‘Somehow
no
producer
found
the
right
project
that
would
justify
casting
these
two
selective
stars
with
each
other.’
Photograph:
Kind
courtesy
Movie
Magazine
The
very
first
issue
of
the
magazine
I
edited
featured
on
its
cover
Aamir
Khan
and
Sridevi
posing
together
for
the
first
and
only
time.
All
youthful
enthusiasm
about
being
appointed
the
editor
of
Movie
magazine
in
October
1988,
I
desired
to
bring
in
a
new
look
with
a
splash.
In
those
days,
it
was
practically
unheard
of
to
arrange
a
magazine
photo
shoot
with
two
stars
who
were
not
doing
a
film
together.
But
I
wanted
to
do
something
startlingly
different
for
my
first
cover.
Sridevi
was
the
reigning
queen
of
Hindi
films
and
young
Aamir
was
the
flavour
of
the
season
post
Qayamat
Se
Qayamat
Tak
so
I
decided
on
a
joint
cover
with
them.
I
wisely
approached
Aamir
first
and
got
his
consent
because
the
first
question
Sridevi
asked
me
was:
‘Has
Aamir
agreed?’
At
the
photo
session,
Aamir
was
elated
though
a
tad
nervous.
After
all,
he
had
just
scored
his
first
success
while
Sridevi
had
been
a
leading
star
for
a
decade.
Also,
Sridevi,
for
some
reason,
was
sporting
high
heels.
When
I
whispered
to
my
photographer
friend
Rakesh
Shreshtha
that
she
was
looking
taller
than
him,
Sridevi
overheard
and
flung
aside
her
heeled
shoes.
Did
Aamir
and
Sridevi
chat
with
each
other?
Only
formal
hellos.
But
their
photos
crackled.
I
was
ecstatic
when
I
saw
the
results
of
the
photoshoot.
However,
I
ran
up
against
an
unexpected
hurdle.
My
publishers
had
appointed
a
hotshot
designer
duo
from
the
advertising
world
to
design
the
magazine.
And
they
took
one
look
at
the
negatives
in
the
dark
room
(this
was
pre-digitisation)
and
airily
declared:
‘We
have
decided
to
go
with
a
Sridevi
solo
picture
on
the
cover.’
While
a
Sridevi
cover
would
have
looked
undeniably
attractive,
it
would
have
hardly
been
ground-breaking.
I
politely
underlined
that
it
was
my
call
to
make,
and
saved
a
much-talked-about
cover
from
the
jaws
of
anonymity.
Analysing
the
hot
reception
to
the
cover,
Rakesh
Shreshta
said,
“The
boy
next
door
standing
with
the
diva
was
like
the
ultimate
fantasy
of
the
common
man
coming
true.”
Aamir
and
Sridevi
sure
did
look
good
together,
but
sadly
while
Sri
paired
up
with
Salman
(Chaand
Ka
Tukda)
and
Shah
Rukh
(Army),
somehow,
no
producer
found
the
right
project
that
would
justify
casting
these
two
selective
stars
with
each
other.
Anyway,
the
issue
with
Aamir
and
Sridevi
on
the
cover
sold
out
at
the
stands
in
days
and
we
had
to
rush
in
a
reprint.
As
the
editor
of
Movie
magazine,
creating
a
stand
out
cover
was
a
monthly
challenge
and
I
rubbed
shoulders
with
the
best
shutterbugs
in
showbiz.
The
soft-spoken
soft-focus
specialist
Gautam
Rajadhyaksha
shot
the
joint
Rajesh
Khanna-Amitabh
Bachchan
cover,
the
jocular
Jagdish
Mali
shot
the
Pooja
Bhatt
body-painted
cover,
and
Mr
Rush
Rakesh
Shrestha
shot
Aamir-Sridevi
besides
Shah
Rukh
(at
the
peak
of
his
dark
Darr-Baazigar
days)
being
overrun
by
a
bunch
of
toddlers.
I
would
like
to
believe
that
the
foundation
for
this
awareness
about
visual
quality
was
laid
by
my
stint
as
a
photojournalist.
