India Images Q4 2011

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Issue 4, 2010Volume 7

INSIDE

Sayak Bhattacharya

Avinash Arun

Kodak News

Arjun Jena

Vijay Ulaganath

Lal Jose

Sakti Banerjee

Dhananjay Kulkarni

Yogaraj Bhat

Rathnavelu

Prime Focus

Jayanan Vincent


2/17

Robot (Hindi),also Endhiran inTamiland Robo inTelugu is thecAsian filmevermade witha budget said tohavetouched Rs150

Thissci-fiextravaganzadirected byShankar, like allhis movies,is

lavish andlargerthan life.Big stars, exotic locales,awe-inspiring

sequences and graphics coupled with a never-seen-before ma

blitzkrieg has made this one of the biggest grosser of the ye

technical team is a virtual casting coup that includesthe best

industrymusic directorA. R. Rahman, cinematographer Rathnav

directorSabuCyrilandgraphicsby Hollywoodtechnicians.

Thereleaseof Endhiran inTamilNadu wassheerRajinikanthmani

fans throngedtheatresas early as5 a.m.to catch thefirstshow

ido l. For h is fans, he i s no less than a dei ty and there we

abhishekams over his cut-outs, not to mention thecopiousamo

garlands and crackers. The film took a huge opening and is

packedhousesweeksaftertherelease.

Thestoryline in simple words is that of a scientistwho creates

just like him and it falls in love with his fianc. It also falls into

hands and wrecks havoc until the scientist manages to su

Rajinikanthplays therolesof scientist,goodand badrobotand

interestisAishwaryaRai.

HansrajSaxena, CEO,SunPictureswho produced thefilmreveals

the behind-the-scenes story. This film is Asias biggest budg

Therewas a riskbut Mr.KalanidhiMaranagreedto dothis proj

Shankaras hisvisionwas strong thatthisprojectwouldcome o

Thanks to Shankar whatever money he wasgiven he showed it

product . A Tami l f ilm has not touched this k ind o f budg

spectacular; no other f ilm has touched this barrier. And we a

taking a Tamil f i lm to Andhra Pradesh and Hindi. Earlier f i lm

inroadsinAndhrabutnotthe restofthecountry.

FOREWORD

Thisis anindependent magazine.Viewsexpressedin thearticles arethose ofauthors alone.

Printedand Publishedby: SureshIyeronbehalfof KodakIndiaPrivateLimited,at Mumbai

Issue 4, 2010Volume 7

Sci-fi SplashThestoryofthemakingof Robot,reconstructedby Divya K.

Prime FocusParminderSinghChaddha,Senthil KumarandK.MadanMohanReddytalksabouttheirwork.

Familyand DestinyJayanan Vincent opensup abouthis life,workanddreamsto ManjuLathaKalanidhi

Witnessto anEraSakti Banerjee hasworkedwiththe best, andshareshisexperienceswithJayantiSen.

Road toHappinessDhananjay Kulkarni talksto AartiBabul

Bhasinon hislifeandtimesin theindustry.

HitBackR.G.Vijayasarathyspeaks to YogarajBhatabouthis successfuljourney

PoeticBrilli anceDivya K.catches upwithArjun Jena in Chennai

FreshAs RainLalJose talksto K.B. Venuabouthisapproach tohiswork

YoungGuns- SetToSoarSayakBha ttacharya speakstoJayantiSen

KodakNew FilmStocksLaunchMulti-City LaunchesofKodakVision3200T5213

Preparedfor ChallengesVijayUlaganat htellsK.B. Venuhe does notlikegimmicks

YoungGuns- Raring ToGoSandeepHattangaditalksto youngFTIIgraduateAvinash Arun

INSIDE

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Volume7,Issue4, 2010

CoverCredit: Sun Pictures

Dowrite inwith ideas,suggestions,commentsto [email protected]

ManagingE ditor: SureshIyer

Editor: DeepaGahlot

Designand layout: RoopakGraphics, Mumbai

Printing: Amruta PrintArts, Mumbai

2010 wasa prettylow keyyearin terms ofproductionactivityas theindustrywitnessed

anoverall dipin thenumber ofproductions; concurrently there were also very fewfilms

whichdid well atthe box-office.In spite ofthis,Kodakhadmulticitylaunchesof ournew

film Kodak Vision 3 200T which wasaccepted very well by cinematographers across

thecountry. Wealso introduced ournew Kodak IntermediateRecording5254, thereby

signifyingour committmentto the industry.

Film usage hasbeen traditionallyvery strong in ourcountry andcontinues to do so,in

spite of a ll the hype created by digital capture. While the CAS event in Mumbai

contributeda lottowardsclearing many ofthesemisconceptions, onourpart wetoodid

our bit by spreading our "Film: No Compromise" message across all platforms.

Hopefully, theincreasein theinfrastructure of16mm and2 perf camerasshould help us

continue with ourtraditionoffilm usage.

This issue of Images focuses on Endhiran/Robot, the Shankar blockbuster starring

Rajinikanth what went behind the making of thissci-fi action film! Prime Focus has

been a pioneerin settingup post production activities in ourcountry.We take a look at

theiroperationsandthepeoplebehind thescenes.

As always, there is a round-up of cinema from all centres... along with our Young Guns

series.

