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The Journey… from Hockey to Cinematography…
Note: Santosh Sivan has been quite eager to start his diary on PFC, but had been quite busy and tied down in his projects. PhoenixNu suggested he record opening pages of the diary on a Dictaphone which he would type and publish verbatim until Santosh got some free space to start writing himself. Following is the first part of the entire recordings that Santosh provided to PhoenixNu. Santosh will be writing very shortly as soon as he gets some free time from his extremely tight schedule.
PhoneixNu writes:
I’m in USA… will catch up soon. I’m in Japan… will catch up soon… shooting in London… will catch up soon. It’s very difficult to track Santosh Sivan. Yes, Santosh Sivan… you spell it and u think visuals…Dil se, Roja, Gardish, Saza-e-Kalapani, Halo, Thalapati, Rudali, Terrorist, Iruvar, Ashoka, Meenaxi… It’s a long list with some 40 films in various languages…more than 10 national awards, more than 20 international awards and what not. Finally caught up with him when he was in Mumbai recently. We at PFC, had some thousand questions to ask him. KK (kartik Krishnan) alone can ask thousand more. Was wondering what to do, how to go about it. Finally decided it’s better to let him go the way he wants to go. So, here is Santosh Sivan….in rewind mode….
OVER TO SANTOSH SIVAN…
It was in 1985, when I passed out from the institute ( FTII). I had little bit of background. My father used to do lot of still photography and documentaries and all that. So I was very kicked about this thing. Photography bit and all, I started very unconsciously I think. I used to play hockey. Have represented south zone junior nationals and all. When in school, Kerala is a place, its always raining for few months. We have lots of elements of water. Either there is pond, or it’s raining all the time, we have sea water or backwater. So the presence of water is very much in our life. And am always very fascinated by this. Because we used to play hockey and all that. So it was my job to stand on top of the terrace and look at the clouds. Unlike today, in those days, not many tall buildings used to be there and so you see the clouds to figure out whether it will rain or not rain. After some time I became quite an expert at this. All my friends would call up and ask… Do you think it will rain today or not? Do you think we should all come? Because we have to go to one particular place and play hockey…the medical college ground… So I would say something like Ya it would clear up after 1 min or half n hour later it will rain.
Slowly I realize that I could time it very well. But unconsciously what it did was while watching these clouds build up or disappear I also started seeing different shades of green and blue and how this plant will looked against this kind of blue or against this kind of cloud that green is beautiful. I started seeing magical moments in it. Suddenly when the sun would burst in it after a quick shower and lit up the whole damn thing. Or then a new freshness of the green or things like that. So you start understanding about nature that the best thing about nature is its constant change. Later on when I did film like, the ad film tourism films of Kerala, everyone would say to me… we have not seen kerala like this, how is it this that its like this.
I just tried to capture the changes. Because I think most things that are beautiful if they are captured when its fleeting, its momentary. Whether from evening to night or early morning just when the sun peeps out. Those things are very fleeting and there is some magic about it. And these things have to be captured are very fast. That is one of the reasons may be, that I work very fast. I try to speed up everything in the sense that I try to capture maximum changes. When I did the Kerala tourism gig, I told my dad that I am going to do do a tribute for him, that’s what i do normally because whenever you do a film and then say that you are going to do a film for somebody you like very much. Then what happens is that you become a little bit honest. When you do tribute for your father then you don’t want to do some kind of work that you imitate something. Or something that you have seen somewhere as in a magazine or a movie, you try to do it with some kind of purity and dignity because you are doing it for someone you really love .
And then you find that you also get all the energy you need from that. Whenever you feel tired, you will say to yourself “bloody hell I’m doing it for my father… So I might as well pull my socks up and really go all out and give it my best shot”. Which is how, I approach my projects. But in the beginning you also begin by imitating and understanding, you like to see all different kinds of things. So I think being born and bought up in Kerala, I am one of the luckiest people. Because Kerala is a state of visual language. Like so many other states too, like Bengal and all. But Kerala you have many things like Kathakali and metaphors and lyrics and many kind of visual metaphors.
