Cinematographers to look out for : the South Edition
Cinematographers to look out for : the South Edition – Making things come alive on screen
Never have I interviewed a Cinematographer nor have seen any interviews closely, what I can relate with them is the scene of the movie, more closely the impact he makes without the background music. A master who gives nature a different meaning and makes us believe that there exists another world that is of a different color or a background. For those who never knew what the beauty of the world is, they help us get closer to it, rather got us closer to reality. What they use is the camera and their technique to encapsulate and bring alive the work of many and get us(the audience) and the men behind it closer to our dreams. The actor may get a re-take or a take after a take, but it’s the cameraman who is always focused on making the script come alive without any re-takes, have you ever imagined that? When the director shouts ‘Action!’ and when the reel starts rolling after the clap, the man with the vision is our cameraman, the work done by all technicians, including the director is encapsulated and made alive by him on the track that rolls. It’s my tribute to those guys through PFC and also to Jeeva the special cinematographer from South who is no more.
This is my attempt to throw light into some of the masters who can show light brilliantly in their own way, making an impact. Have a glimpse:
1. A Muthiah - Poo(means flower tamil)
First thing that hit me was the wonderful trailer of poo. The camera angles were superb and there was something different about the work, especially at the end of the trailer the camera moves backwards in slow motion with dry/pale yellow grass flying all around with kids jumping in between. It was beautifully shot. There was something unique about the sky shown at different times in the movie. Muthiah probably wanted to show the effect it had on the flowers. Long and close shots were done in detail and displayed the meticulous work done behind the camera.
2. KV Guhan – Athadu, Mozhi, Jalsa
Watching Athadu was special in many ways, one was the way the director handled the story and the other was KV Guhan’s impeccable camera work. I would say it started a trend in the industry. From the fight scenes to the scenes in the songs, it still looks fresh and apt to the aura of the movie. A particular party song sequence where we have many balloons and people involved is shot wonderfully. It looks neat and crisp. The quality is simply great.
That brings me to Mozhi, a simple but wonderful movie on the take of a guy falling in love with a deaf-mute girl. Based on the subject treatment, Guhan did a wonderful job on the whole, the presentation was very subtle and apt to the feel of the movie.
3. Preetha – Abhiyum Nanum(Telugu: Akashamantha) – It’s always wonderful to see women contributing in technical aspects, leading the way for many others to follow. Abhiyum Nanum(Akashamantha in Telugu) is a wonderful film on father-daughter relationship. A relationship never explored much in Indian films. One of my favorite films and the second Radha Mohan film I liked. Preetha had wonderfully captured ” in the movie. The boat scene in the night when the daughter fulfills her father’s wish to scream in the middle of the river on a full moon night is shot wonderfully. The picturesque locations of the hill station are shown wonderfully.
4. S Krishna – Mungaru Male
What can I say about how the movie is shot. Just one word ‘impeccable’. Loved the way he captured the in-door and out-door scenes with equal panache. Looks like he did a lot of home work before he shot the scenes. Each scene is pleasing and makes the viewer speechless. It’s a pleasure to watch ‘Mungaru Male’ on the big screen because of the photography.
5. Sakthi Saravanan – Chennai 600028, Saroja
Something that unique about his camera work is the lighting. Most of the scenes in Chennai 60028 was shot in night and I am sure there would be few who would have shot Chennai so well and so raw in the night. It made me feel as if I were walking on the streets of Chennai, so pure and so connected. The cricket match scenes were also handled well. Saroja was more like a modern art of Sakthi, he explored a new region of showing colors in different lights. Both films were wonderful to watch.
Unfortunately, Jeeva is no more and more unfortunate is that he was not tapped to his potential. He could have very well been one among the best and would have gained popularity as a master craftsmen. Lighting technique used by him was amazing, subtle and very very natural for the scene. Making the whole picture look good without bright colors or landscape is quite an achievement. It’s not just the way he handled the lighting, but closer look at the frames would give us an understanding of how he managed the scene as the director and used camera angle to perfection. There is a lot to learn from his works.
Few more who surely need mention are K. V. Anand, Tirru(Kanchivaram fame), M.S.Prabhu, Ramji, Arjun Jena, Fowzia, and Andrew.
Tags: cinematographers, Cinematography, Guhan, Jeeva, Muthiah, Preetha, S Krishna, Sakthi, Technology, Tirru
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Great stuff..could you also include YouTube links to some of the shots from these movies? Would help immensely since I haven’t seen any of them other than parts of ‘Chennai 600028′..
Yes there are normal shots to be taken but some of them go beyond that because of their genius. A newcomer director depends heavily on the expertise of a cinematographer
You are so right when you said Sakthi captured Madras in such a raw format. I think one of the main reasons for that is because the camera angles were framed such that viewer is one in the crowd. Intelligent, I must say.
Thanks Nikhil, Here you go…
The trailer of the Film Poo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m9Xw4tLhhg
A wonderful song from Mungaru Male(well shot in rain):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxDc5OAkdwY
The crispness in Athadu, check out the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHwaSlo8dYY
Hi Sridhar
Timely article but I think Kanchivaram and Thiru’s mention should have been in the main article…
The cinematography in the movie is in a different class …
Look at how he plays with light and shadow…wonderful…
oops …missed the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw3vfoFvXfM
Hey bro, missed it, but later realized and added in my comments to Sivakumar
@Vinay – Agree with you. Cinematographer expertise matters, however the first time cinematographer will always give his best shot and deserves a break too.