HappyReading!

SureshS Iyer

CountryBusiness Manager

Entertainment Imaging

5

7

Thestoryof themaking ofRobot,

reconstructedby Divya K.

DOPRathvelu


3/17

Talking of f inancials, we have not f inalized

budgets, andrevenues have notcome in too

muchas notall places arecomputerized. We

arealsospendingon advertising.Rs 50crores

werespenton graphicsalone.

Thepatternin viewership was that the first

week was maledominated especially by the

Rajini fans. During thesecond week, if about

twolakhpeoplesaw thefilm, a lakh andsixty

thousand werewomenandkids.Mr. Marans

vision of taking this f ilm and making it the

biggestAsian filmhas elevatedtheTamilfilm

industry. Tomorrow if anyonewant tomake a

150 c ro re p lus movie , they should not be

scared andhave confidence thatit canbreak

even. We a re put ting a Tami l f ilm on the

international graphin terms ofquality.

Thestupendoussuccessofthe filmpanIndia

i s the conglomerat ion o f legends. Raj ini ,

Aishwarya Rai, Shankar, A.R.Rahman, Sabu,

KalanidhiMaran.Eachone elevated thefilmin

their ownstyle.Eachonedid their part.When

i t c ame t o marke ti ng a nd s tr at egy a nd

promotions, Sun Pictures jumped into the

bandwagon,it washuge.No oneelsethought

of an audio release in Malaysia or a trailer

release this big.The promos were unique we

u se d p romo ti on s o n a h uge b at te ry o f

channelsand radiostations.

The challenges during production was that

no one was w il l ing to compromise. We

wanted to release it on a set t ime but there

were constraints, AishwaryaRai hadher own

constraints with shooting dates, Shankars

locations each one was unique in its own

wayandthesongswereshot for10 to12 days

each. If youtake thepost production graphic

part, t i ll a week before release we were still

workingon thegraphics part. Each daygiven

tothemis quality.

We had song locations at Brazil, M

Pichu, one song was a set in Hyderab

shotin Poona,Lonavla, Mumbai, Chen

Hyderabad. Rajini as the scientist th

robot andthebad robot isa uniquethi

bad robot has taken off in a big way c

arelovingit. Ashis lookinggorgeous

Da nn y p l ays t h e p e r fe c t v i ll a in

Santhanam and Karunas fitted in wel

assistants. The captain of the ship S

coined it well so in this science ficti

visualswerenew,grandeurwasthere,i

fitting reply to Hollywood films in a r

languageonpar with one.

We used the Hollywood technician

Stanwinston Studios. People are exp

so much of Hollywood now, that if y

robot and show a sma ll machine w

lights blinkingpeople aregoingto laug

Sothatswhy Shankarchoseto dothin

way. Thepersonwhodesignedcostum

designedfor films like Batman Forever,

quality is there. Pure science fictionlik

Encounters o f the Thi rd K ind c an b

understood bythe educatedbutthis is

mass and kids to enjoy. Foreigners ca

answer to Avat ar a nd S ha nk ar

Cameron.

We have producedabout 16 films a

includesmediumfilmsandbig films. W

usedallkindsof filmstockforthesebu

it came to this f ilm, Asias biggest f

said we are not compromising, we w

We haveusedall kinds offilm stock for these

butwhen it came tothis film, Asiasbiggest film,

wesaid weare notcompromising,we will useonlyKodak.

Kodakwill beable to

show the peoplethe hard

work putin. Allthe prints

areKodak. We arehappy

wegot associated

with thisbrand.

Endhiran Endhiran

Endhiran

Endhiran

Endhiran

Endhiran


4/17

onlyKodak.Mr. Maran, saidthe

hard work put in by d irector

Shankar, Rathavelu and all of

them Kodak w il l be able to

show the people the best. All

the p rints a re Kodak . We a re

happy we got associated with

this brand.

The making of the film was as

adventurousand excitingas the

film. The Kilimanjaro song was

cannedin MacchuPicchu,South

America. Anotherwas shot ata

stunning locale in Brazil in the

middle of a NewMexicodesert

where amidst the desertscape,

there were beautiful lagoons in

aquamarine colour.To reach the

place theyhad to travel on the

Amazon River fortwoand ahalf

h ou rs i n t he f ores t a nd two

hoursin ajeep,andby boat.

T h e a n i m at r o ni c s w a s

d e ve l o ped a t S t a nw in st o n

S tu di os , U SA t he y h av e

worked for blockbusters l ike

Jurass ic Park, Terminato r a nd

Avatar. They scanned Rajinis

entire body, his profile, straight

face and jaw and made a robot

that looked exactly l ike him. It

took them nearly 10months to

make it and put all the gadgets

into it.

The advantage of animatronics

is that it makes the character

look realistic. This robot was

being operated by puppeteers

and i t even had a l ip sync and

e ye e xp re ss io ns . A t eam o f

about 12 specialists worked on

thisfor40 days.

Cameraman Rathnavelu says,

Robot i s t e ch n ic a ll y a n d

physically mostdemanding and

d r a i n i n g f i l m f o r a

cinematographer.The hero's lab

was l it up l ike an Apple iPod

with Whites,Greysand Metallic

sheens. While the villains' lab

was more grey,black and cyan.

