From being a cart puller to making ₹25 lakh a year, the inspiring journey of celebrity photographer Munna Thaakur

Celebrity photographer Munna Thaakur has worked with almost all the A-listers from Amitabh Bachchan to Salman Khan in his 25-year-long career after starting from almost nothing. Munna used to earn a living as a newspaper hawker by delivering the daily newspaper to houses of film celebrities in Mumbai and eventually went on to capturing them in his lens. He also used to be a cart puller for quite some time in the city of dreams where he now is a prominent name in the world of photography and has all from Tiger Shroff to Taapsee Pannu among his followers on Instagram. “Rotigrapher to photographer” is how he describes his journey as a photographer. Also read: Jaya Bachchan gets shy as Amitabh Bachchan leans on her in throwback pic, Abhishek Bachchan shares post

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Munna opened up about how he learnt the ropes of photography as a part time job and all those who met and helped him in his remarkable journey. Munna is 48, unmarried, and a look at his Instagram account is enough to confirm his love for cycling in tough terrains with his camera for company. He was just 15 when he came to Mumbai from Akola, Maharashtra and worked as a newspaper hawker in Lokhandwala.

Arjun Rampal was his first celebrity

Opening up about how Arjun Rampal was his first celebrity, he said, “In my initial days, I also worked as a cart puller for some time. As a newspaper hawker later, I used to do a part time job at a photo studio. I used to bring and deliver pictures and would click passport size pictures. A man named Bilal Khan taught me how to operate the camera. I used to deliver newspapers at Arjun Rampal’s house as well. There, I told his servants that I wanted to shoot and they conveyed it to him. Arjun asked me to show him my previous work but I had none. I told him if the pictures didn’t come out well, I would delete the roll. He gave me a chance and I finally started out in the industry. Having a supermodel in my profile was definitely a boost for me.”

Some are left but I am sure I will get them.

“In my initial days, money was never on my mind, I just wanted to make my profile. My pictures would go to magazines as well which was enough for my requirements. And I continued to get one project after another. I used to visit celebrities and show them my work,” he added.

Sharing the long list of people he has captured through the camera, Munna said, “My first photo shoot with Mukul Dev was my first work which was printed in Zee magazine. I also worked with Mayuri Kango whose pictures were published in Stardust. After Arjun, I approached John Abraham and kept getting one link after another. John’s pictures were put on hoardings and then I shot Bipasha Basu as well. I went on to work with Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Dia Mirza, Shraddha Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha. Some are left but I am sure I will get them.”

How did he learn photography?

However, there is still a question about how a class 7 dropout could learn the technicalities of photography without getting any formal knowledge. Ask him and pat comes the reply, “Marta kya na karta (it was a do or die for me). I had to make it work. I kept on learning while doing it and it’s not that hard. Once you decide to do something, things start falling in place automatically. I kept on getting good guidance at every step. You learn from your mistakes and don’t repeat them and that’s how I have learnt. I have learnt about lighting by seeing others’ work.”

“In my case, I have been lucky that whenever I did a photo shoot with a celebrity, I got more opportunities to work with them. Everyone has his comfort zone and you get that vibe at work. And when the pictures are good, everyone likes it. I never faced trouble during any photo shoot. I never had to kill a photo shoot after clicking pictures,” he added.

On being asked about working with Amitabh Bachchan, Munna says, “He is a legend, you can’t even speak in front of him as words don’t come out of your mouth in his presence. He is so experienced that no matter how you click him, the pictures always come out good. I had shot with him for an ad film and a film’s look test.”

My entire life has been an incident: Munna

Munna also has several celebrities who have extensively worked with him like Salman Khan, Suniel Shetty, Sonakshi Sinha, Shilpa Shetty and Taapsee Pannu to count a few. “From where I started my career, every person has only helped me in my endeavour. I have come from rock bottom, climbed one step after another. Those who helped me in the beginning, I wouldn’t have been here. My entire life is an incident in itself. Every shoot was an incident for me but thankfully, all of them were good. After every single shoot, I tried to be better in my next,” he says. The photographer says that he just had around ₹25 in his pocket when he first came to the city and he now makes around ₹20-25 lakh a year.

Munna however, refuses to focus on anything other than his profession and continues to remain close to his roots. “I try to be in touch with anyone who helped me in my initial days and throughout my journey. Even those whom I used to deliver the newspaper to, I meet them even today. Only my sense of photography has undergone a change, not me. Mere ko hawa nahi lagi (I haven’t acquired ego). I am very close to my roots, if that is changed, nothing would make sense. Our performance should change for the better, not us as people,” he signs off.