I studied in a school called Loyala school. And whats most interesting is that everything from blackboard to the priest’s dress to the school uniform to the pencil to the pen… everything has a black and white quality to it. Everything!!… you know. Then you have someone like me having all these kinds of education and all this kind ambiance and then you are straight taken to a place called Haripad which is like a center of all cultural activities where there are festivals for 10 days, where 10 elephants come, they bathe, there is lush green backwater and there is this whole visual culture of art forms like kathakali, theiyam and different kinds of things which are like bust of colours for someone like me.
Because you have come from black and white kind of scenario into this wonderful world, you are able to understand it on a very subconscious level. And then in Haripad you meet your grandmother. Because my grandmother used to sketch and draw. She had all those tales to tell. All kind of tales of good n evil, how the yakshees and ghost wearing those old fashioned clothes would appear suddenly.. And they will ask you for this or that thing. So when you sleep you keep on imagining about these things. May be these are the fist kind of visuals that you imagine. These kind of stories which you have heard but not seen in real life. So, you start imagining. And then they tell you more storeis like that… oh my God!… like there is a serpent’s stone which is inside the temple hidden under waterfall. All these I made into a film called Anandbhadram. I made a Malayalam film. Which is all about my visual sense. I also have a whole song based on Raja Ravi Varma kind of painting even though he was painter known for gods n goddess’ paintings. But i also have tried to incorporate romantic kind of thing with those kind of image
All of youR influences makes you imagine somethings… many things… When in school, I read a book called Jungle Book. And then there was this amazing story called Blue Bead… which I thought was visually very good. I made that into a film called Malli. This is very funny, because after I made that film, lot of my old school friends met after 25 years and we all caught up because we all share the same stories.
Even when I read Asoka in school, we used to have fantastic classes. The classes were just after lunch. The teacher who used to take these classes used to try to hide his burps by acting it out and expressing it in different style. Pretty soon half the class was pretty much bored with the whole thing. Then one day he asked how many of you liked the story that I have narrated. He wanted to be an actor I guess. He would act it out…..How he walked into the battlefield and all that. It was a strange thing. All of us said that we didn’t like it., because he has stopped fighting war. If someone has stopped fighting war then he is not the king anymore. All of us said to hell with you, he is not fighting, so we are not interested. So he was very hurt actually. Infact I have tried to use that burping in Johnny Lever’s character in the film.
Then he asked one strange question. “How many of you people throw stones at dogs”. We all put our hands up. You know what I mean. Because that was one of the great time pass thing. Then he said that one day you guys will stop throwing stones at dogs. That time we didn’t know what Asoka was all about. So it is something like that you wanted to do a film something thats not about winning n losing only. Its about the whole pointless business of war. It’s about what you loose in the end when people die…. it’s very easy to evoke so much of emotions in people when you see dead bodies of war, people crying over the body.
I also like that idea that when you die, the sun and the moon comes out, think that you have liked looking at them, now you will miss them . One of the greatest moments was when I had Shah Rukh walking in frame where I could shoot the scene when sun was going down and the moon was rising, which is in one shot and I managed to get that!!!
But after all these conquests there is only one realization… that may be you only belong to the land but you can never conquer the land. Or you can never buy any house or piece of land and say this is my land. You just belong to it for tiny bit of time. You can put marks and walls all around and say that it is “Yours”. But the fact is “You” belong to it for just sometime… and that’s the Truth… that’s the Zen…
56 Responses to “The Journey… from Hockey to Cinematography…”
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wow! Welcome to PFC Sir. Its an honour. :)
Welcome aboard Santosh. Am sure you are a idol to most of us cinema fanatic out here and its a great honor to have you.
