Being able to capture delicate, intimate, real, emotional and candid moments during wedding festivities is not only a tough job but also a beautiful and rewarding one. Megha Bhatia, an ambitious, energetic and focused 30-year-old founder of Israni photography, is a brand to reckon with. She, who enjoys weaving stories and ‘being a carrier of happiness, on the occasion of having completed 10 years in the business, launched her new book - “The Jitters behind the Glitters.”
After having worked on over a thousand weddings, including celebrity weddings of Disha Parmar & Rahul Vaidya, Geeta & Harbhajan Singh, Himesh Reshammiya, Neeti Mohan and more, she decided it was time for her to sit down and compile these memories into a book. “I wanted to do this to bring out the needs, desires and last-minute problems of the brides and their families, with short stories that highlight real-life anecdotes. It’s an attempt to bust some myths, bring out some hope after heartbreaks and help brides focus on marriages rather than weddings. This book has several emotions of kanyadaan, bidai and more, while also highlighting how marriages are a constant work in progress,” she tells CE.
Taking us through the process of her writing the book, given it’s her first time, she says she decided to write during the pandemic when the initial months of the pandemic felt ‘depressing, stuck and locked. “I picked up the phone and began talking to a few brides I had worked with in the past, and started writing their stories with no intentions to launch a book. However, over time, I came across several raw and emotional anecdotes of brides and grooms and realised how much they had to share about their wedding. It is a first-of-its-kind book written from the perspective of a third person - the photographer. It reveals the reality of marriage in the millennial age - with or without a grand wedding, it is important to focus on the marriage and make it a beautiful one,” she shares.
Drawing parallels between writing and photography, she says, “Both are about weaving stories authentically. A lens and a pen describe a story and showcase raw emotions. Neha & Rahil’s wedding was a royal affair at Taj Falaknuma, Hyderabad, with A-list celebrity guests including the Ambani family. Sharing some inside ‘deets’, she says, “For Nehas’ dad, she was his pride and luck that would never fade away until his last breath. He was struggling to hold back his tears when her big day finally arrived. The footsteps of someone who held his fingers grew big enough to hold another hand. It took a heavy heart for him to let Rahil hold her hand and sway her off.
He also dedicated a song to his daughter’s bidaai!” Does she foresee that a particular moment would be worth the capture which will be cherished decades later? She answers, “Photography is all about capturing raw, natural and unprocessed feelings. In our country, weddings are not just about the couples but also two families coming together. Over time, I figured out certain rituals and gestures that trigger these emotions and other times, it’s about being on the lookout for those moments.”