Shooting them, now
THE roles have been reversed and on Sunday night, they were the targets of the shooting. This was the launch of Fahad Samar’s book Flashpoint, a thriller set in the world of the Mumbai paparazzi with central character Zeeshan Haq, red-carpet photographer who aspires to become a successful fashion photographer. For the launch event, celebrity photographer Atul Kasbekar spoke about shooting formal but fun portraits of eight well-known Mumbai press photographers posing on the red carpet, including mid-day’s chief photographer, Rane Ashish.  

THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER? Actor Kabir Bedi (second from l), who read excerpts from the book, Flash Point, seems to ask writer Fahad Samar at the book launch. Chief photographer of mid-day Rane Ashish is third from right. Pic/Satyajit Desai

At the book launch, held in the city on Sunday evening, Kasbekar spoke about how shooting these photographers was different. The celebrities in the audience then started taking their own pictures, and actor Satish Shah had everybody in splits, taking pictures of the press photographers on his mobile and saying, “right pe dekhna, left pe dekhna, neeche baitho”, mimicking how press photographers themselves behave at an event. Imitation being the best form of flattery and all that, we do not know if these gentlemen were flattered, but the audience was amused.

The feel of Delhi in Mumbai
SUNDAY’S suddenly foggy morning took both commuters and drivers by surprise. The fog, which lasted till even 9am in many parts, was especially thick between Kalyan and Mumbra, though it was misty in many other parts of the city as well, and temperatures came down to “winterish” levels again. The fog affected visibility on the roads as well as the tracks, and trains and buses were expectedly late.