Keep em coming…
santosh sir, welcome to PFC and please brace yourself for the storm that’s about to happen here with your entry :) eagerly waiting for more…
Wow…alighting …and with this post Santosh Sivan belong to us for a while…:)^:)^^:)^
Thanks phoneixNu for this…
Hi Santosh
Welcome to PFC…Your article was as colorful and beautiful as your cinematography always is…
And thanks a ton PhoenixNu…
Welcome aboard sir, Thanks a lot Phoenixnu. waiting to hear more from you.
Greetings Mr.Sivan. John Malkovich presented’The Terrorist’ at a screening in Los Angeles a few years ago and I was completely blown away. Yes, I definitely can see your fascination for water in that film…it is almost like a living,breathing character in some sequences.
Hope to see more of you around…
Welcome aboard Santosh and thanks PhoenixNu
Whoopie….Santosh Sivan. My God. What an appearance. Mindblowing stuff to start off. I saw Roja at least 6 or 7 times and everytime imagined how the shot might have been taken, at which angle, elevation etc etc.
Whenever we took photos with our cameras, we would deliberately tilt and then say, this is Santosh Sivan style…hahaha. I simply cant believe that iam reading him now. Whoops.
dhanyavad.main ise hindi mein publish karna chahoonga.mujhe kis se permission lena hoga ya courtsy dena hoga.
WELCOME TO PFC SIR, It had been a treat this weeek at PFC.
Loved “Helo”…. no mention of that in the post:(. The kid was spetacular and the support cast great too. It was clearly something different for your other ventures.
Santosh sir and onir sir,
very warm welcome on PFC.
poore week me hum login ke to jalse ho gaye!
hoping lots more from both of you.
I have a request. My extended family are all film crazy and they claim distant relationship to everyone from Sivan sir to Ratnam to YRF to the Kapoor dynasty. This is my first chance to tell them that you don’t have to be related to someone to like their work and be proud of them.
Can you disclose what town in kerala your parents are from, it will save me from a life time of torture…
I want to point out to readers that from the early 90s onwards, the first star cinematographer was Sivan and he brought a lot of respect, credibility and artist status to a profession that was generally considered “techinician”.
Quick, who shot Sholay or Deewar?
Who shot Omkara or anymof your favorite movies? The director is not the maii-baap of the movie….
It always is and will be a collaboration and it is high time that other contributors got their due.
And please don’t conflate a cinemtaographer’s job with “visuals look nice - picture postcard”. He/shoe does more than that. A lot more.
What if Santosh Sivan was not the son of cinematographer and filmmaker Sivan ? Would he be in the industry ? Elder brother Sangeeth Sivan is also filmmaker who directed hit movies like Yodha(Malayalam), Kya Kool Hai Hum, Apna Sapna Money Money, etc. Younger brother Sanjeev Sankar is also a filmmaker who directed Aparachitan(Malayalam).
But Santosh Sivan made his own identity and it would be a loss if he hadn’t been in this industry. A great talented man and a great talented family.
Mr.Sivan, could we please have your thoughts on the great cinematographer Mr. K.K Mahajan who passed away yest morning?
Hey Santosh. Welcome.. so another master joins PFC. Anyway could you shed some dirt on “Before the rains”?? Have heard it’s premiering at Toronto in Sept. What about the Indian release date???
= Pankaj, Santosh just sent me some details on Before the Rains… will put it up by early next week… yes it’s coming to Toronto :)
thanks oz =d>
Well Mr. Sivan, love what you say about land and how you can never ‘conquer’ it. I guess that is what your Asoka was about too, when it was released the reviews and all said that it was not what people wanted to see in a movie on ‘Asoka’ but I liked it.
Now this is some stage to get labelled as an outcast…
Everytime I watch Padmarajan’s “Njaan Gandharvan”, I am transported to a world the director wanted its viewers to be in for the entire length of the movie while at the same time I am able to in conjunction with that empathise with every character in the movie…
I donno how much a movie watcher cares for a director’s attempt to create a postcard-like movie as much as he or she cares would care about establishing some “EMOTIONAL RESONANCE” with a movie ..
and , ANANTHABHADRAM just didnot do it for me..
