Idiots, people said

Tarun Khiwal is a real-life character unlike Farhan (R. Madhavan) — one of the three idiots in the movie, an enginering graduate who choses to become a wildlife photographer.

Tarun Khiwal is a real-life character unlike Farhan (R. Madhavan) — one of the three idiots in the movie, an enginering graduate who choses to become a wildlife photographer.

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The story of Khiwal, a mechanical engineer who quit his job to click photos, is similar to Farhan’s.

But it was not wildlife that Khiwal zeroed in on.

Fashion, he decided, was a better jungle.

The Hasselblad Masters award he won in 2005 catapulted Khiwal into the big league. Today, he is one of India’s most famous fashion photographers.

Born and raised in Lucknow, Khiwal joined Institute of Tool Room Design, Lucknow, an Indo-German engineering Institute, in 1988 that helped him become a mechanical engineer.

“In college, I had quite a reputation as a photographer. I was often asked to take pictures at official functions. There was not much pressure, most of the teachers were German and they were pretty chilled out,” he says.

“My parents wanted me to pursue a secure career and get married. So I pursued mechanical engineering."

The concerned parents suggested, “I try out photography for six months and if it did not work, I would have to return to engineering.”

“I burnt all my educational certificates from Class 10 onwards. Now I had only one option: photography," Tarun says, recalling what he calls were days of intense emotional churning.