Celebrity fashion photographer Dabboo Ratnani has revealed how the first-ever photoshoot of actor Hrithik Roshan took place in a renovated building with a leaking roof, borrowed jackets and delayed payments. He recalled how one day he got a call from Hrithik, much before his Bollywood debut, requesting if he could meet him for a portfolio.
In an interview with Siddharth Kanan, Ratnani said Hrithik didn’t mention he was Rakesh Roshan’s son. As he didn’t have a studio back then, he called the actor home and asked if he could get the clothes he would wear to take a look before the shoot. Hrithik arrived with a bag of clothes, of which the photographer chose the ones he liked.
Ratnani said, “I wanted some jackets for him, so I borrowed them from my friends and took it for the shoot. I helped him to get the clothes because he didn’t have everything ready and wanted to do the shoot quickly. He reminded me that I was his school senior, I remembered him then. He requested if he could pay me two-three days after the shoot, I agreed and said no stress.”
He added, “We were planning to do an outdoor shoot but that day it started to rain heavily. I asked if we could do it later, but he insisted we do it that day. My studio in a rented place was under renovation, it was a terrace flat and there was some leakage too. But he said no, we will do it there only. I was feeling bad taking him to this shoddy building with leaking roofs! Water was dripping where we were shooting, he was changing behind the backdrop.”
Dabboo said he was shooting a lot of newcomers then, but the moment he looked at Hrithik through the lens, “in the first five frames, I knew this guy is a star.” The photographer later got a call from Rakesh Roshan appreciating the pictures, which was when he realised that Hrithik was his son.