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Bollywood, perfectly framed

Bollywood stars get a lot of help to look as glamorous as they do in the movies. Besides make-up men and fashion designers, photographers make sure they present the stars very well to the audience.

One of them is lensman Soumyajit Nandy or Toto Nandy, who has captured many stars on camera in films like Gulaal, Mumbai Cutting, No Smoking, Dev D, Love Aaj Kal and De Dana Dan.

Interestingly, Toto had first planned on becoming a chef. But when he assisted his father Subhash Nandy on Shyam Benegal's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero, he got fascinated with the world of showbiz. The 28-year-old soon started assisting photographer Amol Gupte on Mangal Pandey: The Rising, and finally, landed his first assignment Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwitiya.

The 28-year-old photographer shows off his best pictures to Patcy N:

I first met Kalki (Koechlin) after she was selected for Dev D. I love to shoot her. She is very intelligent, and looks good in all kinds of outfits. She is very easygoing. You can ask her to give any expression and she will. Her body is flexible and she's comfortable in any posture.

I clicked this picture for the Filmfare magazine. I run a studio called Delta Studio along with my partner Dev Satpathi. He has also worked on this photograph. It was Dev's idea to click Kalki's picture defying gravity. So we clicked this picture on the floor where she was bending like this.

Later, Dev worked on the background and made it look as if she is walking on the wall. It took four hours to click this picture. I clicked about 90 images in all.

'I love Gisele's pictures because of the simplicity on her face'

I met Gisele Monterio just before the shooting of Love Aaj Kal. She had been shortlisted and was waiting in Saif Ali Khan's office. I was asked to click her pictures there.

Gisele just had the basic make-up on her face -- it was a very minimal look. Still her pictures came out so well.

I love her pictures because of the simplicity on her face and the innocence in her eyes.

'You can tell John anything and he will agree'

I have worked with John Abraham on two films -- No Smoking and (Abbas Tyrewala's under-production film) 1-800-Love.

He is the most humble and sweetest person I have met. He is very approachable. You can tell him anything and he will agree.

This picture was shot when he was shooting for No Smoking. We were on the 32nd floor of a building in Worli, in south Mumbai. John was ready and waiting for his shot but the set-up was not ready yet. So he just sat on a commode and was looking out of the window when I caught him in this picture. He did not even know I was clicking his pictures. In fact, he still does not know that I have this photograph!

'I shot Saif in his vanity van'

I shot this picture in Delhi when Saif Ali Khan was shooting for Love Aaj Kal.

I was waiting for him in his vanity van. After a while, he finished his shot and entered the vanity van. After some time, he started strumming his guitar -- he was rehearsing for his show with (rock band) Parikrama.

'Aamir looked young in Rang De Basanti but he looks younger in 3 Idiots'

Amol Gupte was the photographer for Rang De Basanti but he fell sick. So I shot the pictures for Rang De Basanti for about 20 days. The shooting of the film had already started when I joined. 

Aamir had just given his shot, and was sitting around. He was looking so fresh that I started clicking his photographs.

I love this picture. Since I like black and white pictures, I kept it that way.

I like Aamir Khan as an actor. He looks so young in all his films. He looked young in Rang De Basanti but he looks younger in 3 Idiots now.

'Anurag is one director, who fights with producers if they pay me less'

When I was shooting for Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwitiya, I got a call from Anurag Kashyap's office. He was shooting for Gulaal in Jaipur at the time. After he saw my pictures, I was called to shoot for Gulaal. Since then, I have worked on all Anurag's films.

I asked Anurag if I could do his photo biography like my father had done for Mrinal Sen. Initially, Anurag laughed at the idea. Later, he agreed.

Today, most of Anurag's pictures are clicked by me. He's everything to me. The film industry knows me because of my photographs of him. He is one director, who fights with producers if they pay me less.

The magazine andpersand wanted to a cover of Anurag 'in motion'. Anurag gave a lot of wild expressions -- he pulled his hair and cheeks, popped his eyes out... In the middle of all this, Kalki came in, and he jokingly yelled like this, and I got my shot.

'We did not plan this image, we got it when Devika was lying in bed'

Devika Tripathi is a model from Zurich. I met her at a fashion show and convinced her to try modelling in India. So she did. This was the first time she walked the ramp for the Wills Fashion Week.

She is not interested in acting and only wants a career in modelling.

I shot this photograph at her house. She did her own make-up and started posing. We did not plan this image, we got it when she was lying in bed. A strong beam of sunlight was falling on her face. Suddenly, a tear rolled down her cheek. This happens to be my favourite picture.

'Even though they are dressed alike, they look different'

The Twilight Players are British Asian dancers -- brothers Sinbad, Ammo and Jimi Phgura. They performed in the film Dev D.

I shot their photograph for a Delhi-based magazine called Platform. All of them dressed alike. This photograph was taken on the sets of Dev D.

I like this picture because even though they are dressed alike and are sitting on one sofa, they looked different because of their expressions.