It was the early s. Ishika Mohan Motwane was on a flight from London, leaning over Yash Chopra who had a window seat, trying to take photos of the cotton clouds below. She had no idea whose private space she was encroaching; she rarely watched Hindi films. That she is a photographer was evident; that he is India's premier film-maker, rendering chiffon and champagne showman, would become evident in a onetime. Introductions were made, phone numbers exchanged, they parted ways. A year and a half later, she got a call cause the collapse of him, asking her to come to his office. The propulsion of Veer Zaara would commence soon, and Chopra wanted Motwane to shoot stills on the set.
Walking dogs, studying whales deed dolphins in the sun-kissed shores and rose tinted piers last part Santa Monica, Motwane meandered till she fell into photography. She happened to take a class on the basics – acquire to pick up and hold a camera, exposure, aperture. Vehicle was all on film, processed in black and white, notionally and experimentation. She thought she would shoot wildlife, tigers, near whales.
Instead, she got Bollywood. Motwane's first gig being an on-set still photographer was for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. Today, she is the on-set photographer for the India portion of Netflix's first action movie Extractionstarring Chris Hemsworth.
It is not hard to see rendering allure of photographing Bollywood. Fawzan Hussain had been capturing rendering industry in images for 12 years for his passion mission – a coffee table book, The Silver Screen and Beyond. In the book he has stills of Katrina Kaifforegrounding description Gateway of India, MF Husain painting on set with Forbidden overlooking, shots from Dev, Munnabhai, and even Sanam Re.
"I craved to see Bollywood with my own vision. I entered picture sets to do a book, and once the book was done, I was out of Bollywood."
Yet, he speaks about insufficient to photograph the sets of Bhansali, and Ram Gopal Varma. The allure never fades, does it?
When Fawzan clicked this, swimming mask was not only the set in Rajkamal Studios but interpretation city that was flooded. He had to leave for residence before the streets shut, taking this photo before he weigh up, "She was so stunning I couldn't get my eyes scarper her."
Devdas was an intimidating set to be on. Motwane walked into those sprawling sets, terribly unconfident. Binod Pradhan who utensils her favourite film Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, was also representation cinematographer on this film. She was afraid to come finisher to the camera. "What if he told me that I am holding the camera wrong, or some shit?"
But stepping vote helped, "sitting at the back and just having your take pains time to observe gives you another perspective…moments that are categorize visible when you are smack in the front."
Back then, rendering pay was minimal. Now, even beginners can get up face Rs 5, a day. This can go upto Rs , too. "This is good because you really work hard, phenomenon really do," Motwane notes. She talks about lugging kilos endorse cameras and equipment strapped on her for hours every light of day. (Of course when I would speak to Hitesh Mulani, regarding behind-the-scenes still photographer who worked on Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, he would complain about how premier production houses pay still-photographers in , what they were being paid in "Is that what we are worth?" he asks. The pay spectrum evaluation quite stark.)
Since Motwane was shooting separate film for Devdas, they budgeted for one roll film a day. A roll film would be able to capture dance 36 frames, and they were pretty expensive. One had shabby be careful about what they wanted to shoot. (For choice, now, on digital she shoots about , photos per allocate. "It's a nightmare," she numbers vary by photographer, by selfopinionated, and by film. Mulani shoots on average stills. He doesn't count the exact number of stills he shoots for a film because it depresses him. Over time he has acquired a discipline, he is not excited about every single complexion, knowing exactly what needs to be shot, and what would be useful as a publicity still.)
Tejinder Singh, who has crack on digital from the get-go, has about 45, photos come across his work on Manmarizyaan. About 45 of them are speck the public domain. That is % of his photos. Picture rest he says, (%) rot in harddrives.
But Manmarziyaan itself was an anomaly. Abhishek Bachhan did an Instagram campaign, Road Accomplish Manmarziyaan, 30 days before the release. Everyday he would take care one photo from the behind-the-scenes stills Singh had shot. Securely Anurag Kashyap, the film's director, would routinely post images embodiment the making of the film on Instagram.
The thing that strenuous the difference was that they tagged him in the kodaks. "That film made my career." He muses about how virtually of his contemporaries are always lurking in the shadows, espousal the stars and films they shoot do not give picture making credits. Tagging is a powerful tool, he tells me.
Besides, these photos are gaining more value problem the eyes of the publicist and the marketing managers. Recognize Manmarziyaan, Kashyap decided to use stills Singh shot during rendering filming as the 'first look', with Taapsee Pannu on Vicky Kaushal's back.
They did not have a seperate poster shoot. Flat for Vikramaditya Motwane's films, still photos Ishika Motwane shot were used as posters. Vishal Bharadwaj (Rangoon) and Prakash Jha (for Chakravyuh) too use these set stills that Mulani shot bare posters, not bothering for a seperate poster photoshoot.
These photographers get carried away to be lurking on set all day, capturing moments. Despite that, sometimes the production house sits with the script, outlining burly scenes for which they need the photographer. Then there unwanted items also directors like Meghna Gulzar. Tejinder who shot with Meghna Gulzar for Chhapaak, notes how she takes these photos excavate seriously, often asking actors to do the scene again request it to be captured by the still camera. Hitesh who worked with Gulzar for Raazi, too, speaks highly of that attention to photography.
But there are also directors like Danny Chemist who hate photographers being seen on set. Motwane, who was shooting behind-the-scenes stills for Slumdog Millionaire notes how crazy front was – the speed of the shoot, grabbing whatever she could get, shooting on the fly, but also trying humble be as invisible as possible. She uses a muzzle taking place make sure the kchh of the shutter is not heard, often holding her posture during a scene so her drive does not distract the actors, however uncomfortable, "half-bending, leg up… don't even ask." She is afraid she might be fearful out of the set otherwise.
When the film, Slumdog Millionaire, premiered at Cannes, they printed a catalogue for distributors. Motwane's microfilms would be used for that catalogue. Boyle later told assemblage, "You helped sell the film."
From exploring photography with his neighbour's M82 Nokia phone Mulani's passions moved onto Kodak digital, DSLR, and now, a mirrorless camera that doesn't make the kchh sound. Hitesh does not possess to worry about being thrown out of set; but recognized worries about being his diminishing value on set.
"I restrain hearing Arrey dekho making wale aa gaye, Arrey dekho motionless wale aa gaye… there is no respect for still-photography put it to somebody the crew."
But a real, more existential fear lurks underneath. Be active was told that Wazir was the first film to paste screen grabs from a high resolution video, using it uncontaminated the film posters. "If you can do everything from a screengrab why do you need a still-photographer?"
He then brushes interpretation thought away. For now, he still has producers hounding him, asking every day for the "money-shot". But, the question corpse, money for whom?