Madhuri's many moods
Jayesh Sheth has captured top Bollywood stars -- and even Hollywood hunk Richard Gere -- in his long stint as a leading show business photographer. On the occasion of
Madhuri Dixit's birthday, he tells
Patcy N about some of his favourite photographs of the glamorous star. Madhuri Dixit and I are very friendly; we are like buddies. I knew her when she was not even famous, and she lived in J B Nagar in Andheri (A western suburb of Mumbai) in her one-bedroom house. I was a good friend of actress Ranjeeta, whose secretary Riku Rakesh Nath was also Madhuri's secretary. Riku requested me to go to Madhuri's house and click a few of her photographs, as she wanted to try in Bollywood. I still remember the day when I first went to her house. Her sister Rupa opened the door. She was so pretty that I thought I had to shoot her pictures! In fact, I requested her that she should do her portfolio. But she was into interior designing. Then I saw Madhuri. And I found her not so attractive. She was very skinny and her body language was also not good.
We worked together in the real sense after Tezaab, when she was just beginning to be recognised. She had curly hair and prominent pink lipstick.
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Madhuri's many moods
Year: 1998-99
Costume: Manish Malhotra
Makeup: Bharat Godambe
Hairstylist: Dorris Godambe
This was a different kind of a picture where we wanted a
Vogue look for Madhuri. We were trying to experiment with her looks. She was not at all confident wearing this costume. She did not at look in the mirror until the whole makeup was done. She was very nervous because she thought only Rekha could carry such costumes and makeup. But when she looked at herself in the mirror, she started screaming with joy! Even after all that, she was not comfortable about carrying off that costume. In those days there was no digital camera. So after the first few shots, we saw the pictures on Polaroid. She was amazed with her pictures. She thought it was a miracle. Everybody knows Madhuri for her smile, very frizzy hair and soft look. But this photograph had that attitude in her - in the way she held her shoulder -- and the collarbones added glamour to her picture.
People would later ask me how I convinced Madhuri to wear such a costume and red lipstick!
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Madhuri's many moods
Year: 1998-99
Costume: Manish Malhotra
Makeup: Bharat Godambe
Hairstylist: Dorris Godambe
This photograph was shot on the same day as the previous photo. By now she was very confident and she wanted to shoot more. We were looking for a change in costume but we did not have anything. There was this black material, which was actually a scrap in the studio, which she draped around. And there was fur lying on the floor that she cuddled around her arms. Manish worked on her looks. We wanted to give her that 1960s Madonna look, so we tried to give her hairdo also a side parting and a little puff in the front. We wanted her to look glamorous. She had seen her previous photo and was very confident. I asked her to sport a crooked smile and she did justice to it. I remember Prakash Jha had come to meet Madhuri for
Mrityudand and we were selecting photographs for printing in a magazine. He was speechless! He said, 'You have done an excellent job on her.'
That photo changed the way people perceived Madhuri.
Madhuri's many moods
Year 1995-96
Make up: Bharat Godambe
Hairstylist: Dorris Godambe
We were shooting for the cover of a magazine and I wanted a black and white picture. No one was sure that a black and white picture on the cover would look good. But I was totally convinced as I have a fascination for black and white pictures. I first convinced my editor Bhavna Somaya. And then I convinced Madhuri. I was planning a graphic picture where the emphasis would be on the jaw line and nose line. I did not want it to look like a photograph -- I wanted it to look more like a painting. Therefore we went for a black and white dress and a scarf around her neck. We were clicking away, but nothing was working out. I had told her I want her chin up and a shadow of a smile. She was holding that position. The only thing that was moving all the time was the scarf -- it was first around her neck, then her shoulders, then it covered her head partly and fully.
But there was one fraction of a minute when we got this particular picture when her chin was properly up and her fringes could be seen from her scarf and she had that slight and beautiful smile.
Madhuri's many moods
Year: 1996-97
Make up: Jaywant Thakre
Hairstylist: Nanda Tolani
I wanted this stark picture of her wearing a body-hugging suit. She had a good figure but had a broad hipline and she was very conscious about it. I wanted emphasise on the knee-length boots she was wearing. We had given her a short wig to define her neckline and asked her to broaden her shoulder. I was shooting her from all different angles but she was not comfortable standing as she thought it would show her hipline. Then we started thinking what else we can do with her boots on -- because those boots were a must. She asked me if we could shoot her sitting down, and I agreed. But sitting down with the boots on the floor was something very difficult. I was not sure how she was going to manage, but she settled on this pose. Once she sat, she fixed herself like a mannequin. But now, it was a difficult job for me as I had shoot by lying down on the floor. She asked me to hurry up as she knew that her stress -- of sitting like that -- would be visible in the photograph. But she did sit in one position for half an hour!
Edited by monika.goel - 19 years ago
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