Almost every scene the hero

hadtoplaya dualrolewithlotof

camera movements. Bu t we

used only s ix days o f Mot ion

Control Camera for the entire

f i lm . T h is w as a c hi e ve d

successfully only with the help

o f m y c am er a r ep or t f or

r e p ea t i ng t h e c a m er a

movement, lighting continuity,

foca l length, focus d istance ,

height, angle view and etc,. My

camerareportaloneranto 1400

pages. When the Robot turns

into a Destructive Robot after

the RED Chip is inserted. I tried

tocreatea "LightFromHell" feel

with all the l ights fromtop on a

DMX Dimmer and L ightning

St rikes in the background to

enhancethe Villainousquality.

"For the indoors I u sed 5219-

500T a nd f or t he o ut doors

5207-250D.Kodak deliveredme

a nea t and sof t contrast look

which I wanted. I insisted that

the p roducer to make a ll the

release p rints to be only on a

Kodakprint.

World ClassPrime Focusis oneof Indiasleading postproduction studios.Parminder Singh Chaddha,Chiefof Film Technology andColour Shasworked withthe companyfor 12 years, handling innovative specialeffectsprojects. He wasalso instrumentalin setting up

digitalfilmlab atFilmCity.

ParminderSingh Chaddha, tells SandeepHattangadiwhy Prime Focus isso popularwith filmm

What is the historyof PrimeFocus?Howwas it started andho

reachitsprimeposition?

Wewere incorporated as a private limited company on June 2

Wewentpublicon April4 2000.Thecompanywas foundedby

Malhotra and Namit Malhotra. The main aim of the company

provide various technical services involved in feature films, te

andcommercials. Thefounders have been activein theindustry

last30years.Nowwehaveofficesabroadtoo.

Whyisyourstudiomostpreferredbyfilmmakers?

We have the best technical equipment possible l ike Arri co

scanners, editing consoles, colour tone restorers and DI

Intermediate) facilities. We have the best repeat clients a

production companies like Ashtavinayak Films, Bhansali Films

JoharsDharmaProductions,etc. Wehaveworked onGuzaarish d

by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Mukesh Bhatts Vishesh Films is a

client and our work in his Tum Mile directedby Kunal Deshmu

much appreciated when we created the Mumbai deluge flo

screen.Our chargesare reasonableand weoffergoodcreditfaci

even the small producerwho has to release his f ilmsto get his

back andpay ourbills. ButI wouldntknowmuch detailsof that

dont handlethe commercial aspectsof mystudioand I onlyhan

technicalaspect,rightfromdeciding onwhichlatest machinesto

overseeingthateverythinggoesallrightin thestudio'stechnicals

LafangeyParindey

DeDanaDan

AnjaanaAnjaani

PyaarIm

Endhiran

Endhiran

Endhiran

Kodakdelivered

mea neatandsoft

contrast look

which I wanted.


5/17

Is that why are you so popular with producers, c inematographers and

editors?

Prime Focus offers everything a feature film production needs from

negative development and rushes transfers through to 35mm re-

recording,digital cinema mastering and internationalvideo deliverables.

The integrated, collaborative Prime Focus DI facilities in Los Angeles,

London, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai work closely with the

worldwide Prime Focus VFX studios to ensure that all feature film

productionrequirementsare cateredfor.

ThePrime Focus international VFX offeringis second to none, offering

someofthemostcreative andexperiencedVFXtalentin theworld anda

VFX pipeline which ensures seamless working practices across the

internationalfacilities.

Whatis youropinionaboutKodakfilmstock?

From ourexperience withleading cinematographerswe cansurely say

that Kodak film is preferred to other stocks and our technical crew is

also confident that f ilm shot on Kodak gives the best colour tones,

pictureluminosity,higher resolution content,etc. as comparedto other

stocks.

Whatarethefacilitiesthatyouoffer?

Prime Focus offers 4K, Super 2Kand 2K scanning on Thomson Spirit DataCines, and both Northlight and

Arriscanpin registered scanning. ForconformingPrimeFocushas a tried andtestedworkflow using Autodesk

Smoke,whichallowstheteamto conformandholdan entirefeature with immediateaccessto anysectionof the

film.This view is onethat readily reflectsthe timelineof theofflinemaking it userfriendlyfor directors and

editors.It alsohasthe huge benefitof allowingthedirectorto seeshotsin context,be theyVFX shots orclean

ups. The ease with which data can be moved between Smoke and the Baselight grading suites has further

benefits, in that changes to the grade, changes to the shot and revisions shots can be moved quickly and

efficientlybetweenthe suites,allowingthe changestobe seen incontextveryquickly.

ColourGradingis themostimportant partof theDI process.All ofyour image contentis madeavailableto the

world-class Prime Focus colouristsas data, allowing supremeflexibility andunfetteredcreativityin thesuiteA

member of Prime Focussexperienced andprofessional production teamwill guide youthroughthe whole DI

process,providinga single pointof contactthroughoutthevariousstagesofthe production.They areexperts in

thefieldand have a fulloverview ofeach aspect ofbringingyourproductionto themarket, keepinga watchful

eyeonbudget,timingsanddelivery.

