Wanderlust Ice & Ink - Interview: From Filmmaker in India to Cruise Ship Photographer, The Cinematic Story of Tanay Rana

He once welcomed guests at the front desk of the iconic Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai. Today, he captures them through the lens of his camera, aboard a floating city in constant motion. Tanay Rana is far from a typical cruise ship photographer. A former hotelier turned cinematographer, he developed his eye for detail within the refined world of India’s five-star luxury hospitality, before sharpening it through narrative-driven storytelling rooted in the Indian independent film scene. From hospitality lounges to high-end music videos, from wedding shoots to dance films, his visual universe has always been guided by light, rhythm, and emotion.

After co-founding Aadi Production and editing over 200 video projects, many showcasing his work as Director of Photography, editor, and gaffer,Tanay immersed himself in India’s indie creative landscape, where dramatic framing and storytelling became his visual signature. Influenced by cinematic tradition yet deeply personal in tone, his work spans short films, food content, and music videos such as Bandeya, Kal Ki Hi Baat Hai, and Ek Ajnabee Haseena. Now part of the creative team onboard a world-renowned cruise ship company, Tanay brings that same cinematic sensibility to portrait photography at sea. Whether capturing a formal evening on the Promenade or a quiet backstage moment inside a show venue, his images feel drawn from a film still. With every click, fleeting encounters aboard the ship become visual narratives, where even silence carries emotion. Between velvet curtain reflections, shifting ocean light, and the constant movement of life at sea, Tanay continues to do what he does best: finding poetry in moments most people overlook, and framing them before they disappear.

I met Tanay during my very first week on board and immediately felt the warmth and generosity of someone deeply committed to his craft. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to shoot with him throughout the ship, from the grand theatre to the Promenade and even the ice rink of the cruise ship we are working on. Each space became a stage, and every moment felt cinematic. I still remember the kind glances and encouraging words from passing guests, genuinely curious and delighted to witness those moments being created. Tanay not only highlights his subjects with elegance and precision, he elevates the artistry around him, blending trust, vision, and light into every frame. Watching him work is witnessing someone in complete harmony with his art.

He once stood behind a front desk in one of Mumbai’s most iconic heritage hotels. Today, he stands behind a lens, capturing fleeting moments aboard a moving world at sea.

Tanay Rana’s journey does not follow a straight line, and that is precisely what makes it compelling. Photographer, filmmaker, editor, storyteller, and former hotelier, Tanay embodies a generation of visual artists shaped as much by circumstance as by intention. His story moves between disciplines, geographies, and roles, always guided by the same core instinct: observing before capturing, feeling before framing. Long before he ever held a professional camera, storytelling surrounded him. Tanay grew up in a theatrical household, where both parents were immersed in theatre for most of their lives. “Theatre teaches you one essential thing,” he explains. “Not just to look, but to observe. To study, understand, and realise what’s really happening in front of you.” This theatrical foundation would later define his entire visual language. For Tanay, an image is never just an image. It is an emotional construction, built from intention, rhythm, and presence. Whether through video, photography, or editing, his work consistently seeks meaning rather than spectacle. Interestingly, photography was never meant to become his profession. Though his father was a photographer, Tanay never imagined himself following that path. “It started almost by accident,” he recalls with humor. “I messed up my father’s camera as a kid, and got beaten for it. Very strict Indian parenting,” he adds, laughing. Yet that moment planted a seed: curiosity for the science of image-making, light, and mechanics.

From hospitality to the camera

Before cinema, before cruise ships, Tanay worked in luxury hospitality. He held positions in guest services and sales within high-end five-star hotels in Mumbai, including heritage properties deeply embedded in the city’s cultural history. This chapter, far from being incidental, shaped his understanding of human interaction. “Hospitality teaches you how to read people,” he explains. “How to make them feel safe, comfortable, seen.” Skills that would later become essential in his work as a photographer, especially when facing guests stepping in front of a camera for the first time. His professional turn toward photography came during COVID. As industries collapsed and uncertainty set in, Tanay leaned into the one skill that remained essential: media. “Media never goes out of business,” he says simply. What began as necessity quickly became vocation. Passion was pushed into profession, and revealed a version of himself that might otherwise have remained dormant.
 

Tanay is quick to clarify: owning a camera does not make one a photographer or filmmaker. “Anyone can take a video today,” he says. “But storytelling is completely different.” His approach is instinctive, often spontaneous. He describes himself as a “go-with-the-flow” storyteller, reacting to situations as they unfold rather than rigidly planning narratives. Yet this apparent spontaneity is underpinned by years of experience across formats: food videos, vlogs, weddings, narrative shorts, music videos, and extensive editing work, often uncredited, as ghost work. “Ghost work fed me,” he says honestly. “I didn’t need credit then, I needed to survive.” In a highly saturated industry, Tanay learned to create his own opportunities. Hundreds of videos edited in mere months sharpened his eye, speed, and precision. “Practice makes perfect,” he repeats throughout our conversation, not as a cliché, but as lived reality.

Cinematic instinct

Ask Tanay about aesthetics, and he reframes the question entirely. “Aesthetic is not what you see,” he explains. “It’s what you feel when you see it.” His goal is not cinematic imagery for its own sake, but emotional resonance. A frame becomes cinematic when it carries intention, regardless of the equipment used. This philosophy is evident in his work onboard. Whether shooting with professional gear or capturing moments on a phone, his images feel like stills from an unseen film. “I like pictures that look like they belong to a movie,” he says. It is a signature rooted in his theatre background and his dual role as both cinematographer and editor. Because he edits while he shoots, mentally assembling the narrative in real time, his workflow is fluid and fast. “While shooting, I’m already thinking about the edit,” he explains. This dual perspective allows him to streamline projects, delivering work in days that would typically take weeks.

Photography at sea: a discipline of trust

Working as a photographer onboard a cruise ship is far from a simple technical role. Tanay describes it as a fusion of three worlds: photography, guest services, and sales. “You don’t just take pictures,” he says. “You create the product, make sure the guest likes it, and sell it.” Every shoot is immediate. There is no post-production safety net, no extensive retouching. What is captured is what is presented. Precision, instinct, and confidence are essential, as is trust. “The first thing is to make people feel safe,” he explains. “Before you even pick up the camera.” For guests unfamiliar with photoshoots, the lens can feel intimidating. Tanay’s role is to dissolve that barrier, allowing the subject to forget the camera and simply exist. Only then can authenticity emerge.

A floating archive of stories

For Tanay, life at sea is a narrative goldmine. “This place is a treasure of stories,” he says. New faces every week, fleeting encounters, compressed timelines, a floating city where stories begin and end in days. Moments worth documenting before they disappear. Watching him work, it becomes clear that his camera does not dominate a space; it listens to it. During our shoots across the ship, from the Promenade to Studio B, spaces transformed into film sets, guided by light and movement. Guests paused, smiled, watched quietly. There was a shared sense of witnessing something being created.

Looking forward

While photography and editing remain his present, Tanay’s gaze is firmly set on the future. Narrative filmmaking, documentary, and eventually directing are aspirations he approaches with patience. “You need to understand editing before directing,” he says. “If you can edit well, you can direct well.” His philosophy is simple, yet deeply grounded: “If you’re struggling right now, it means you already have it in the future.”

It is a mantra shaped by experience, by detours, uncertainty, and persistence. And perhaps it is this belief that allows Tanay Rana to keep finding poetry in motion, even on a ship constantly moving forward.