Think of Vijay Mallya, and you think of a glossy calendar. Think of the Kingfisher calendar, and you think of Atul Kasbekar, the ace photographer who’s been capturing images of gorgeous models in swimwear for several years for Mallya’s iconic calendars.

The celebrated fashion photographer has wrapped up his 14th Kingfisher Calendar in a row, and has returned after a hectic shoot in the Seychelles. But there’s no respite from work for him. He, with Fox Entertainment, is the producer of the Sonam Kapoor-starrer, Neerja.

The film is “very close to his heart”, he stresses. “Neerja was a singularly remarkable experience and a cathartic one at that,” he says. But what about the other project that’s close to his heart — the Kingfisher calendar? Will his association — or the calendar itself — continue?

“The calendar is sponsored by the liquor company and has nothing to do with the airlines,” he says. And, no, he has “no comments” about Mallya, who owes banks more than $1.3 billion for his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines and against whom an arrest warrant has been issued by a court.

“For me Kingfisher’s has been an incredible journey,” he says about the glossy calendar — his brainchild — which some describe as India’s answer to Pirelli.

Will he helm the 15th edition of the calendar next year, or is he going to call it a day after having worked on it every year from 2003? “Fifteen is a nice number to consider,” he replies cryptically, but declines to elaborate.

Kasbekar’s hands are full. The biopic on the life of Neerja Bhanot, a senior flight purser of Pan Am killed by hijackers in 1986, has won popular and critical acclaim, and he is happy with the way it’s turned out.

What made the 50-year-old lensman turn to production? “After working for 20-odd years with Bollywood celebrities, as a photographer and through my celebrity management company, moving into production was a natural progression for me,” he replies.

He had been toying with the idea of producing a film and was looking for the right script when, during a casual office meeting, his business partner, Shanti Sivaram, suggested that he have a look at a concept note written by Saywan Quadras, the writer of Mary Kom, on Neerja.

“I jumped at the opportunity, even though I knew little about the process of filmmaking,” he admits. “But after meeting Neerja’s mother, I had little doubt that we would succeed,” he says.

To his surprise he found that every door that he knocked on opened up for him. Ram Madhvani, an ad film maker who had earlier declined film assignments with some very big names in the industry, agreed to direct the biopic. Fox Star Studio decided to back the project with a first-time producer and director. Every location that he wanted for a shoot was available with the minimum of fuss.

“I think we were blessed by some divine forces,” he observes.

The film, he stresses, was a mix of strange coincidences. There were many who knew Neerja or were close to her, he says.

“A friend of mine, a Pan Am flight purser, was meant to have flown that day but swapped with Neerja. My brother-in-law was her classmate at Bombay Scottish. The mother of one of our assistant directors was a passenger on the flight. Director Madhvani’s partner shot with Neerja the day before she took off on her last flight. Madhvani’s wife’s best friend was Neerja’s friend.”

He himself was studying in the United States when the plane was hijacked. “I remember being glued to the television,” he says.

The photographer, who dropped out of a chemical engineering course at the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, to study photography at the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, US, where he was the batch topper, hopes to have his film screened at his alma mater because the school was the foundation of his photographic education.

Meanwhile, after 20 years as a fashion photographer, he wants to zero in on portraits because he likes to study and shoot faces. “I would love to do some serious portraiture, which will be creatively satisfying. I feel each face has a character and a story to tell,” he notes.

The man who first made his mark in the industry by shooting for an advertisement for Park Avenue owns the celebrity management company Bling! Entertainment Solutions, whose clients include Deepika Padukone, Abhay Deol, Sonam Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Abhishek Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar. He also served as the honorary chairman of the Photographers’ Guild of India. 

Kasbekar also launched a company called Corporate Image, which manages the identity of a company’s top management and spokespersons. He has already worked with many corporate honchos, including Ratan Tata, Vijay Mallya and Anil Ambani. “We seek to photographically capture the personality of a company through the individuals who lead it,” he explains.

He is a photographer who has been on both sides of the lens. He pulls up his cuffs to point to the Carl Bucherer watch that he is wearing. “I am the brand ambassador for the company,” he says, and adds that he has also modelled for Mahindra Xylo MUV and Panasonic Lumix cameras. “But I prefer being behind the camera.”

With so much work at hand, does he get enough time to spend with his family? “Whenever, I am at home I like to spend time with my wife and 19-year-old twins Arnav and Naomi,” he replies.

Apart from photography, Kasbekar has another passion — and that’s football. “I am a great fan of Arsenal and do not miss any of their matches. I am also a health freak and hit the gym regularly,” he adds.

Now that Neerja has been released, Kasbekar is considering other film projects. Given an opportunity, will he ever direct a movie? “I will do that when I feel I have learnt enough of the craft to be able to direct a movie,” he says, and then adds, “I don’t think I will make a bad job of it.”