Celebrity weddings have always been a public attraction. From getting a glimpse of a star’s big day to capturing the exact moments, all these little details are extremely essential when a high-profile wedding is being shot. When it comes to Bollywood, though there are a bunch of famous wedding photographers, one who often remains at the top of the list has to be Vishal Punjabi, also better known as ‘The Wedding Filmer.’
Who is Vishal Punjabi?
Vishal Punjabi is the founder of The Wedding Filmer, who has shot and produced between 360 and 500 wedding films. Punjabi is more famous for shooting high-profile Bollywood celebrity weddings, along with those of the Ambani siblings.
Raised in Ghana, Vishal revealed in an interview that during his childhood, he was not much a part of big fat Indian weddings. His parents got divorced, but they found their way back to each other again during Punjabi’s sister’s wedding.
To explore Indian culture and how these big fat weddings take place, Vishal was left with only one option, which was to cover Diwali balls and Bollywood movies. However, do you know when Vishal came to India, the very first job he bagged was as the creative director in Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Red Chillies Entertainment.
Vishal also worked with director-choreographer Farah Khan on her debut movie Main Hoon Na (as a production assistant and later with the VFX team), Farhan Akhtar on Don and Zoya Akhtar.
The opportunity turned out to be a massive gateway for Punjabi, and from there on his journey began. Since then, Vishal Punjabi never looked back and went on to become one of the biggest and well-known figures for shooting B-town weddings.
When was The Wedding Filmer found ?
According to media reports, Vishal founded the company 13 years ago. Vishal first considered starting a company after he got married in 2010 and created his own wedding film. The video went viral on YouTube, and viewers soon wanted similar films for their weddings. A few months later, he launched The Wedding Filmer.
The first-ever Bollywood wedding Punjabi covered was the ultra-private Anushka Sharma–Virat Kohli wedding in Tuscany, Italy, which had about 42 guests. Over the years, Vishal has shot many prominent weddings, including Deepika Padukone–Ranveer Singh, Kiara Advani–Sidharth Malhotra, Rakulpreet–Jackky Bhagnani, Katrina Kaif–Vicky Kaushal, Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani, and many more.
How much Vishal Punjabi’s The Wedding Filmer charge per shoot ?
According to media reports, Vishal Punjabi’s The Wedding Filmer charges Rs 7.4 lakh per day of shoot.