A
few
years
earlier,
I
had
armed
myself
with
a
Nikon
camera
and
ventured
into
photo-journalism
to
supplement
my
modest
salary
and
capture
the
essence
of
film
personalities,
not
just
in
words
but
also
in
images.
Dimple
Kapadia
and
Jackie
Shroff
were
my
favourite
muses
but
I
also
shot
Madhuri
Dixit,
Anil
Kapoor,
Meenakshi
Seshadri,
Dilip
Kumar,
Amitabh
Bachchan,
Salman
and
Aamir.
Baby-Faced
Aamir
Pulled
The
Wool
Over
My
Eyes
Photograph:
Kind
courtesy
Dinesh
Raheja
I
shot
this
picture
of
a
young
Aamir
Khan,
with
some
baby
fat
still
intact,
in
the
late
1980s
at
Sea
Rock
Hotel.
While
excited
about
his
nascent
success,
he
was
also
handling
it
with
remarkable
equanimity
in
those
early
days.
A
day
before
I
met
him,
an
actor
had
inadvertently
let
slip
that
Aamir,
already
a
sensation
among
teenagers,
was
secretly
married
to
Reena
Dutta.
I
wanted
to
hear
the
story
from
the
horse’s
mouth.
Aamir
heard
me
out
but
denied
the
marriage.
Though
disappointed,
I
asked
Aamir
to
pose
for
me
on
the
stairs
of
the
5-star
hotel
that
led
to
the
swimming
pool.
He
happily
obliged.
I
tried
to
capture
the
dreamy
look
in
his
eyes
as
he
looked
into
the
distance
towards
an
as-yet-uncertain
future.
Later,
of
course,
Aamir
came
clean
to
us
and
talked
about
how
he
hated
hiding
the
truth.
But
family
elders
wanted
to
protect
his
fledgling
career.
“I
felt
very
bad,”
Aamir
said
ruefully.
“However,
Reena
made
it
easier
for
me.
She
was
very
understanding.
When
the
film
completed
100
days,
I
went
up
to
Nasir
uncle
and
expressed
my
wish
to
bring
Reena
out
of
hiding.
He
agreed
and
I
was
thrilled.”
Aamir
Postermag
Creates
Near
Stampede
All
my
collaborations
with
Aamir,
whether
it
was
Movie
magazine
or
two
new
adjacent
concepts
Postermag
and
Classic
Postcards,
were
superhits.
Once
again,
Aamir
was
the
subject
of
the
first
issue
of
Postermag,
two
eight
sheeter
posters
which
when
folded
also
became
a
magazine.
When
Aamir
turned
up
to
release
Postermag
at
a
bookstore
in
Bandra
(north
west
Mumbai),
teenagers
from
a
nearby
college
lined
up
for
autographed
copies
and
soon
created
a
near
stampede
with
their
clamouring
for
the
star.
‘Chunk’
In
The
Armour
Photograph:
Kind
courtesy
Movie
Magazine
Inspired
and
enthused
by
my
golden
run
with
Aamir,
I
planned
another
Movie
cover,
this
time
with
Sunny
Deol,
Sanjay
Dutt
and
him
together.
But
Aamir
inexplicably
backed
out
at
the
nth
hour,
and
didn’t
turn
up
at
Sunny’s
bungalow
at
the
designated
time.
Sunny
had
organised
tall
glasses
of
lassi
for
us
but
I
was
too
preoccupied
to
sip
the
drink.
I
had
the
option
of
calling
off
the
shoot
or
organising
another
star
at
the
last
hour.
And
voila!
I
thought
of
the
single
unfussy
star
who
wouldn’t
crib
at
being
a
last-minute
replacement.
Chunky
Pandey
not
only
bailed
me
out
but
also
brought
his
own
singlet
after
checking
with
me
what
colour
singlets
Sunny
and
Sanju
were
wearing.
Fortunately,
things
have
a
way
of
working
out
for
everyone
concerned.
Hard
to
believe
that
over
30
years
have
elapsed
since
those
heady
days
and
Aamir
will
turn
60
on
March
14.
The
Poster
Boy
with
stars
in
his
eyes
has
now
metamorphosed
into
a
giant
star
whose
popularity
straddles
five
decades
from
the
1980s
to
the
2020s.
