They have shot some of Hindi films’ most beautiful faces and naturally talking beauty is something the photographer father-son duo, Rakesh and Rohan Shrestha are more than happy to do. Ask Rakesh to name the most stunning beauties he has captured on his camera and he says, “Top of the line would be Rekhaji, obviously Aishwarya Rai she’s an all-time favourite of mine. Someone who would not be very, very beautiful but very, very versatile would be Sridevi as an actress. From old times I have shot with Waheeda ji also, she’s also on the top of the range. Then there is Manisha Koirala and Dimple Kapadia — these people whether it’s on-screen or off-screen they are very beautiful, but I’ll put them in an altogether different slot. I think Manisha had a very, very vulnerable face; she was a very natural beauty.”
Rohan believes beauty for him, as a photographer, is very subjective. “I mean, beauty itself is very relative and everyone has their own opinion. Like say for a photographer there are certain faces, certain girls whom they shoot and they are truly inspirational, and that’s like a standard norm that any photographer would say. Like for instance say Deepika– I cannot imagine any person or any photographer not calling her beautiful. She’s stunning, if you look at her as a person, with make-up or without make-up—that also makes a bit of a difference when it comes to beauty.”
He opines that the yesteryears’ stars had an advantage… “I mean I would call it an advantage, the fact that, as a photographer there was no Photoshop and they had to work on themselves. The photographers had to work a lot harder on their lighting, and you couldn’t cheat and that’s exactly how it is. Raw beauty is what accentuates a person, an actor, a lot more than plastic beauty.” How can we not agree?!
Rohan adds, “A lot of photography or beauty emerges from the eyes. You don’t have to be the most beautiful girl but if you carry yourself well, that’s the most important thing. You need to have confidence within yourself regardless of whether you are overweight, underweight, or even anorexic. But as long as you are confident, that’s what people will understand the most.”
Some surprising names top his Most Beautiful list… “If you see Sonakshi in her shoots, you’ll see the variety that she brings with her. From the earlier actresses I think Raveena Tandon was absolutely stunning at the time — she
also had these sharp features, the strong jaw line. Priety Zinta — her dimples, the smile, the chatter box that she is, she brings so much energy with her. Manisha Koirala — she was one of the actresses who didn’t need a lot of make-up. Mumtaz—I was watching some show on TV about her and I think she was stunning. Back then looking great with the kind of hair and make-up they had; that was natural, raw beauty! And I still feel that our previous generation had a bunch of prettier women. It wasn’t about the fat tummy, or how to carry themselves in a certain way. They were just themselves.”
He reveals that he is currently working on a project wherein he is shooting actors in an old school, black and white, head shots like the way Hollywood used to do in ’70s. “And I’m doing that to prove a point. People today say that actors are seen in a lot of make-up or that their images are highly photoshopped. But I want to tell them that they are beautiful even in the way that they are.”
