I have been knowing Prasad Naik for the past several years, ever since as a junior he used to play at Shivaji Park Nagarik Sangh, where there was only one table. Those days, I used to play at the national level. My friend late Girish Vagal had introduced me to him, when I visited this club one evening. Those days, Prasd had started playing at local tournaments and played a very stylish game with forceful topspins. Later, he joined Matunga Gymkhana and improvised his game.
Prasad Naik poses with his trophy won during the 3rd State ranking Veterans TT Tournament in Men’s 50+ at Prabodhankar Thackeray Kreeda Sankul, Vile Parle, Mumbai.
When I met Prasad after long time, he had turned a reputed TT Coach. But, this time I saw him holding a camera with big zoom lens and clicking action photos at the invitational World Junior TT at NSCI. He was all excited to show his album and I was literally stunned to see all those photos clicked with perfection. Later, whenever I met him, he showed his latest clicked photos and I found more and more improvisation in his clicks with a lot of creativity. When I was assigned consultancy work by Zee Talkies for two years, I decided to invite Prasad Naik into my team and he agreed to find time once a week to click photos of Marathi celebrities. Within just two months he became so popular that some celebrities started inviting him for their personal photos. Believe me, all photos of lead artistes during ‘Sairat’ promotion were done by Prasad. It did not take much time for him to get invitations from Bollywood PRO’s and Prasad has collection of best photos of almost all Bollywood stars with him today.
During those two years, Prasad has taken several photographs of mine unknowingly, while speaking to many celebrities. In fact, he has surprised many artistes and sportspersons with his natural photos. This year beginning, besides playing, he was also doing his photography at the Indore Masters’ TT Nationals. And for the first time, I had an opportunity to take his photos while he was busy clicking pictures. Second time, I clicked his photo in action was while he was playing the finals of Veterans singles at MIG Club tourney. And he liked that photo. But, his latest photo was clicked by me after winning his second title of the seasonlast week . Holding a beautiful glowing trophy in his hands, no flash was required by me to click this photo.
I don’t know, how are you managing photography and your game together, Prsad . But, you are superb in both. More than that you are a wonderful person. No wonder you have won thousands of friends in sports and entertainment field. Wishing you all the best. Keep smiling !