Bob Rupani discovered that fashion and film photographer, Dabboo Ratnani, also has a passion for automobiles

Dabboo Ratnani, the famous fashion and film photographer, is also an auto enthusiast. And it’s his passion for wheels that has resulted in a wonderful collection of photographs featuring film stars with cars and bikes. “I never really planned it that way, it just happened,” says Dabboo. “After photography became my profession I realised I enjoyed shooting my subjects, who were mainly stars, outdoors. This was possibly also a result of the fact that I didn’t have as appropriate a studio back then”. Whatever be the reason, with Dabboo doing lots of outdoor shoots he had to ensure that there was something special and distinctive about them.
Gradually, Dabboo started experimenting with different props and then accidentally discovered that cars and bikes make great backgrounds to shoot stars. The environments they reside in, especially car garages and workshops also make very natural and unique sets. You could use an entire machine or just one of its elements as a backdrop and impart a unique character to the image. His star subjects also enjoyed these shoots as they were so different from what they were used to doing. They welcomed the change. So when Dabboo asked Kajol to wear a bandana and stretch out on a Yamaha Royal Star cruiser, the result was simply stunning.Nothing like it had been done before. Here was a photographer taking a popular film heroine and portraying her in a manner completely different from her Bollywood screen image. It worked and the star also loved the statement that was being made through the image. Soon the flood gates were thrown open. Priyanka Chopra was dressed in leathers and put atop a classic Norton, Aftab Shivdasani washed his SUV and Fardeen Khan gave his bike some TLC. Bipasha Basu donned an outfit to match the colour scheme of a classic Piaggio, as you see on these pages, she makes sheer magic. Friends and well wishers loved these photographs so much that Dabboo decided to use some of these images in his 2006 personal calendar. Dabboo has been producing this calendar since 2000, and it goes out to the cream of Indian society and the response from all those who received this years calendar was so overwhelming that it further reinforced Dabboo’s conviction that stars and cars go very well together. Dabboo has even managed to get both Bachchan senior and junior to pose with cars. Amitabh Bachchan, India’s favourite superstar did it with an English Cab in London and his son Abhishek, who has been riding on a wave of success recently, was a cool cat with the Jaguar.

“I endeavored to do what had not been done before, and am thrilled with what it has led to. I am the only one to have photographed all these big stars and beautiful people with some amazing man-made creations Now I want to shoot Sanju (Sanjay Dutt aajka Munnabhai) with his new red Ferrari.” Dabboo himself owns a Pajero and a Yamaha Dragster which has been customised for him by his good friend, fashion designer Arjun Khanna. Dabboo says that he is very fond of SUV’s and his favourite is the Hummer H2. He has gone dune bashing in Dubai and also recollects how the Land Cruiser he was riding in rolled over on a steep sand dune. But that’s not stopping him from dreaming of driving a yellow Gallardo Spyder on the German autobahns and heading across the borders into Austria and Switzerland. You can be sure he will be carrying his Canon 1 DS camera with him, and sooner than later along will come a star. And then there will be acar. And next a star with a car and Dabboo humming main tasveer utaar ta hoon…