Ourscannersare thebestin theworldandthe transfertofilm hasthebesteffecton ourmachinesas regardsto

therestorationlevels, colourtonal quality,and especially thespecial effectsthat weprovidecan beconsidered

asthe best inthe world asevidentfromthe global iconicJames Camerons hitAvatar, where wecontributedto

thepostproduction ina bigway.

FantasyPrime Focus,Chennai StationHead

andVisual Effects Director,

Senthil Kumar talks to Divya K.

Flight of

HappydentWhite

BadmaashCompany

AjabPrem kiGhazab Kahani

I HateLuvStory

Paa

Prime Focus, Chennai is a space buzzing with activity, as facome alive on screen! Throbbing withdozensof creative minds

short span of three years since it was set up, it has made a mar

industry by being associated withsome of thebiggest filmssh

andthelatestone wasMaanMahaanAlla. Besidescatering toth

film industry, it a lso caters to the Malayalam and Kannada in

ChennaiStation Head andVisual Effects Director, Senthil KumWeare a one-stop-shopfor theentirepostproduction, telecin

Weare adept at handlingchallengesand never sayno toanyth

have state-of-artequipment calibrated by Mumbai technicians

uson parwithour other branches. Witha strong techno-creativ

weachieve excellence.We doa lotof pre-production worklikec

storyboardsand 3D pre-visualizations whenevernecessary.

Dasavatharam was a challenging project shot with a motion

camera. There were complex shots like a single shot where the

five Kamalhassansandtherewereinteractions betweenthem.W

film, we took VFX to the next level. Kandaswamy was a pure

with a f lying superhero played byVikram. There wasa lot of CG

We have worked on more than 600 shots of VFX in the bloc

movie that involves use of complex set extensions, skin g

techniques, 3D trackingand match moving, crowd multiplicatio

andgreen matteremoval.

AyirathilOruvan goes back tothehistoryof theCholas andPand

workedon 1800shotsin thismoviedirectedby Selvaraghavan,

KarthiSivakumar,ReemmaSenand AndreaJeremiah andParthib

storydependsfully on VFX as it narrates a journey of three pe

searchof a lost kingdom.A fantasyandadventurestory,it hadm

snakes, sea creatures, set extensions, quick sand, mystic

environmentmattepaintings,lavaand awar sequence. Creatingsnakes wasa bigchallenge; thesequence wasshot in thenight

with lots of torches and a halogen lamp. We managed to ma

entire sequence with the original lights and the animation tur

veryrealistic. Almost60 percentof thefilm hasbeen workedu

thepostproduction table ofPrime Focus andit took about twoy

complete.Westartedworking with 3Dmodelsand props atthe

production itself.As wehad a clear storyboardand script inou

weknewwhatsgoingto bein thefinaloutput. Andoncethe sh

over, wewereready with almost 50percentof the3D contentth

going to bein thefilm. Data andphotographs were being conti

sentfromthespotso wecouldworkonwithourpropsandmode


6/17

Top oftheLine FamilyandDestinyDestiny

JayananVincentopens upabout hislife,

work anddreams toManju Latha Kalanidhi

Withmorethan34 yearsof hands-onexperience,innumerablemovies and several awards later, Jayanan Vincent is a name

synonymouswith good cinemafor over three decades.Borninto

a family of photographers, his grandfather, George Vincent

owned a photo studio namely Chitra Studios in Kozhikode,

Kerala. It was here that his father Aloysius Vincent learnt the

rudiments of photography before heading out to Chennai to

seek a career in films. Hispaternal uncle toois a still photogra-

pher/cameramechanic.Duringhis childhood,he hadthe oppor-

tunityto visit filmsetswithhis fatherand interact with filmmak-

ers. He loved the never-ending creative discussions at home

about filmmaking andfreeflowing teaand snacksand preferred

overhearing discussionsto playingwithkidshis age.

W h at w a s t h e e v en t o r

experience that inspired you to

takeup cinematography?

An8 mm cartoonfilm projected

in the garage o f late d irector

Sridhar, a s part o f a b irthday

ce lebra tion , fascinated me ,

invoking interestandpassion for

films. I stillvividlyremember the

whirring of the projector, the

coloured stream of light flowing

o ut o f i t a nd t he c ha ng in g

images onthe white wall piqued

my c ur io si ty . I s aw i t a s t he

writing on the wall... l ight and

camerawillbe mypassionandit

was...

Being an avid filmgoer, I never

missed any p review o f dad s

f ilms and others as well. I still

remember the long walks back

home after movies ruminating

about the film. Also loved the

f i lm shows a t schoo l wh ich

e xp o se d m e t o t he g r ea t

westernmoviesof John Wayne.

Did you have formal ed

d eg re e o r d ip loma

cinematography or did

onthejob?

Unfortunately,I turneddo

o ff er o f f il m s ch oo

p re fe rred t o a ss is t m

instead--a decision I re

date. Being a quick lea

the job , I rose in rank i

cameracrew.I wasment

late K. S. Prakash Rao a

late U. Rajagopal and ab

by dad , which I consi

honour. My dec is ion t

filmsin 2001 and to mig

Canada presented a wo

opportunity to pursue m

studiesand digitalfilmm

Vancouver in the latter

my career. I never miss

industry during my eig

hiatus.

Tell us about your work

currentmoviein Telugu.

