Rohan Shrestha becomes first Indian photographer to shoot Lionel Messi

Rohan shot the images a month and he waited for Messi to win the World Cup to post them

Hyderabad: Imagine being given the opportunity to photograph your idol. Sounds like a dream job, doesn’t it? Celebrity photographer Rohan Shrestha was over the moon when he was approached to shoot football icon Lionel Messi, who recently led Argentina to the trophy at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Rohan travelled to Paris to do the honours.

He recently took to Instagram to share some stunning black-and-white portrait shots of Messi that he took for an Indian brand. He said that it was “the most incredible part of my year”. He added, “When people play the hypothetical game of “Who’s the one person you’d do anything to photograph?” for me it was always this one guy. Prior to photographing my hero I was nervous as hell. . I was a ball of anxiety prior and had to call up my friends to calm me down.”

He added, “The shoot was so smooth and eventually Messi was told by his team that I was a MASSIVE fan and at the end of the shoot he came over and hugged me. Post shoot ngl many tears were shed (sic).”

Rohan shot the images a month and he waited for Messi to win the World Cup to post them. “A few days ago I was fortunate enough to be in the stadium watching Leo lift that trophy. It was written in the stars and sometimes we just have to be grateful for what life gives us,” he said.

Celebrities such as Alia Bhatt, Pooja Hegde, Rashmika Mandanna, Ranveer Singh, Sania Mirza, and others congratulated Rohan.