though it may look simple, it was difficult to shoot this picture. First of all, he was walking. So it’s difficult to focus while he’s walking. Plus, Salman’s expression may be perfect but the dogs’ angle or expressions may be wrong. You have to coordinate his expressions with the animals.

The thought behind this picture is that he’s the Marlboro man, with his checked shirt, blue jeans and cowboy hat. I can see this in a Marlboro ad campaign immediately. The sky and landscape has been changed in Photoshop.