My current f ilm is a rem

Love Aaj Kal in Telugu s

by writer-director Tr

Srinivas, directedby Jay

Paraji and produced by

Babu. Thecastconsistso

Kalyan, Trisha, Kirti, M

Rishi and a host o f yet

finalised well-known ac

Hyde ra bad. Th e t e n

releasedateis early2011

Family

Kodak complements

myworkand

brings truthfully to

thescreen myvisuals

intheir true form.

The top 20 movies produced

every year in Tollywood the

Telugu movieindustry rollout

of the stables of Prime Focus,

says K. Madan Mohan Reddy,

t he B us in es s H ea d o f t he

Hyderabad branch of theglobal

visual entertainment servicesgroup.

This years most-talked about

movies such as Puli, Khaleja,

Chandramukhi-2 an d Orange

h a ve a l l u n d er g on e p o s t

production work atPrime Focus,

and not without a reason. The

Hyderabad branch houses the

best digitalgradingtoolssuchas

baselight, scratch, lustre light,

co lour co rrect ion and o ther

t oo ls t ha t a re o n p ar w it h a

H o l l y w oo d s t u d i o . T h e

equ ipment laboratory a lso

housesSpirit4K, a high-endfilm

s c a nn e r . I n c i de n t al l y , t h e

Hyde rabad b ran ch h a s t h e

smallest Digital Intermediary

team inthe country,saysReddy.

T he t eam o f 1 0 i n t he c it ym an ag e t o w or k f or t hr ee

movies a month. There have

been occasions when the team

has del ivered bulk work in a

week, he adds. Recently, the

Karnataka movie industry has

also started getting their post-

product ion work f rom Pr ime

Focu s. The t o p c i nemato -

g ra ph ers i n t he Sou th l ov e

workingwithus,hesays.

K.MadanMohan Reddy, theBusiness Head ofthe Hyderabadbranchof

Prime FocusgivesManju Latha Kalanidhi theinsidestory.

In 2007, CEO of Prime Focus,

N a m i t M a l h ot r a , w a s

considering openinga branchin

Hyderabad. That was the time

when Spirit Media, the visual

effects division of Rama Naidu

Studios was a lso toying w ith

otheroptions and it decided to

merge with Prime Focus. The

move p ai d o ff b ec au se t he

Hyderabad branch today boasts

a r o u nd 2 8 0 c o mm it t e d professionalstrainedin avariety

of skill sets. Colourists, l ine

producers, project managers,

c o nf o rmi s ts , s c an n in g a n d

recording processing, telecine

c o lo u ri s t s w e h a ve a

professionalfor every skill, says

Reddy. Passion coupled with

commitment i s the secre t o f

their consistent success, says

the Hyderabadteam.

Dostana

Tashan

MujhseShaadi Karogi

NescafeClassic

Bislery

Aashayein

SkodaFobia

Yamaha- LordoftheStreet

TaareZameenPar

AkashaGopuram


7/17

What h a s b e en y ou r m os t

challengingshootsofar?

Themostchallenging movie was

a Malayalam f ilm, Dowthyam

shotin 1987. Thisactionthriller

t oo k u s o n a n a dven tu ro us

journey into the dense forestsof

Chalakudy and Ponmudi. The

i n a c ce s s i bl e t e r r ai n a n d

inc lement weather c reated

problemsforus.

I u se d t he n ew ly l au nched

Kodak 250D, of those days, for

allthe exteriorwork inthe deep

f or es t. M y o nl y a cc es s t o

l ight ing was a 5 kw portable

Honda generator anda 1.2 HMI

a nd 5 75 HMI . I a ls o u se d

Mitchell camera with Todd AO

lenses forsomematteshotsand

mask shots on a dusk scene

where the a rmy c rosses the

river. The most unforgettable

incident was my B cam falling

into the water almost ruining

theentireday'swork.The water

l og ge d f i lm r ol l w as t he n

transportedto thelabwithmore

water in thecan forprocessing.

Themost amazing shots of that

filmwerein that roll.Eventoday

thatmoviesurprisesme.

I t i s a tender love s to ry o f the

present andthe past; pure love

which never changesover time.

The movie begins in a foreign

locale in the p resent day and

switchesto the past in India in

narrativeflashbacks.

Tells us about the kind of look

you plan to givethe movie?

T he i de a i s t o g iv e a

contemporaryandglossylookto

the scenes shot abroad. The

movie sports a saturated look...

using a colour palette of blues,

g r ee n s , w h it e a n d b l a ck s .

Handheldshots willbe liberally

used, swish pansandtime lapse

shots. The past in Varanasi will

have a typical70s lookin terms

of l ighting and smooth camera

moves... track shots and crane

shots. Thecolour palettewould

dwell more on rich colours l ike

yellow, orange, crimson, brown

and dark greens which I'd end

u p d esat urat in g a t ou ch i n

DigitalIntermediary.

The challenge is to create the

70s look in Varanasi, India and

a lso recreat ing a congested

marketplace set in RFC which

was brilliantly designed by art

director, NarayanReddy. Weare

filming live sound forthe whole

m o vi e t h us p r ef e rr i ng a n

Arricam LT over Arri Extreme

with Cooke S4i lenses for the

p r incipa l shoot. For the f irst

t ime, I 'm using the services of

Kodak CineLabs in Mumbai for

thenegative processing.