There just wasnt any connection…
I agree it was a grandmother’s tale kinda thing being retold on screen and hence should be seen with that amount of discretion.. but it ended up being a todo over-indulgent, self-appraising kind of movie..
^:)^
welcome mr.sivan
Hi Santosh
I love the way you talk about the image of the sun and the moon being the last the last image… so very beautiful a thought…
Mr. Sivan this thought of dedicating a film for someone…a kind of tribute..is an amazing thought..Its a work-as-zen technique..for one likes to give ones best for loved one
…this philosophy reflects in your work…wonderful and worth imbibing..welcome to PFC..
Welcome Santosh:
Hope soon you start writing your diary on PFC.
With that Zen Phiolosophy, Hrishikesh Mukherjee had started his jounrney as a director when he had made his first film “Musafir”.
A house and different people residing there at different times and their different stories and yet some common threads.
Welcome again
Everything’s nice about the post but the NAME - sin and zen —PLEASE can you think of something more appealing?????
=dabba (13)
Excuse me If I read it wrong -
Did you mean to say that Sholay and Deewar are great films because of cinematography only?
(Sholay - Diwakar Diveche) (Deewar- Kay Gee)
Films are not merely Cinematography otherwise every good cameraman would have given great films.
If some cameramen have directorial instinct then its a different task. e.g, Govind Nihalani planned his journey of film making via cinematography to direction.
Satyajit Ray wanted to put more what he thought and hence he took charge of camera also in his later films, though in his Appu Triology he had master cameraman Subrata Mitra.
We dont find films made by some of great cameramen existed in hindi cinema.
If a director knows about camera work also its additional benefit but its not necessary that who knows too much about cameraman will necessarily end up in making a good film. Camera work is the most important aspect of film making but still film making should be much more than camera work.
Camera work can be physical body but soul lies somewhereelse and that alchemy to bring life to stills captured by camera lies with Directors and not with cameraman.
Though they both (director+cameraman) make inseparable pair.
Mr.Sivan. Plenty of questions to ask, from the terrace-shot in Iruvar to Orangish-frames of Thalapathy. But first, Welcome sir!
^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^
That indeed is ZEN… well put Sir…
Welcome aboard.
Phoenixnu & Oz: thanx, guys!
Santosh, you are my god. THANKS for being here & sharing with us.
Dear santosh Sivan,
I admire your work.. you are different and a trend setter.. Once I came to meet you, while you were shooting for ‘ananthabadram’,. I did knew kavya and her father.. i thought through them I could meet you.. unfotunately u were not there and I had to catch my flight from bangalore next day.. anyway.. now I have a chance to see u in toronto international film festival.. since your ‘before the rains’ is there for the festival/./. congrats!! and I missed the oppertunity to watch the shoot.. I am from munnar.. and we had estate just next to the place you all did some scenes.. near lakshmi..
anyway.. indra was telling me that u may come for the toronto festival./. hope to see u there.. and hope one day i can be a good director.. or choreographer// could you please let me know if we can meet in toronto.. my email is viloo_kurian@yahoo.com
thanks
:)
dear santosh,
we need more words from..
as well as more films..
welcome
Helo Santhosh sivan
I loved watching MALLI.It was visually appealing.U r a boon to tamil cinema(IRUVAR ROJA THALAPATHI DIL SE).I dont understand why most of the country’s finest cinematographers come from either tamil nadu or kerala (balu mahindra,p.c.sriram,ravi k chandran,RAJEEV MENON…. etc…..)Hope u have the answer?
Dear CS(as you were known then),this is TMD after a very long time saying hello to our most famous classmate.
Hello Sir.. So nice to see you here .. i am a great fan of you from beginning from roja days…. the first time i see the full use of hand held camera shot, where the girl bring food for Arwind swamy.. i was small, but dont know that shot blown me away.. the smooth movement forwrad.. not like what seen at that time , only up and down.
Please write something about the shoooting of Chaiiya Chaiiya song.. in youtube, this songs is a rage and they say they never see anything so unique, so original like that.. .:)
welcome sir.
