The last bastion of the all-female club is broken as photographer Sharvee Chaturvedi zooms her lens on Bollywood’s first all-male pin-up calendar! She’s got the girlie eyeballs rolling.
Photographer Chaturvedi’s lens has captured actors playing out different in front of a still camera for the sea dot. The lenswoman brings to life actor Varun Sharma’s inner child by keeping alive his playfulness whereas a topless Jitin Gulati tries to spot Arjuna’s eye. Actor Gulshan Deviah practises patience and waits in anticipation lying in a two-piece suit as television host Shiv Pandit balances his inner and outer voice. Twelve men, 12 months and 12 inner challenges that’s part of an actor’s life – that’s what Chaturvedi camera captures.
NAKED EMOTIONS
The visual stories frame a particular human emotion that’s part and parcel of a man’s struggle in La la Land. Says Chaturvedi,”The idea was to create stories involving human emotions and spirituality. Men, too, have their demons to deal with, and the sad part is that they do not talk about issues bothering them or bogging them down. At the end of the day, we all want to be accepted. I wanted to see men beyond the prism of gender and capture their self strength.”
The idea of masculinity may have not changed all that much despite the giant strides in the last few decades, but looking at these actors playing out their inner desires, anxieties, sadness and demons, you get to see a side to them that’s not been exposed to the world before. These men are far more comfortable in their own skin. They may not be naked or in a swimsuit on the beach, but you cannot miss the naked emotions running through their faces and body language. Adds Chaturvedi, “The men I shot with didn’t for once focus or talk about a woman shooting them. The focus was on creating something worthwhile.” The idea was to break a barrier as a photographer, which women directors, writers, cinematographers have been doing over the past few years.
It’s been a while since the glamour industry woke up to the potential of a man’s body. What’s a movie today without the chatter and gossip of a superstar’s abs? The trials and tribulations of the mind in the glittery and ephemeral nature of B-town have for long been ignored, or not talked about enough. Chaturvedi’s calendar has now made them a talking point.
MALE PIN-UPS ACROSS THE WORLD
There’s a rise in male pin-up calendars all over the world.
Celebrity photographer Mike Ruiz shot his 2015 calendar – ‘Hunks and Hounds’, featuring topless men with their dogs. To entice women to buy the calendar, he also disclosed the men in the calendar were all single! Last year, English TV presenter Mark Wright went shirtless to show off his impressive physique as he posed for a calendar in his underwear.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home / by Nona Walia, TNN / February 15th, 2015