Thesecond challengingfilm was

TakkariDonga in 2001. We used

Kodak stock with 812 filter to

achieve the intended look. The

g r ad i ng t o o h e lp e d i n

maintaining the consistency. I

g ue ss I c ou ld h av e d on e

w on de r s w i th t he n ew er

technologyhad itbeenavailable.

The tremendous effort paid off

with accolades for its technical

excellence.

What is the kind of project you

dreamofworkingasa DOP?

In a career spann ing 25 p lus

years I ve done a ll genres o f

f il ms i n m os t o f I nd ia n

languages. My dream project is

to do a f ilm on the Japanese

s team sh ip Komagata Maru

which involved 354 passengers

from India who unsuccessfully

a t tempt ed t o immig ra te t o

Canada.

Why do you prefer Kodak film

foryourwork?

Kodak complements my work

and b r ings t ruth fu l ly to the

screen my visuals in their true

form.I love thecrisp blacks, the

shadow details, the rich colour

saturationand extendedlatitude

range which g ives one more

room to experiment. The range

o f s tocks f rom 50D to 250 D

and 100T to 500T provides a

cinematographerample choices

andoptions.

Doyou l ike shooting indoors or

outdoorsand why?

I l ov e t o f il m i nd oo rs a nd

outdoorsat night as it provides

l igh t ing chal lenges . I a lways

p re fe r to work in contro l led

conditions;maybean oldschool

methodof work butitseasierto

work with tungstenlightswhere

one does not have to deal with

f l i ck e r, c h an g e o f c o lo u r

temperatureandso on.

Recently, I shota Punjab

video indoors on Kodak

shutter angle of 45 to

mot ion b lu r and c reat

choppy images withthe

t u n gs t e n l i g ht s .

cinematographers nightm

have a b un ch o f HM

varied co lour tempe

mak in g g ra di ng a nd

unpleasant experience.

great fanof thelatestlite

the nextgeneration lighti

Who are your favoriteD

T o l ly w o o d a m o n g

contemporaries, in Bol

and Hollywood?

I like Senthil Kumar, Sha

C. Vijayakumar in Tollyw

K. Murthy, Ashok Meht

Mehta, Rajeev Ravi, S

Raman, Santosh Sivan,

Chandran and Manikand

inHollywood,I love thew

Freddie Young, Haskell

Conrad Hall,NestorAlm

Sven Nykvist , Zhang

ChristopherDoyle.

Any specific movie you

therecentmoviesin term

camerawork.

The H u rt l o ck e r, I ngl

Basterds.

The range ofstock

50D to250D and

to500T provid

cinematographer

choicesand opti


8/17

Sakt i Banerjee the name symbol izesflavours of a bygone era is one of the most

reveredveteran cinematographersof Bengals

filmindustry. Interestinglyenough, initiallyhe

didnot want toenterthe filmindustry.When

asked about his f irst brush with cinema, he

had this to say, As I left school and entered

college,a passionfortheatregrewinsideme. I

ama residentof Shibpur... I wasthenseeinga

lot of plays, when a friend of mine took me to

the Shibpur branch of the Indian Peoples

Theatre Association. Rehearsals were on for

Biru Mukhopadhyays famousplay Rahumukta,a significant production of the era. Bythen I

hadalready developeda flair forwriting plays,

I wasparticularlyadept at writing interesting

dialoguesfor my characters.I alsofeltI could

do a spot of acting. So I joined IPTA. In the

course of theatre activities, I came in touch

with many important theatre personalities

who are honoured names in their f ield even

today. Asa matterof fact TarunRoyandI had

p la nn ed t o m ak e a f il m w hi ch n ev er

happened.

"This wasa general trend of the day then,all

the IPTA veterans in some way o r o ther

wanted to make a dreamfilmof their own

R i twik Ghatak , Mrina l Sen , Hr ish ikesh

Mukherjee, Tapas Sen, Salil Chowdhury, all

aspiredto enter thefilmindustry insomeway

o r the o ther . They d id , o f course, but tha t

happened inthelaterpart oftheircareers".To

continue, Saktibabu said, As I was mixing

with the theatre crowd, somewhere within

me. I felt a change coming in, I felt myown

appearance was not suitable for an actor, I

decidedto take upa careerwhichwouldbring

mein touch with thebestbrains oftheera;for

m y p ar t I c h os e t hr ee m ae s tr os

Debakikumar Basu, the great f ilm director

who was about to make his epoch-making

film SagarSangame, SatyajitRay,andAjay Kar,

the ace director-cinematographer of Bengal.

Fate and fortune resul ted in my going to

Dhaka in 1954it was then knownas East

Pakistan.

I was involved in thecamera department in

themaking of their first Bengali filmMukh O

Mukhosh, directedby Abdul Jabbar Khan; my

direct bosswas cinematographer Mesbahuch

Jaman (Kiron).As a regularI really settled in

theprofession of cinematography becauseof

Ajay Kar . H is regu la r cameraman Bima l

Mukherjee was unwell and he called in the

veterancameramanKanaiDe tohelphim out,

I entered the scene as studio assistant, with

Kanai De. My own exposure to Ajay Kars

concept of cinematography shaped my own

thoughtsandideasalot inmy laterlife.

