Top drawer

Reclining comfortably in his push-back chair at his Cumballa Hill office, ad filmmaker-turned-feature filmmaker Shantanu Sheorey has fond memories of his workplace. Having operated from these premises for the last 10 years now, Sheorey has created several impressive campaigns here, including those for Vimal Sarees, Garden and Thums-Up. Most recently, he filmed a campaign each for Coke and Citibank credit cards.

Top priority for Sheorey right now, is his debut feature film, Jadh, which the filmmaker reveals, "is in completion stages". Featuring Jackie Shroff, Arjun Rampal and Smriti Mishra in the lead roles, the film has been in the making for over a year now. "I like to take my time in order to make sure I give it my best," Sheorey defends himself.

His self-designed office has been visited by several leading models and filmstars, most of whom arrived to have their pictures shot by Sheorey. Those would include Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor, Tabu, Aishwarya Rai, Mehr Jesia and Anu Agarwal, amongothers. "Sushmita Sen’s first test shoot when she arrived in Bombay was done here," Sheorey reveals. "I shot Ritu Chaudhary here before she became Mahima," he adds. Among the men, Amitabh Bachchan and Arjun Rampal are the only names that come to his mind. "I don’t generally shoot men," he says.

— RAJEEV MASAND