Photographer Rohan Shrestha who has taken photos of the likes of Virat Kohli and other stars recently got a chance to work with football legend Lionel Messi. He has also gone on to become the first Indian photographer to work with the renowned footballer, who won big at the FIFA World Cup 2022. On Thursday, Rohan shared pictures of the footballer that were clicked by him on Instagram. Along with the photos, he included a lengthy and emotional note in which he expressed his happiness as he is a huge Messi fan.
Revealing his dream collaboration, Shrestha said, “It all began as a simple WhatsApp message that I got from my wonderful friend, Manasvi ‘Hey, are you a Messi fan?’ ‘Man, I worship the ground he walks on.’ ‘Okay, so would you be interested in shooting him?’ He asks as I promptly reply with ‘I will give you my left n*t.’ So we’re going to Paris! It happened just like that. The most incredible part of my year.” Rohan further added, “Prior to photographing my hero I was nervous, what do I wear? Should I tell him I’m obsessed with him? I’m a Barca fan? No? Okay, let’s do what you normally do- let’s try to act professionally. ‘Don’t deviate, Rohan,’ I told myself, ‘be the photographer and not the fan’.”
Rohan Shrestha continued, “At the start of this shoot my hands were actually shaking and I was like, ‘okay this is what it’s like to be very very nervous. I was a ball of anxiety prior and had to call up my friends to calm me down. The shoot was so smooth and eventually, Lionel Messi was told by his team that I was a MASSIVE fan at the end of the shoot he came over and hugged me. Post-shoot ngl (not gonna lie) many tears were shed. Thank you to Homyar Patel my assistant who held me together when I was feeling nervous.”
On sharing the post, several celebrities penned sweet messages in the comment section. Ananya Panday and Alia Bhatt commented with heart emojis. Rashmika Mandanna wrote, “Ro ro. So happy for you….” Parineeti Chopra wrote, “Love this story! Lots of love Ro Ro”. Ranveer Singh commented, “Living the dream!”
Take a look at the pictures below:
Rohan also revealed at the conclusion of the post that the pictures were actually taken a month and a half earlier, but he held off releasing them until Messi had won the World Cup. On December 20, Messi did it during the final match against France, and Shrestha was present in the stadium to watch it happen.