WhataboutSatyajitRay?

Well, this was in 1961 when he wasmaking

Teen Kanya. I remembera particularlydifficult

shot in Mon ihara where the camera was

placed outside thedoor of a room, theframe

included the door, continuing to shoot the

i ns id e o f t he r oom a s w el l t o s how Kal i

Banerjee rushing at his wifes shadow, the

ghost . I knew Satya ji t Ray p lanned a ll h is

shots beforeas short hand pictorialnotes. But

to my surprise, I found he did not follow his

pre-planned shots frame by frame. In this

particular caseI sawhewas notsatisfiedwith

the camera pos it ion. Almost in a spi ri t o f

adventure, I putthe camera ona trolley.The

whole day Manikda (Satyajit Ray) continued

taking shots sitting on the trolley. Finally,

when theclimaxwasapproaching, I suddenly,

know not why, charged the camera towards

the characters on my own. Then came my

moment of agony, I knewManikda would be

veryangry at thisinterference. Ready forthe

rebuff, I waited anxiously. But, to my utter

surprise, he really gave me a big hand he

was very happywith that f inal idea of mine,

the camera charging. I was, I must say, in the

seventhheavenof joy!

Ba ne r je e s l o ng l o st o f h i ts i n cl u de s

Ganadevata,Nimantran, DadarKirti,Bhalobasha

Bhalobasha, Aranya Aamar, a ll d ir ec te d b y

Tarun Ma jumdar, Chokh d i rec t e d b y

UtpalenduChakraborty, StrirPatra and Chenra

Tamsuk directed by Purnendu Pattrea, Shilpi,

ParashuramerKuthar, Sarishreep all directed by

Nabyendu Chatterjee, Barbodhu d irected by

Bijoy Chatterjee, Damu directed by Raja Sen,

Gurudakshina directed by Anjan Chowdhury,

etc He has also shot a lot of documentaries

andTVserialsaswell.

Teen Tanaya directedby Shukla Mitra, Aamiyo

NeboChallenge directedby TapasChandaare

his current feature films. I have receivedsix

BFJA awards, the first one for Nimantran. I

have alsoreceived West Bengal State Award

for ChenraTamsuk. In fact most of the films I

workedin areNationalAwardwinners.

As a veteranin thefilm industry, Saktibabu is

a goldmine of anecdotes of our great f ilm

actors. InAjay Kars filmShunoBaranasi, one

dayit sohappenedthat ourgreathero,Uttam

Kumar. wasout ofmood. Shootingwas about

tostop.I took allmy courageinmy hands and

approached h im Dada I want to do the

l ights for the positions, may I? at which

Uttam Kumar quipped What is position,a

filmis allaboutcomposition! That, coming

from one of our all-time greats, was an eye-

opener! The whole days shoot ing then

proceeded smoothlywith Uttambabu backto

hisjovialmoodfor shooting.In theend ofthe

samefilmwehad ashotin which theheroand

heroineare on thetrain andstationplatform

r e spec t iv el y, i n t h at s t ea dy p os i ti on I

suggested a sma ll c rowd in the p la tform

waving their hands to their relatives on the

train to create the i llusion of a passing train.

Ajaydawas veryopen tosuggestions andtook

my suggestion instantly. Here I must also

mention Tarun Majumdars name who had a

lottocontributeinmy career.

Inall mylifeI have mostly

used Kodak.In ourprofession

wehave totake

hectic decisions andKodak

stands by me very faithfully

asa rawstock.

Ican take a lotof libert

dowhat I like with

myimagesand lighting

Kodak never fails me.

Itscolour spectrumis

verywell balanced.

InBlack andWhiteals

itis thekeyraw stock

tobe used.

When youask about using

a mathematicalformula,

itisgivenby

Kodak themselves.

Sakti Banerjeehasworked withthebest,andshareshisexperiences withJayantiSen.

Witnessto an Era

Talking of a choice between realist

glamour l ighting, he says, Personall

glamour l ighting is extremely impor

Nabyendu Chatterjees film Advitiya

po r t ra i t p h o to g raph y e n h an c i n

glamorouslooks oftheactors.Youkno

thecritics saidafterwatchingthatfilm

a long time we are seeing a f i lm with

number of excellent close-ups. After

that f ilm Suchitra Sen selected me to

cameraman forthe filmChaturanga ba

Rabindranath Tagores novel of the

name. Even today I feel glamour l igh

well-litsceneis very, veryimportant.In

Majumdars film Nimantran we had

darkscenewhere Anupkumaris show

waywithhistorch.Themoment theto

lit up, the audience in the house wen

greet those raysof light inthe pitch da

mustappreciatethisfact,the audience

darkness.

He hasworkedwith acedirectors, ho

the visual treatment vary from dire

director? A great deal each has h

way o f communicat ing to the au

through sound and images. I remreadingSamaresh Basus story Chenra

in the pages of the Bengali magazine

wasso chargedwiththe visual possib

the s to ry tha t I approached a num

directorswith it. Finally PurnenduPatt

aceartistand designer, madethefilm

shot.

