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| John Abraham on
the beaches of Goa, as shot by Subi Samuel |
If Dabboo Ratnani does a Bollywood
calendar every year with 24 stars appearing in different
moods and media for his lens, it’s now the turn of Subi
Samuel. But unlike Dabboo, Subi’s got just one star to pose
for his calendar shots — John Abraham.
The concept: Zee Muzic
got together with John and Subi to come up with the collector’s
edition calendar for 2007. “Unlike other clients, the channel
gave me a free hand to shoot anything I wanted and that
got me going instantly,” Subi tells Metro.
Every month of the calendar has
John in a different pose in an exclusive setting. “I was
very excited to be part of this initiative,” says the Bollywood
hunk. “We had a blast shooting the calendar. Subi has done
a terrific job.”
For Zee Muzic, John went well
with the image of the channel. Irshwin Balwani, business
head of the channel, says: “John Abraham is the hottest
youth icon today. The visuals are an embodiment of what
John is about — natural, rugged, adventurous and exciting.”
As Subi sums up, it’s about the
five Ss — sun, sand, sea, skin and (loads of) sex appeal.
Monochromatic: Doing away
with colour altogether, Subi has gone for black-and-white
in all the 12 frames. “There’s no reason in particular apart
from the fact that I love black-and-white as a medium,”
the ace photographer, who turned film producer earlier in
the year with Alag, explains.
“I have always had this strong
bias towards black-and-white because they make for some
very interesting pictures,” Subi adds. “For the calendar,
we shot on the beaches of Goa, besides a few indoor shots,
and it was interesting to capture the sun and sand in black-and-white.”
Shooting John: So, is John
Abraham the perfect model? “That’s a sticky one” is how
Subi tackled the question. After all, half of Bollywood
is best friends with the lensman who is slated to produce
four films in the new year.
But Subi has no qualms in admitting
that John is definitely “one of the best” in front of the
camera. “The man is a delight to shoot... John gives 100
per cent for every shot and that too from the time he was
just another model. That level of commitment comes from
my end also and so the end result always comes out top notch.
Also, we were all old friends working for the shoot. So
it was a whole lot of fun.”
Out of bounds: It’s difficult
for the aam janata to lay his (and more importantly
her) hands on the John calendar, once it is launched in
another couple of weeks. “It will be a very limited edition
release,” reveals a Zee spokesperson.
So, you have to hope that one
of your friends or family members is presented a copy of
the calendar and then you can beg, borrow or steal John
for yourself. However, you can gape at the soft copies of
the 12 John Abrahams on the actor’s personal website www.johnabraham.com.
The calendar is almost sure to
be back for 2008, and while Subi is keeping it under wraps,
it may not be John every time. |