Dear Santosh Sir,
I am a great fan of yours from the Roja Days. I really like the Visuals you capture. The Kerala Tourism ad is really mindblowing. The Terrorist is simply outstanding. I really cherish watching your movies.
Plz don’t stop this Blog
Hi Santhosh Sir,
Had good fun reading through the article especially the bit about school !!
I did my schooling from Loyola(Sreekariyam) ,1985-1998.More than that my house is at Pongummoodu :) and am good friends with Nakul(Dr.Shaji Prabhakarans son,the house directly opposite ure pongummoodu house-Sivans studio).
Need to discuss one small thing with you,if you could mail me your contact details I could call you or mail you from my personal id.I know you are busy but still trying !!This is about a small music album project.Im right now in Singapore.
PN: If anyone reading this comment has Mr.Santhosh Sivans mail id please mail it to me
Regards,
Thariyan Chacko
thariyan.chacko@gmail.com
(65)92715039
Does anyone have a trailer for Halo. Please.
I really want to watch one. Just because.
Thanks..
Dear Santosh Sivan,
Read some great reviews about ‘Before the Rains”
keep rocking@@
Hope u had a nice time in Toronto
One question
Do you have any asst Director now?? are u looking for one?
hello sir,
U R excellent. Gr8 work. and like everyone else I am also a fan. I would like to suggest something interesting to you. I would like to see some of our yesteryear middlestream cinemas remade.. like yavanika…it is an excellent movie…realistic..touching..I wnat to see this remade in a contemporary setting. the female protagonist’s role could be extended.
not like the stupid remakes they are making in hindi these days…my idea is that the present generation should see the great cinematic art of the masters, by recreating the same.
anoop
Hi,Santosh, i always give your name as example how a cinematographer spoils a good cinema?the film i am talking, is Maniratnam”s “DIL SE..”..Very powerfull story,very powerfull script,great concept..but because camera over took the story..which i believe was soul.you manage to spoil the film as a content.it was only cinematographer standing out in the whole film ,,,which i feel very bad for any good cinema and also bad sign of any good creative person. ONLY GOOD SHOTS DONOT MAKE A GOOD FILM..As a creative technician i believe he should not go above the story.but always one stop under.similarly in “ASOKA” also..but in your film “TERRORIST”"we can see a FILM.with full justice being done to the story.No one was overtaking the soul of the film..not the director,cinematographer,cast..no one.. only story…great effort.
hello sir,
telling you that i’ve folwwed up almost all movies of yours and then telling which one’s actually my favourite would be quite a cliche’….im an interior architect gearing up to venture into production design…i’d like to know how you go about a movie as in how a cinematographer, a production designer and a director put together the visually tactile bits of the movie together?
my reason for asking you this is your movies are very rich on the ‘visual’ tactility note….great direction,awesome spaces and fantastic cinematography…..
i’d be very glad sir to get in touch with you.
happy working!
wow!welcome mr Sivan.. what a wonderful post..i could actually visualize what you said..it was beautifully written..hope to see your movie soon…all the best for everything.:)
Hi Santhosh,
Here I am wondering where you are ( the last we met after school was when you were in FTTI and I in NDA, Khadakwasala and up pops your name on the net. Great of you to recollect our old “Pazham” and his History classes and replicate his burps in a movie. If you have the time, catch me at joseph.puli@gmail.com and I am at Chennai these days.
Cheers,
TD
Santhoshji,
I admire your crativity as a cameraman a lot. But your directorial aproach has not done the same magic with me. Please dont get in to worthless projects like ‘Ananthabhadram’ Why do you think you have to compromise to the typical formula in Malayalamwhile you trying to do out of the box stufff in Hindi and English? A lot of us have hope on you hence the concern.
sir,
actually it has taken this much time to seep through. that it is real. the santosh sivan may read what i have written here.
you made Ashoka
and you won me for forever.
this was the film who made me realize that cinema can carry a meaning, its not just timepass.
