Showing an Indian Colombo

Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth and literally grow in to established family empires. Some start below the poverty line and sweat their way up to super stardom. And then there are a few who are a combination of both worlds. I found Rohan Shrestha to be of the third kind.

Born of the 6th of March 1985, Rohan is of Nepali origin. The son of one of India’s pioneer photographers Rakesh Shrestha, Rohan grew up surrounded quite literally by “lights, camera, and action”! Some of his earliest childhood memories include tampering with old cameras and watching his dad work his magical eye with silver screen celebrities of yesteryear. What began as child’s play soon became an interest fuelled by a passion to capture the world.

At a very young age Rohan started as an apprentice under his father as well as other prominent photographers in India. Wanting to pursue his passion further he soon found himself travelling to the United States to enroll as a student of the prestigious New York Film Academy. Little did Rohan know at that time that he would fall in love with the Big Apple and soon call it his second home.

An Eye for the Extraordinary

Unlike his father who perfected the art of film photography, Rohan wanted to be more adventurous. In an effort to widen the scope of his creative horizons, he began working on more than mere fashion shoots. He was soon to discover that “playing” with his camera’s techniques, manipulating light in the great outdoors and documenting his personal travels as the “NomadWithin” on Instagram would get him noticed for more.

Rohan’s breakthrough celebrity cover came in 2010 when the Filmfare Magazine invited him to shoot Ranbir Kapoor for their June issue. At just 25 years old at the time, this seemed like a daunting assignment but the results at the end of the shoot were nothing short of phenomenal. The image selected to adorn the cover with Ranbir in red chinos and a black shirt lazing in chair with a look of pure arrogance on his face, gave the actor a completely different persona and opened the floodgates for Rohan.

Since then he has photographed the likes of Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Karan Johar, Anupam Kher, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhishek Bachchan, Anushka Sharma, Vidya Balan, Imran Khan, Ranveer Singh and many others. One of his personal favourite shoots he says was with childhood best friend and neighbour Ranveer Singh.

Rohan is also an ardent nature lover and traveller and has documented many of his travels via his lens. Some of these images have depicted countries and cultures in such detail that today Rohan is also one of the most sought after photographers for global advertising campaigns. His simple depiction of the Japanese Cherry Blossom caught the eye of Diesel. Apart from that he has also shot for advertising assignments for Hermès, Satya Paul, Casio, JBL, Pepsi Co, Panasonic, Myntra, Chamomile, Pepe Jeans, Incredible India and Loreal.

When not capturing celebrities and cities, Rohan can be found in one of his favourite habitats, swimming with sharks. Documenting marine life in various parts of the world has been a passion that he has explored to great degree. Some of the greatest of these predators are yet to be immortalized by Rohan’s lens and is one of the top priorities on his bucket list.

 

The Nomad in Colombo

Rohan has been to Sri Lanka twice before on shoots and was here this time for Swim Week, capturing the happenings for a global fashion magazine. We caught up with him for a few hours to take him around Colombo and show him what no tour guide would probably have in their itinerary.

As a photographer, Rohan loves scouting locations and our first stop is to one of the most iconic in Colombo, the Independence Square. Mesmerized by the artistry of the columns and the history that surrounds Sri Lanka’s monument of independence, he also enjoys the many stories we had to tell him about how Ceylon gained independence from the British Empire. Our conversations lead to the relationship between India and Sri Lanka and inevitably from there to cricket while we make our way to the Arcade. Rohan loves hearing about the fact that this area was once an asylum and his dry sense of humour has us in fits of laughter.

Our next stop is on Highlevel Road to let Rohan try some our tropical fruits. Opposite the BRC ground, he quenches his thirst with a “thambili” and at our insistence tries both “rambutan” and “mangosteen”. Not a huge fan of fruits in general, he is quite taken up with what he calls the “red hairy fruit” and its taste and texture. We are careful to instruct him not to take a bite of the skin lest he ends up with a sore throat. He loves the rambutan but mangosteen not so much.

Thereafter we take Rohan on a mini shopping trip. He loves his bath and shower gels, bath oils and scented candles, so where better than Spa Ceylon. Purchasing enough to keep his bachelor pad in India and New York scented with the fragrances of Sri Lanka for many months, Rohan also stocks up on enough toiletries to flood his shower!

All this activity leaves not just Rohan but all of us starving, and when in extreme hunger one of the best places to head to is Life Food at Perahera Mawatha. Being a self-proclaimed “Foodie”, Rohan is willing to let us suggest his lunch. Our choice, the “Lankan Hero” or Life Food’s version of the classic kottu wrapped in a wheat rotti. Served with local favourite “pol sambol”, spice is no issue for this Indian and he enjoys his hearty meal while we share stories about food, family, films and so much more.

All in all we must’ve spent about 4 hours with this enigmatic man. Through our journey around Colombo though I have learnt that he is an introvert who prefers to ALWAYS be behind the camera, has achieved much is various spheres that people twice his age are still dreaming about, but still remains humble enough to not consider himself a “celebrity”. There is so much more to learn but I’m going to keep that for another day’s conversation when Rohan returns to explore Sri Lanka his way.

Written By Nishu Hassim

Photo Credit: Suren Nimalan (Soul Captures)

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