fashion photographer
Fashion photography is a genre of photography which is devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items, sometimes haute couture. It typically consists of a fashion photographer taking a picture of a dressed model in a photographic studio ...
and
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...
film producer. He is recognised for his
Kingfisher Calendar
The Kingfisher Calendar was an annual calendar featuring models in swimsuits published by the Indian conglomerate United Breweries Group for 19 years from 2003 to 2021. Described by Rediff as "arguably the most prestigious odelling assignment ...
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...
'', 23 December 2011, Retrieved 12 January 2012. He was also the honorary chairman of the Photographer's Guild of India.
Education
Atul Kasbekar studied at
Campion School, Mumbai
, motto_translation = Joy in Truth
, established =
, type = Private primary and secondary school
, religion = Catholicism
, denomination = Jesuits
, patron ...
, and
Jai Hind College
Jai Hind College (Marathi: जय हिंद कॉलेज) is an autonomous college in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, affiliated to the University of Mumbai. It was established in 1948.
In 2000, ''India Today'' named Jai Hind College as one ...
(University of Mumbai). Then he joined UDCT (now
Institute of Chemical Technology
Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) is a state-funded deemed university in Mumbai, India. The institute also has campuses at Bhubaneswar, Odisha and Jalna, Marathwada. It is focused on training and research in the fields of chemical engin ...
),
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...
for chemical engineering but dropped out after the first year to become a photographer. He graduated in 1988 from the
Brooks Institute
The Brooks Institute was a private for-profit art school in Ventura, California. It was formerly the Brooks Institute of Photography and was originally based in Montecito and Santa Barbara.Santa Barbara, US and was the topper of the batch.
He took training for over a year in Los Angeles and worked with photographers like Dennis Gray,
Ron Slenzak
Ronald J. Slenzak (born January 29, 1948) is an American photographer, best known for photographing record album covers. Some of the album covers that he has photographed include '' Spitfire'' ( Jefferson Starship), ''Huey Lewis and the News'' (t ...
, James B Wood, Jay Silverman, Jay P Morgan, Bill Werts and David Le Bon.
Career
Photography
Kasbekar returned to India from the US in 1990. In 1991 he started his professional career as a photographer by starting a studio named Negative Space.
Kasbekar is known for shooting the nineteen editions of the
Kingfisher Calendar
The Kingfisher Calendar was an annual calendar featuring models in swimsuits published by the Indian conglomerate United Breweries Group for 19 years from 2003 to 2021. Described by Rediff as "arguably the most prestigious odelling assignment ...
from 2003 to 2021 which featured models clad in swimsuits. Some of these models (such as
Katrina Kaif
Katrina Kaif (; born Katrina Turquotte; 16 July 1983) is a British actress who works in Hindi-language films. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, she has received accolades, including four Screen Awards and four Zee Cine Awards, in a ...
,
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone ( or ; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in India, and her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most p ...
, etc) were launched into successful acting careers.
Bling! Entertainment
Kasbekar is the owner of a celebrity management company named Bling! Entertainment Solutions which started in 2007. It has partnered with leading international and national brands including
PepsiCo
PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manufa ...
Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Current ...
,
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
,
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
,
Swarovski
Swarovski (, ) is an Austrian producer of glass based in Wattens, Austria, and has existed as a family-owned business since its founding in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski.
The company is split into three major industry areas: the Swarovski Crystal ...
Marico
Marico Limited is an Indian multinational consumer goods company providing consumer products and services in the areas of health, beauty and wellness. With its headquarters in Mumbai, Marico is present in over 25 countries across Asia and Af ...
,
Levi Strauss
Levi Strauss (; born Löb Strauß ; February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm of Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi's) began in 1853 in San Francisc ...
,
Hublot
Hublot () is a Swiss luxury watchmaker founded in 1980 by Italian Carlo Crocco. The company operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of the French luxury conglomerate LVMH.
History
A scion of the Italian Binda Group dynasty, best known for ...
,
Toshiba
, commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...
,
Panasonic
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...
,
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
,
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...
Swatch
Swatch is a Swiss watchmaker founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke, Elmar Mock, and Jacques Müller. It is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group. The Swatch product line was developed as a response to the "quartz crisis" of the 1970s and 1980s, in which ...
Group. Many celebrities including
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone ( or ; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in India, and her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most p ...
,
Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan (pronounced ; born 1 January 1979) is an Indian actress. Known for pioneering a change in the portrayal of women in Hindi cinema with her roles in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including a National Fi ...
,
Farhan Akhtar
Farhan Akhtar (born 9 January 1974) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, playback singer, producer, and television host who works in Hindi films. Born in Mumbai to screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, he grew up under the influe ...
,
Abhay Deol
Abhay Singh Deol (born 15 March 1976) is an Indian actor and producer who is known for his work in Hindi films alongside one Kannada and one Tamil film. Born in the Deol family, he made his on-screen debut in 2005 with Imtiaz Ali's romantic ...
,
Abhishek Bachchan
Abhishek Bachchan (born 5 February 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Hindi films. Part of the Bachchan family, he is the son of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and the grandson of poet Harivansh Rai Bach ...
are clients of Bling! Entertainment Solutions.
Corporate Image
Kasbekar launched the company Corporate Image, which manages the identity of the top management and spokespersons within an organization. The specialist imaging service conducts research regarding a company's values, individual tastes and sense of style to create a bank of images which could be used in any communication such as brochure or annual reports by the company. Kasbekar has worked with many corporate leaders including
Ratan Tata
Ratan Naval Tata, GBE (born 28 December 1937) is an Indian industrialist and former chairman of Tata Sons. He was also the chairman of the Tata Group from 1990 to 2012, serving also as interim chairman from October 2016 through February 201 ...
,
Vijay Mallya
Vijay Vittal Mallya (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian businessman, former politician and fugitive. He is the subject of an extradition effort by the Indian Government to return him from the UK to face charges of financial crimes in India.
...
and
Anil Ambani
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (born 4 June 1959) is an Indian businessman. He was the chairman of Reliance Group (also known as Reliance ADA Group), which was created in July 2006 following a demerger from Reliance Industries Limited. He leads a numbe ...
.
Awards and recognition
Kasbekar is the first Indian to win the prestigious International Food and Beverage Creative Excellence Awards (FAB Awards) 2005, held at London, for his work on Kingfisher Calendar.