@};-
Guruji
I love your photography in all the films mention above, =d>
but about ‘Ashoka” , apart from cinematography,.
I didnt get the Ashokas character, in visual way,
his hairstyle looks modern in few scenes, and his sword looks fake,.
just want to know, how do you guys research for such a historical theme,.
need this info,.
:)
[...] the movie then a world away from Loyola, about which Santosh Sivan once said “Everything from blackboard to the priests dress to the school uniform to the pencil to [...]
hello sir
i recently read abt qualification to be a south indian heroin..welll i am fair,can dance,a bit fattty around hips…and u can meke me act pls ….consider me for a role
“I also like that idea that when you die, the sun and the moon comes out, think that you have liked looking at them, now you will miss them . ”
Is this guy for real…This is all so weird. This notion of a bunch of images making up a film. A film should be centered around a story not about how SRK should be framed against a setting sun or a rising moon…or whatever. This whole southern sensibility focused on Prabhu Deva style dancing, Jackie Chan style action sequences, garishly bright visuals, is getting to me.
And what is all this “sirjee” business. It seems that only wannabee directors and writers make-up PFC these days not real cinema lovers. Me fair and fatty too sirjee Sivan, can I get a role please….
“This whole southern sensibility focused on Prabhu Deva style dancing, Jackie Chan style action sequences, garishly bright visuals, is getting to me.”
Are we talking of the absolutely non-garish sensibilities portrayed in Asoka by Sivan? Jackie Chan action? Prabhu Deva dance? I think you need to ask Shankar for a role - he will gladly give you one. Failing that there is Murugadoss.
Dear Mr. Savan,
I just came from your film, Before the Rains. It was the second time I went to see it and my favourite of the films I’ve seen in the Tribeca Festival. During the Q&A I asked the last two questions about why you chose for Sajani’s character to not have children (as this seemed inaccurate not only historically, but for a small village in India today), and whether or not she would be an outcaste if she had stayed in another region and started a new life, learned a new language, etc. I had difficulty understanding your answers to those questions and I was unable to respond to what you said. In regard to the outcaste question, you said that she would be an outcaste and that I too would be one, should I go to Kerala. You even smugly laughed and invited me. It amused me because I recently did go to Kerala. I spoke to many villagers and a few people working in and around the tea plantations of Munnar, coincidentally enough. Although I did not agree with many Keralan’s assertion that they are the friendliest region of India, I never felt an outcaste. I was certainly a curiosity and this got to be tiring and very irritating at times, but for the most part, it went both ways. Your answer to my thinking it strange that she would not have children was that she chose not to. This I find to be very contradictory to the theme of the film, which I interpreted to be partly centered around the ability to make choices (her inability to choose her powerless position in life as a woman, her courageous decision to seek a new life with her love affair, TK’s choice to be part of “both worlds” and later his decision to not kill Moores, thus becoming an outcaste, and finally joining the revolution). As a woman her freedom to make choices for her life is extremely limited. She is well aware of this and she explains this to TK in the scene where he judges her and tells her she made a wrong choice. Regardless of the love she shared with Moores, she was literally his servant, the servant of two men. One chosen for her and one she chose for herself. It makes sense, according to the plot, for her to not have children, because perhaps it would be harder for the viewer to empathize/sympathize with her character if she killed herself and left children behind, but I don’t think it is fair to say that she would have the choice to not have children. A husband who beats his wife is likely to rape her and even without coercion, contraception would be an extremely unlikely possibility. And obviously, many pregnancies are not chosen. Basically, I guess I just wanted to say that I loved your movie, but the tone to your responses was condescending and presumptuous.
Sincerely,
Ms. Tramontana
Santosh I want to meet you. My contact number is Mobile:094265-42676
E-mail:pareshtmehta@gmail.com
Are you in Mumbai? Do let me know.
[...] Santosh Sivan (1976) blogged about watching clouds and predicting rain as a kid: But unconsciously what it did was, while [...]