The Ultimate Hustle

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“If you want something from an audience, you give blood to their fantasies.
It’s the ultimate hustle.”
(Marlon Brando – American actor, 1924-2004)

This is a portrait of Bollywood actor, anchor and dancer, Hussain Kuwajerwala shot in his green room after a performance on stage.

Hussain is a popular TV star who is acting the leading role of the first-ever Bollywood musical, “Zangoora, The Gypsy Prince” at Kingdom of Dreams since 2010.

Recently we have been working together and it was amazing to see how much Hussain is giving to the audience.
His performance requires an incredible physical effort and concentration which he carries with a high professionalism.
In many ways his work reminds of Marlon Brando’s early movies.

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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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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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The King Bows Out

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This picture belongs to a series of portraits of Jagjit Singh, the Ghazal King, shot four months ago.
That evening the legendary star gave an amazing performance as usual and I couldn’t think that he would leave so fast…
The singer with a soul-stirring and velevet voice died this morning over a fortnight from a brain haemorrhage, he was 70 year old.

The words below come from BBC News.
“Renowned Indian singer Jagjit Singh has died in Mumbai (Bombay), aged 70.
Mr Singh, who was famed for his semi-classical ghazal songs, suffered from a stroke last month and had been in a coma in hospital ever since.
Popularly known as the “Ghazal King”, Singh sang in a number of languages.
He is survived by his wife, Chitra Singh, who is also a leading ghazal singer.
They had commercial success with songs recorded together in the 1970s and 1980s.
Singh’s admirers say he revolutionised ghazal music and made it accessible to the wider public.
He also sang tracks for a number of popular movies, including Sarfarosh.
He was the first prominent ghazal singer from India in a genre dominated by Pakistani singers.
“He was the first real ghazal singer from India. Before him there were clones. The poetry in his music was beautiful,” actor Anupam Kher said in a tribute.
“His music was gentle, soothing and went to your heart.”
Ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas said that Singh had made ghazal so accessible that his audiences “could sing along with him”.
Jagjit Singh recorded more than 50 albums, many of them major commercial successes.”

This is a link to another shot, http://designldg.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/the-ghazal-king/

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Smelling as Sweet as a Rose

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“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”.
(William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II)

This portrait was shot at the flower market in the chawk which is in Varanasi (Benaras).
The sweet smell of roses that this young woman was selling was sweet, deep and heavy.
I always enjoy to spend some time there during summers and feel the freshness coming from the moisture from the fragrance gathering all kind of flowers.
In this courtyard the light is amazing and provides a backlighting which reminds the Italian renaissance chiaroscuro providing a combination of brightness and “ping” (brilliance and resonance) with warmth and depth.

Wrapped up in Shyness

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“The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid”.
(Claudia Lady Bird Johnson – First Lady of the United States, wife of Lyndon B. Johnson), 1912-2007)

This lady is working on a traditional Chikan embroidery.
She knew that I was coming in order to take a few pictures in her little village which is nearby Lucknow, the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, so she decided to wear her nicest sari and some heavy make-up.
However when I came inside her house she was very shy and she covered her face with a part of the sari.
I could still guess her features through the printed silk.
Her attitude was touching, I only saw her face later when she wanted to see how came the pictures on the screen of my camera.

Infinite and Eternal

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“A child is a beam of sunlight from the Infinite and Eternal, with possibilities of virtue and vice- but as yet unstained.”
(Lyman Abbot – American Congregationalist theologian, editor, and author, 1835–1922)

This is one more picture of that very happy little girl who leaves in a little village nearby Lucknow, the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
This is a village were Muslim and Hindu families live together in harmony and I was truly touched to see how pure they are.
I took many portaits, this one is only focused on the little boy in the background.
It gives an impression of infinite enhanced by the light making a game of spirals.

Ability for Life

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“The people and circumstances around me do not make me what I am, they reveal who I am”
(Laura Schlessinger – American talk radio host, b. 1947)

This child was in a little village nearby Lucknow where I went to take pictures of women making traditional Chikan Embroidery.
The whole village was waiting for me, everyone was wearing their favourite garments and even little girls like this one had make-up.
Over there Muslims and Hindus are living together in harmony, I was touched to see how pure those people were.
Finally I couldn’t help taking more portraits than close-up of the embroidery process, those happy faces were truly a gift, their ability for life is a promise of hope…