WOH BACHCHAN WAALA JAADU , KARISHMA , MANISHA , RAVEENA AUR MAIN .... BY ALI PETER JOHN

It was a time when every photographer felt privileged if he was given a chance to photograph Amitabh Bachchan , especially if it was for the cover of a leading magazine - Ali Peter John

There was a tough competition among some young freelancers and Rakesh Shreshta , a young man from Nepal who's father had come to India with just seven rupees and set up his studio and lab at the Oberoi Sharaton Hotel was one of them.

Rakesh had seen how I could manage to get things done even in a place like Kashmir with young stars like Raj Babbar and Poonam Dhillon and followed me from studio to studio and was impressed with my association with Amitabh Bachchan and asked me to do him a favour and fix up a photo session with Amitabh for him and I spoke to Amitabh' and he agreed provided the session was done with three new actresses who were on the verge of stardom.

I spoke to Manisha Koirala , Karishma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon and they were only too glad to agree and Rakesh Shreshta was over the moon with happiness and disbelief

A session was fixed for a Sunday morning at Rakesh's posh studio at Josephine Apartments near the Bandra Gymkhana at 11 am and Amitabh as usual was there fifteen minutes before the shoot could start .

Ten minutes before the shoot i received a call from Subhash Ghai who said he was not game for the shoot as he has his own plans for Manisha who was making her debut in his film , " Saudagar".

Even before I could tell Amitabh anything , he said he knew Ghai would take objections , but he asked for the shoot to continue with the other two girls , Raveena and Karishma and it was not a coincidence to see that both the girls made Amitabh wait for more than thirty minutes and Rakesh Shreshta went crazy with tension and jumped around his new studio and Amitabh kept staring at him and finally called me and asked me ,.

" Ye tumhaara photographer langoor ki tarah itna kudhhta kyon hai ? " And I had no answer . The girls arived and took another hour to get ready but there was not a sign of irritation or boredom on Amitabh's face and he completed the session in a spirit of happiness , affection and understanding and then blessed both the girls , got into his van and left for his shooting which was to start at 2 pm.

That photo session made Rakesh Shreshta "a star photographer" and made Raveena and karishma established stars .

Years later , I had fallen on bad days because of alcohol and was sitting in a corner of a hall at the Oberoi and the same Rakesh Shreshta was pointing out to me and telling his friends " ye woh bada Ali Peter John hai ,aaj kalaas hogaya hai aur main Dekho star photographer ban gaya hoon "

ZARA WAQT KA TAMAASHA DEKHO TOH SAHI .AAJ MAIN BILKUL USKE EK ZAMAANE KE STUDIO KE PEECHE EK CAFE MEIN BAITHKAR USKI KAHANI LIKH RAHA HOON AUR WOH KAHAN HAI MUJHE KUCH PATA NAHI