@Sivakumar – Yes, in the song ‘yaaro..’(sung by SPB and Chitra) you almost feel like a guy on the street watching Chennai. Sakthi did a wonderful job in Saroja. Excellent camerawork.
A special mention of Cinematographer ‘Kathir’ as well who did some excellent work assisting Ramji on ‘Paruthiveeran’(Award winning film) and then went on to work for the stupendous ‘Subramaniapuram’. Great work by Kathir.
Since you mentioned Guhan and Athadu, one scene that stands out for me is the Tanikella Bharani-Nasser-Mahesh Babu confrontation in the field.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPDmje6mcG0
It has everything in the right proportion. It showcases the terrific timing of a terrific Bharani. The flexibility of Nasser, the underplay of Mahesh Babu (which I think is an intelligent mask for the lack of histrionics, and works only for this movie), the production design, the props used, good BGM by M’Sarma, the cotton (?) fields.
If I have not been able to capture everything in words, it is partly because the feel in the entire scene is so quite alien to Telugu cinema. It has drama but Guhan and Trivikram do not let it slip into a farce. Reminds of vintage RGV-Kota S’Rao- T’ Bharani times.
You are so right about “crispness”, Mayur. In fact the staging of the political rally is beyond compare at least in Telugu cinema, and it applies to the entire movie. Nothing path breaking, but something different.
@Santosh – Awesome scene. I always have been a fan of Tenikella Bharani, what an actor. Athadu makes you feel that films should really be made with such quality.
Your list has some gross exclusions. I also disagree with you calling a lot of these guys “masters”.
Kathir who shot “Subramaniapuram” is a cinematographer who exhibits tremendous vision, and really understands the need to shoot a film true to its mood.
Laxman, who shot “Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu” is one of the freshest DPs to come out of south India in a very, very long time.
Manoj Paramahamsa is another DP who has taken stylization to another level in Tamil cinema with the recent “Eeram”.
These are the new guys. Amongst the more experienced ones, the best still working in the south today is Rathnavelu who shot “Vaaranam Aayiram” and earlier Bala’s “Sethu”. He also shot the Kannada film “Gaalipatta” and is now shooting Rajini’s “Enthiran”. This guy genuinely is on his way to becoming a master, in the league of Ravi K Chandran and Santosh Sivan.
Saroja and Chennai 28 were an exercise in bending the digital grader in DI. The cinematography in both films was average at best, and the play with colors that you talk of is something that can be achieved with minimal effort in Digital Intermediate. I’ll agree with you on “Poo” & “Mozhi”, both shot conducive to the mood of their respective stories.
KV Anand and Thiru are wonderful DPs, but very rarely shoot films in the south. Anand directs in Tamil, but is shooting films in Hindi mainly.
Hi Vijay. Me terming them as ‘masters’ is only in laymen terms. Sorry for not being technical. I admire your knowledge in filming.
Talking about the DOP’s you’ve mentioned in awesome. My effort was the same. Maybe i’ve missed many, but my intent is to bring forward the work of Cinematographers who contributed in some way for Southern Cinema and the layman who does no know much about them. Thanks a lot for bringing much information about the DOP’s that I’ve not mentioned. I missed Kathir in my post. but did mention about his contribution in my comments above. I hail the work of these guys, the normal public really need to know more about their work and contributions.
There is 2 more Cinematogratphers called Venu and Sathya Hegde in Kannada..first 2 is Sathya hegdes work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOWYRtAZOjY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNV68s7ovlg
and this s Venu’s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6B5bcgkPIE
Good stuff Shipz. Thanks for bringing in this information on Kannada DOP’s.
Hey!Sridhar got to read the post just now and I realise that you’ve tried to convey what we discussed in Chennai ( along with my friend Kishore ). Certainly A.Muthaih in Poo and K.V.Guhan in Mozhi and Athadu did do a great job with the lens.Though an action film, Athadu was quite a treat to the eyes in terms of visual presentation.
And S.Krishna was splendid in Mungaru Male and his work only helped in capturing the beauty of Coorg very well thus enriching the movie.
Like Vijay said even I agree S.R.Kathiir, Rathnavelu,Manoj Paramahamsa and Laxman are people to watch out for.I also liked Mahesh Muthusamy ( Chitiram Pesudadi,Anjathey,Nandalala )’s work in Anjathey especially the climax portion in the fields.
And while Jeeva was a good DOP, he had already made a transition to a reasonably successful director.Nice initiative to write on the technicians I must say.
Hey Sethu. I hope I conveyed it rightly
Have Kishore read this, I am sure he would have ‘his’ opinions 
, and if you meet Kathiir tell him ’sorry, that I missed his mention in the main post’.
Yes, Anjathey was special. Mostly on the steady cam. Photography apt to the concept, especially the shades and the dark look. Jeeva was really good man, the Industry will surely miss him, his films were visual treats.
Thanks machan.
i think Senthil Kumar can also be added