The Dream Girl

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“To be a star is to own the world and all the people in it.
After a taste of stardom, everything else is poverty.”
(Hedy Lamarr – Hollywood actress, 1913-2000)

This is a portrait of Bollywood actress Gauhar Khan shot in her green room after a performance on stage.

Gauhar is known for her prominent role in “Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year” (2009) and for the item song “Parda Parda” in “Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai” (2010).
In 2009 she participated in a popular celebrity dance show, ” Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa” where she ended up as the runner up.
Since 2010, she joined the cast of the Bollywood musical, “Zangoora, The Gypsy Prince” at Kingdom of Dreams.
She is also featuring with her sister Nigaar in the popular TV show “The Khan Sisters” which started in 2011.
Recently we have been working together and I was surprised by the absolute professionalism and the positive attitude and energy she carries with herself.

Gauahar in “Parda Parda” from “Once Upon a time in Mumbai”, 

Gauahar in “Jhalla Wallah” from the new movie “Ishaqzaade”, 

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Transformation

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“The joy we get as actors is out of transforming ourselves into something that’s not necessarily anything true to ourselves.
And it’s a power – not being yourself, and being in the role; it’s just like another prop.”
(Reese Witherspoon – American actress, b.1976)

This belongs to the magic backstage, when actors get ready before the show…
This picture was shot in one of the green rooms of Kingdom of Dreams.

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In Hussain’s Green Room

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“The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality, and eventually in one’s own.”
(Susan Sontag – American Writer, Activist and Critic, 1933-2004)

I took this picture while we were shooting a moving scene with Hussain Kuwajerwala and Mansi Sadana.
It was in Hussain’s green room during “Zangoora – The Gypsy Prince”, I kept on hiding my reflection in the mirrors and I was also trying anything in order to cover my camera’s click sounds…
I was happy to work with actors such as this amazing team with simpleness, kindness and high professionalism everywhere.

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And Yet The Same

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“We all live with the objective of being happy, our lives are all different and yet the same.”

(Anne Frank – German Author of a diary of her family’s two years in hiding during World War II, 1929-1945)

 

This was shot one evening at “Kingdom of Dreams” during the show, as I was taking some pictures of a few actors backstage I saw Anne Frank’s diary on a make-up table.
It belonged to one of the chorus dancers who was on stage at that time and it kept my attention.
I knew that her diary was one of the world’s most widely read books but I was really surprised to see it in such a theatre so far away from its background but after all as Anne Frank wrote “our lives are all different and yet the same”…

 

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Bollywood Beats

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“Cinema in India is like brushing your teeth in the morning.
You can’t escape it.”
(Shahrukh Khan – Indian actor, often referred as “The King of Bollywood”. b.1965)

Every evening those dancers, actors and musicians are making a family on stage in order to perform a Bollywood story and to make the audience dream and escape their problems.
This was shot during a performance of Bharati.

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What You Don’t See

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“What you don’t see backstage is what really controls the show.”
(Sarah Sutton – British actress, b. 1961)

Warm-up exercise backstage before the show at “Kingdom of Dreams”.

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The Privilege of Acting

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“You can throw away the privilege of acting, but that would be such a shame.
The tribe has elected you to tell its story.
You are the shaman/healer, that’s what the storyteller is, and I think it’s important for actors to appreciate that.
Too often actors think it’s all about them, when in reality it’s all about the audience being able to recognize themselves in you.
The more you pull away from the public, the less power you have on screen.”
(Sir Ben Kingsley – born Krishna Pandit Bhanji, English actor, b. 1943)

Backstage this dancer was warming up a few minutes before performing on the stage of “Kingdom of Dreams”.

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Larger Than Life

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“Actors ought to be larger than life.
You come across quite enough ordinary, nondescript people in daily life and I don’t see why you should be subjected to them on the stage too.”
(Ninon de Lenclos -French courtesan, 1620-1705)

This is Bollywood actress Gauahar Khan walking to the stage in order to perform Laachi in “Zangoora, The Gypsy Prince” at Kingdom of Dreams.
This picture was shot recently as we were working together on a film and I was surprised by the professionalism and the positive attitude she carries with herself.
In many ways Gauahar is “larger than life”…

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Great in Humility

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“We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.”
(Rabindranath Tagore – Indian Poet, Playwright and Essayist, Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, 1861-1941)

Sadanand Patil shaving in order to become Zohrawar, his character in “Zangoora, the Gypsy Prince”.
This picture was shot in his green room at “Kingdom of Dreams”.
Sadanand is a well-known Indian theatre actor who was trained at the National School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi, one of the foremost theatre institutions in the world.
This brilliant actor is also one of the kindest and humblest person I met.
His attitude is a genuine lesson of modesty…

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From the Chaos of the World

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“Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul.”
(William Somerset Maugham – English Writer, 1874-1965)

Anand is wrapped in a silk scarf made with a hand embroidery.
This artcraft is done by ladies involved in several workshops that we have settled with GURIA, a Human Rights organisation fighting against the sexual exploitation of women and children, particularly those forced into prostitution and trafficking.
Each scarf is unique and made in sarees provided by many women in Benaras who take this opportunity to get rid of pieces that they brought in order to celebrate happy moments, festivals or parties.
Those accessories carry traces of happiness in their yarns…
Anand, our icon model, shows his body for the purpose of this brotherhood and happiness chain as this is a way to catch the attention on this fight for Human Rights and human dignity.
(Scarf style “Kingdom” – 100% silk – Collection RED HALO)

RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi – India) providing work to people who were living with difficulties and education to children.
“Like” the new RED HALO page on Facebook and join this amazing human adventure in Varanasi,www.facebook.com/redhalo.in

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