For most individuals, Atul Kasbekar is the enduring photographer behind the Kingfisher Calendar, which turned a cultural phenomenon. However there’s extra to him than meets the attention. “It stays probably the most visible and recognisable promoting properties India produced and definitely one of many longest uninterrupted photographer-brand associations at 19 years. That body of labor took monumental effort, and I’m very pleased with it,” Kasbekar mentioned.
At this time, Kasbekar proudly wears many hats: photographer, filmmaker, promoting skilled, producer, entrepreneur, health fanatic, and, past that, an individual who speaks his thoughts. His newest exhibition, HONEST: Portraits of Character, on until July 5, on the Jio World Plaza, BKC, Mumbai, is maybe his most private mission but because it brings a set of intimate portraits that try and look past superstar and uncover the human being behind the general public persona.
In an period dominated by filters and punctiliously crafted AI-generated photographs, the 61-year-old believes authenticity lies in embracing imperfections slightly than erasing them.
In a latest interview with indianexpress.com, Kasbekar bared his coronary heart out about life, profession, remorse, and legacy.
Excerpts:
Q: What’s protecting you busy in the mean time?
Atul Kasbekar: Making an attempt to not keel over in what looks like the most popular summer season in recorded historical past takes up a disproportionate quantity of my time. Apart from that, the Trustworthy: Portraits of Character exhibition, making motion pictures, and the occasional model shoot.
Q: How do you look again at your journey?
Kasbekar: I’ve been fortunate to have had a number of careers disguised as one. Images, promoting, cinema, and producing. The memorable moments are hardly ever the glamorous ones, although. They’re normally the surprising footage, likelihood conferences, and moments the place you realise one thing you created truly stayed with individuals.
Q: Inform us all about your newest work, HONEST: Portraits of Character.
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Kasbekar: The thought actually took form throughout my years as a producer. Sitting behind a monitor, watching actors work, you realise simply how absurdly proficient they’re and the way a lot gravitas they carry to a movie. HONEST was my try and strip away efficiency and photograph the individual carrying the character.
This exhibition has been probably the most rewarding visible journeys I’ve undertaken. In some ways, it’s a full circle. I began pictures as a result of I beloved making portraits. No person paid me to take these footage again then, and no one paid me to make these both.
Jim Sarbh for Trustworthy (Picture: PR handout)
On the danger of sounding deeper than I truly am, I hope individuals depart with larger perception into these great artistes. We requested every topic for a line, a life lesson, or a quote that issues to them. Learn sufficient of them, and I feel you begin seeing the human behind the general public persona.
Q: In an period of filters and curated social media personas, what does authenticity imply to you right now?
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Kasbekar: I’m hoping individuals see what I’ve more and more come to imagine. The strains and scars on our faces are remnants and medals from life’s battles. Some gained. Some misplaced. Both method, proof that life occurred. Perhaps they’re meant to remain round. Perhaps our photographs don’t all the time have to erase them.
Should you’re a individuals photographer, half the job is pictures and the opposite half is making individuals overlook there’s a digital camera within the room. I’ve all the time considered myself as a individuals individual first. There are a bunch of athletes, actors, and industrialists who’ve trusted me to take their household and youngsters’s photographs, understanding absolutely nicely that I’d by no means focus on or share them at any worth. I worth this respect and blind belief.
Q: Are you able to share your experiences of working with notable, standard actors?
Kasbekar: The attention-grabbing factor is that the really safe ones hardly ever behave like stars. A lot of the actors I’ve labored with over time have stunned me with their preparation, humility, and willingness to belief the method. One of many nice items of pictures is that you just meet individuals you’d in any other case by no means cross paths with and infrequently find yourself making lifelong pals. Doing a good job of interesting to everybody’s vainness helps as nicely.
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Q: Images might be demanding bodily and mentally. What habits aid you keep wholesome and artistic?
Kasbekar: I’ve all the time instructed youthful photographers that health will not be non-compulsory on this career. This job is surprisingly bodily. Personally, I prepare seven days per week. A mixture of Ashtanga yoga, power work, and energetic league volleyball.
Pretty regimented. Well being and household come earlier than nearly the whole lot. I eat at suspiciously exact occasions, normally variations of the identical meals based mostly on macro consumption, and I worth a full household and social life. Additionally, if soccer ever opens purposes for the equal of Harsha Bhogle’s job, I’m quietly assured I’ll bag it.
Over time, I’ve additionally learnt to guard my vitality. Dangerous vitality hardly ever will get elevated by proximity to good vitality. Normally, the reverse occurs. So I attempt to keep away from individuals, locations, and conditions that really feel completely adverse. Life is brief. Use your bandwidth properly.
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Q: If somebody created an sincere portrait of Atul Kasbekar, what would it not reveal that the general public doesn’t already know?
Kasbekar: That may truly be an attention-grabbing task. I don’t suppose I put on a lot of a masks publicly, so I’d be curious to see if one other photographer managed to disclose one thing I hadn’t seen myself.
Kalki Koechlin for Trustworthy (Picture: PR handout)
Q: What makes somebody really photogenic past attractiveness?
Kasbekar: I’ve been requested this a whole lot of occasions, and I genuinely suppose there’s an X issue concerned. Loads of handsome individuals don’t translate on digital camera and vice versa. If you wish to look your finest, cease making an attempt to handle each angle and let go slightly. The very best images are likely to occur when individuals cease auditioning for them.
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Q: What’s the most typical mistake actors make throughout photoshoots?
Kasbekar: Considering an excessive amount of about their angles. That’s nearly all the time a recipe for catastrophe. The second is making an attempt to put on developments as a substitute of carrying what truly fits them.
The genuinely assured individuals hardly ever announce it. They have an inclination to reach ready, belief the staff, and don’t spend all day checking themselves on a monitor.
Q: How do you unwind?
Kasbekar: Watching the mighty Arsenal try and shorten my lifespan and spending time with my aptly named poodle, Saka.
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Sunil Grover for Trustworthy (Picture: PR handout)
Q: Any regrets?
Kasbekar: Ought to’ve purchased Bitcoin when my daughter instructed me to.
Q: What are the challenges of being a photographer within the occasions of AI, selfies, and telephone cameras?
Kasbekar: Each technological shift causes panic. Movie to digital did too. However no typewriter ever wrote a novel by itself. Know-how is just a software. Creativity stays stubbornly human. Embrace it. It’s not leaving.
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Q: What recommendation would you give younger individuals aspiring to develop into photographers right now?
Kasbekar: No matter you do, don’t ignore video. If you wish to work in visible storytelling, stills alone could not pay the payments for very lengthy. Be taught each. Future-proof your self.
