The Pooja Bhatt Show

A Conversation With Dabboo Ratnani

There’s something strange about old photographs. Sometimes they capture a fleeting moment and sometimes… they capture a future. Long before cinema and fame, a little girl held the hand of a sweet, fair-haired boy under a Christmas tree at a kindergarten called Babyland in Shivaji Park. Then, life happened. The school was demolished. The city changed. The children forgot. Years later, stranded by terrible weather on a film shoot in Shimla, that same woman spent long, idle hours shooting portraits with a young, unknown photographer to pass the time. The images they captured were extraordinary, eventually gracing countless magazine covers. One evening, she mentioned her heartbreak over her old kindergarten being reduced to rubble. “Babyland?” the photographer asked quietly. “I studied there too.” A trunk call to Bombay and a search through an old baby book revealed the truth: the forgotten photograph was real. That girl was Pooja Bhatt. And the boy whose hand she held is her guest today, India's premier celebrity photographer, Dabboo Ratnani. In this nostalgic and soul-baring exchange on 'The Pooja Bhatt Show,' Pooja and Dabboo step beyond the glamour to explore the magic of a captured memory. They reflect on a vanishing canvas, discussing how photography has shifted from the quiet, intimate frames of their youth to the breathless rush of the digital era. Dabboo shares raw, personal memories from his sacred intersections with giants like Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, and the inimitable Sanjay Dutt—iconic moments frozen in time where trust met destiny. This is a masterclass not in expensive gear, but in the unspoken bond between artist and subject. It is an eloquent reminder that to photograph a face is to honor the quiet truth of a person, and that true artistry belongs to those who reinvent themselves while holding onto the childhood instinct that started it all. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

A Conversation With Nigam Bomzan

"The first image a cinematographer captures is never on film. It is captured deep within memory." For cinematographer and musician Nigam Bomzan, that image was his infant sister in a polka-dot frock, bathed in soft Himalayan light and mountain mist. Decades later, that childhood memory still dictates how he shapes light and longing in cinema. In this evocative and free-flowing episode of 'The Pooja Bhatt Show', we journey with Nigam from the hills of Darjeeling to the shimmering madness of Bollywood. Having lived through cinema’s greatest transitions - the tactile poetry of celluloid to the digital revolution and now the unsettling rise of artificial intelligence, Nigam reflects on a vital question for our times...can a machine ever truly generate beauty? Can it ache? Can it dream in fog, or carry memory? Pooja and Nigam pull back the curtain on their own iconic collaboration: the erotic-thriller blockbuster Jism 2. Together, they shatter the glamour of the adult love story, revealing the surprisingly cold, technical and dreary reality of choreographing and shooting intimate lovemaking scenes. But the creative fire between director and cinematographer is far from extinguished. In a thrilling segment for cinephiles, the duo cements a definitive promise to reunite for the franchise's highly anticipated sequel, Jism 3. Tune in for a deep dive into the geography of light, the rhythm of visual storytelling and why, even in the age of AI, the ultimate camera remains the human heart. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

A Conversation With Vinod Guruji

“Before a character speaks… the walls have spoken. Before the emotion erupts… the room has already betrayed the soul living inside it.” In this episode, Pooja Bhatt pays tribute to a silent titan of the cinematic frame: the legendary art director Vinod Guruji. In an industry dazzled by stars, Vinod Guruji is the man who builds the worlds they inhabit. He is a practitioner of the "invisible art," a master who believes sets should never look designed but feel lived in, stained by memory, longing, and conflict.  From the tender innocence of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa to the sleek, seductive spectacle of Dhoom and Dhoom 2, he didn't merely create backdrops; he created emotional climates. With a prolific signature spanning over 10,000 ad films and countless feature films, Guruji was a pioneer who brought the future to Indian set design. Long before they became industry standards, he introduced technical innovations like fiberglass, acrylics, and turnkey sets, transforming the very texture of Indian filmmaking. Beyond the silver screen, he was the celebrated “Wizard of Tableaux,” the visionary who transformed history into living imagery through his iconic Republic Day floats. We trace his journey through his collaborations with masters like Amol Palekar to his status as the man who quietly designed the subconscious of Bollywood. As Pooja and Guruji reflect on an era of filmmaking driven by instinct, passion, and human connection, they speak about the almost extinct art of hand-painted publicity, the dignity of film workers whose names rarely make headlines, and the quiet pride that once existed within every department of cinema. The conversation also moves through theatre, collaboration, professionalism, and the emotional intelligence required to tell stories honestly. Join us for an intimate look at the architect of illusion who understands that even before a character talks, it is the walls behind him that reflect the personality. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

A Conversation With Danish Husain

Between Karbala and the Stage: The Intersection of Longing and Logic with Danish Husain In this evocative episode, Pooja sits down with Danish Husain-A man whose life and work exist at the intersection of longing and logic. From the calculated world of economics and banking to the visceral, ancient art of Dastangoi, Danish’s journey is not one of mere career change, but of spiritual homecoming. They explore what it means to be tutored by grief and how he transitioned from a life that made sense on paper to one that resonates in the soul. Through the lens of his celebrated roles in Bard of Blood, Taj Mahal 1989 and Haq they discuss the delicate balance between control and honesty, and the profound ways in which actors must depend on one another to breathe life into a scene. The conversation turns to the unique sanctity of theatre.. a space Danish argues cannot be replaced by screens, as it thrives exclusively on the raw, unmediated energy of live human connection. This leads us to the fearless legacy of Saadat Hasan Manto, whose unapologetic storytelling remains a vital mirror for the truths Danish seeks to summon today. We also go behind the scenes of the Netflix series Bombay Begums. Danish reflects on the vulnerability required for Intimate scenes, revealing how trust, communication, and clear boundaries are the essential scaffolding that allows a performance to feel real while preserving absolute respect and safety. This is a conversation about the power of silence, the weight of heritage, and the courage required to answer a call that only you can hear. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

A Conversation With S.M.M. Ausaja

In this episode, Pooja Bhatt sits down with film archivist S. M. M. Ausaja for a conversation that traces the fragile, often forgotten journey of Indian cinema’s memory. From wandering through dusty godowns and discarded collections to building one of the largest private archives of film memorabilia, Ausaja reflects on a life spent rescuing fragments that the film industry - and time - have quietly left behind. What begins with a story about a lost photograph soon unfolds into a deeper conversation on erasure and recovery. Ausaja speaks of the archivist not as a collector, but as a custodian of emotion - someone who restores not just images, but identities. Posters, lobby cards, glass slides, and song booklets become more than artifacts; they become evidence of a cultural past that risks disappearing with every passing year. As the conversation moves through the evolution of cinema, they reflect on a time when film imagery carried a sense of distance and devotion - when stars felt mythical, and posters were treated like shrines. In contrast, today’s digital saturation has made cinema more accessible, but perhaps less magical. Between them lies a shared concern: that in gaining immediacy, cinema may have lost some of its soul. They revisit the legacy of Amitabh Bachchan and the rise of the ‘angry young man,’ connecting his persona to the social unrest of his time. It becomes a lens to examine how cinema once mirrored reality - and how, in many ways, it has drifted from it. As the discussion deepens, Ausaja reflects on the growing dominance of commercial pressures, the shifting nature of audiences, and the quiet neglect of cinematic history. He speaks of preservation not as nostalgia, but as resistance - and of the urgent need for filmmakers and the industry to look back, in order to move forward. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.