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Journalism of Courage
Photographer Sumeet Chopra tells Sujata Assomull that women will look at women but men will never look at men
Isn8217;t it time for Sumeet Chopra, the well known fashion photographer, to release his glamorous calendar?
This year all his pictures are in black and white. Why?
quot;Black and white is classic. I love shooting in black and white. Also my artwork is very colourful. If the pictures had been in colour too, it would have been too busy.quot;
quot;There was so much talk of India being the place to be in to bring in the new millennium that I wanted to have an Indian feel to it. The photographs are western, so I wanted the artwork to be Indian. I have even included Sanskrit poetry.quot;
And how did he choose the girls to shoot with?
quot;I was tired of shooting with Madhu Sapre, Sheetal Malhar and Namrata Shirodhkar. They are beautiful girls but I have shot with them so much.quot; So instead he chose to shoot with some of the newer girls likeFleur, Carol, Kiran Rao and Videsha Pavate.
So, then why include Pooja Bhatt and Farheen Khan?
quot;I just loved the picture of Pooja Bhatt. And Farheen may be an older model, but she lives in London now and hardly comes here, so we do not see her much.quot;
Among the new girls, who rank among his favourites?
quot;Fleur, Videsha, Carol, Ujwala Raut and Nina Manuel.quot; All dusky girls? quot;Indian is in and Indian is dusky.quot; Out of the older names, Sumeet votes for Mehr Jessia and Rachel Reubens.
And which is his favourite picture?
quot;The Michelle Tung one. She has a beautiful face and body. I find it difficult to edit her pictures, as all of them are so great.quot;
But does Sumeet only take pictures of pretty girls?
No, in fact his favourite campaigns include The Telegraph press ad which features real people and the Cielo one which only had cars in it.
What about men? Why are there no men in his calendar?
quot;The girls are getting better and better. And there are no newgood looking men. It would be impossible to find 12 decent men. Anyway, women are more appealing. Also both men and women do not mind looking at pictures of women. But a man would never look at a picture of another man.quot;
And what does Sumeet look for in a woman?
quot;For photography, it8217;s the face that matters the most. I can work around the body.quot; And personally, Sumeet likes a women who won8217;t try to change him. quot;Once a woman starts seeing a guy, she just wants to change him. Why can8217;t they let guys be?quot;
And does his wife, Apeksha, let him be?
According to Sumeet, his wife is very easy to be with. quot;That8217;s why I married her.quot;
Back to work, does Sumeet ever feel that advertising work restrains his creativity?
quot;That8217;s why I like doing a calendar 8212; it is circulated privately so no one can say anything. But censorship is fine. It is just something that everyone has to deal with.quot;
quot;Isn8217;t Sumeet making ad films too?
Yes. He did the Yahama film with Rahul Dev and the newBSL film with Sonali Bendre and Zulfi Sayed. quot;I love directing films. It has so many other aspects to it like sound, dubbing and editing.quot;
But that is not to say that Sumeet intends to put down his camera. He has already started planning his 200l calendar.
And what is that going to be like?
quot;It is a big surprise, but it will be better than this year8217;s. After all, next year is the real millennium and I try to make sure that my calendar gets better every year.quot;
