His work gently taps your aesthetic senses, his simplicity and smile touches your heart

MUNNA S

A dreamer, believer and an achiever

His is the story that fairytales are made of Though the journey was anything but rosy!

Let me tell you a story

Some fifteen years back, a young school boy, in the small town of Akola couldn’t afford to pay Rs.200 for a photography course. It broke his heart, for all he wanted to learn was photography and not history and geography!

Yet determined, he came to Mumbai... He had no godfather, no money, no education, just a heart filled with dreams and an obsession to find his destiny. The next two years was a drill that would have broken many a strong backs but not our Munna’s. He slept on the roads, temple sides, wherever he could find space for the night. The days were long as he alternated between being a milkman, a newspaper boy to floor cleaner at the various studios. Though lady luck remained elusive and he often wondered how he would ever get a chance to hold a camera or shoot those screen gods but his dreams and his smile never left him.

At every given opportunity he was there at the film studios hoping to convince an actor to give him just that one chance and do a photo-shoot with him. A daunting prospect but finally his persistence paid off and voila Arjun Rampal, the hottest new guy in tinsel town said ‘Ok, lets shoot tomorrow!’ That brought forth a rush to arrange for a camera and Rs 300 for the camera roll. Sleepless and adrenalin rushing he shot his first professional pictures that at once show cased his true potential and had Arjun happily exclaiming ‘Good!’

Next came Mayuri Cango- he borrowed money from chai wala, phool walla and all other such friends, organizing in all Rs 5000/- for the photo shoot with her -pics that found their way to leading film publication Stardust in Feb 2000 as a seven page spread! The classic body shots of John Abraham followed

and the rest as they say is history

In less than six years he has shot with almost all the stars in the Bollywood, cover pages of all prestigious magazines in the country, thousands of portfolios, publicity stills for many films, innumerable catalogues and various ad campaigns- the last one being with Salman Khan for Red Tape shoes..

Does it end here?-ask him and he would smile, with that now-famous glint in his eyes and say-

“NO! This is just the beginning”
After so much and more, for Munna it’s only the beginningAs has been for thousands of young aspirants for whom portfolio pictures shot by him have been the first step on their path to a successful career in glam world

I often wondered what made Munna what he isfrom a small town poor boy to one of the most sought after photographers today in Mumbai- its actually simple: he wouldn’t settle for anything less than the bestbe it his creative vision and innovative backdrops, his subjects aided by the very finest in their supportive roles whether it’s the make-up artist, hairdresser or the designer; on top of that the photography equipment Munna uses is one of the finest-Nikon D2X. For outdoors and campaigns it has to be only Hazel blade

His 1000 sq feet studio is one of the finest in the city, done up very aestheticallythe very entry to the studio would make one stop and stare at the door for its stunning visual appeal and in your heart you know you have come to the right studio and to the right photographer!

The prestige and popularity of his work has been enhanced by the extraordinary technical perfection of his photography and his insistence on absolute control of the photographic processesthere could be times when he would himself be it a little dissatisfied by the results but never his subjectssimply because of his quest for perfection !

You could be shooting your first pictures or it could be a magazine cover with a celebrity or an ad campaign, he focuses on bringing out the best in allApart from shooting amazing pictures, the most important lesson he has given to people like me is to throw away the inhibitions, to believe in what you want and religiously work toward getting it

Would he be anything else if not a photographer? - Nopeon second thoughts he just might start a dhaba some day to put to use his cooking talent which has won him many admirers. In fact there are some stars who swear by his cooking.

Munna S- the photographer who cooks better than chefs at five star hotels!Two passions in his life-cooking n photographyI found them quite dissimilar till he enlightened me one fine day: “There are both about using the right ingredients with the right mix” he would laugh and say in life everything is about the right calculations-whether its cooking or photography-and most importantly the passion with which you cookwhether its food or photosor anything else you might choose to do

Well said!

So any one of you who is reading this, if some day shoots with himI can assure you apart from getting a set of some incredible pictures in your hand, you are bound to come back with a part of his undying spirit and self-belief which is priceless. Gear up for the ultimate ride of your life for he would not only change the way you thought you looked but he would also forever change the way you think and feel about life and work