DadarKirti


9/17

Saktibabu seesKodak asthe lifebloodof my

cinematography. In all my life I have mostly

usedKodak. Inour profession wehaveto take

hecticdecisionsand Kodakstandsby mevery

faithfully as a raw stock. I can take a lot of

l iberties, do what I l ike with myimages and

l ight ing, Kodak never fai ls me. I ts colour

spectrum is verywell balanced. In Black and

White also it is the keyrawstock to be used.

Ajay Kar used only Kodak stock and nothing

else. I use 200T for day, night everything. I

have used 500T for increasing the depth of

field in Aamiyo Nebo Challenge. According to

thedepthchartgiven tous, thedepthof field

you get in 2.8 increases if I go in for 8 or 16.

Thefocus becomescrystal clear andpointed

for a lot of area. When you ask about using a

mathematical formula, it is given by Kodak

themselves.

At this point d irector Tapas Chanda, the

director of Aamiyo Nebo Challenge, had this to

addaboutSaktibabu,In myfilm Saktidauses

500Tconsistentlyfor dayand night because

thedepthis veryimportant,for night shootsI

had lot of action shoots which I had to catch

in detail. Composition-wise he is a master.In

a small room with nospaceeven toplacethe

c amera a nd my a ss is ta nt s, t he w ay h e

picturized fourcharacters inthatsmallarea

neat andcompact composition-wise, is an

eye-opener to a ll o f u s. Saktibabu i s very

conscious of the problems that plague our

industry, t ime is a big constraint because of

budgetary restrictions. I planned a sequence

using eight shots, but when Saktida tookhis

shots, he arranged the composition, camera

angle, mise-en-scene of the shots in such a

way that the whole complex sequence was

managed using just three to four shots. His

camera-placingis fantastic.

WhateverI get intheend

thegreateffect,

allcreditgoesto Kodak.

DhananjayKulkarni, Directorof Photog-raphy for var ious TV ser ies, ad cam-

paigns and commercial films, hails from

t h e p i ct u re sq ue h il l t o wn o f

Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra. He

grew up amidst the beauty of nature,

dreaming about capturing their serenity

andsoundsto share withthe world out-

s ide. The v is ions o f the l ush g reen

Sahayadris and free-flowing waterfalls

that mystically emerge, making their

coursedownthe hills when theraingods

blessedtheeartheveryyear, wouldmake

Kulkarni want to seize that moment in

time forever.

AsI grewupin Mahabaleshwar lifewasgoodbut I wasnthappy,heconfesses.I aspired

photographerwho couldpausetime inmemoryand make lifea consortium ofhappiness.T

way I felt it was possible was through photography. I am blessed that I have an ex

supportive family with a mother, who taught me still photography. And to top it a ll I h

brother, who guided me in all realms. No doubts that he is my god brother. It s because

familyand friendsthatI amwhereI stand today.

Thescience graduatestarted hiscareeras a cashierwith anationalizedbankin Pune. He

confinedto a chair countingpapermoneywhilethe realabundance wasoutside. I would d

travellingand clickingpicturesmakinga bouquetofvariouscoloursof life.Sooneday Ijustt

ofgivingit allup.FortunatelyI gotallthe supportfrommy loved ones. I decidedto turn myp

intomyprofession.Photographywasmy callingandthusbeganmy journeyin theindustryin

Kulkarnihas noqualmsin sharingthat heis nota filminstituteproduct.Passion does not

degreeor a certificate.It isself drivenand thereis nobetterdriveronthisroad than onesow

WhenIopenedmy channels ofexploringto theuniverse,it pavedthepathof learningforme

processI metsomeof themosthumblepeople, whounconditionally sharedall their expert

me.I have been blessedthat I have hadmentors like thelate MadhavNagarajfrom Pu

taught mestills anddark room work; Pintu Chaudhary, anFTII professor, whotaughtme b

cinematography andlightingand Vikas Sivaraman, whomI assistedin cinematography fo

years. WorkingwithVikaswas aturningpointin mylife.He isnot onlymy guruinthe indus

healsoenabledme toactivatemy inbuilttalentin theaudio-visualmedium.

HappinessDhananjay Kulkarni talksto AartiBabulBhasinonhislifeandtimesin the industr

Road to

Saktibabu added,NormallyI use35mmbut a

paucity of stocks occurred once when I was

forced to use 16 mm. But I did not go for any

compromise. I only had to avoid using wide

angle lenses,I used morecompactshots.

Oneinteresting fact about Saktibabu washis

use of animation for Purnendu Pattreas film

StrirPatra. Wedidthe animation for200 feet

anditwas verysatisfactoryfor allof us.Those

days freeze shots were not really used, but

TarunMajumdars Nimantran needed 15 to 16

freeze shots. I said I d try. Then all printers

were Bell and Howell. There was only one

Debris. One claw I used,f ixing the negative,

the claw drew the positive frame-by-frame,

andtheresultscameout verywell.In Duranta

Charai there was a six-channel mixing. Like

alternative A and B roll printing in editing, I

used the six channels each alternately and I

could attain my goal. Later I found others

f ol l ow in g m y m e th od . I a m u s ed t o

experimentationa lot.In StrirPatra in the dark

I managedwith three hurricane lanternsas a

source,as I did notgetelectricity.

When you ask the d i ffe rence be tween

documentary andfictionI cansay in fiction I

cancreate, paint withlightwhateverI want to

with artificial lights.But documentaryone has

to stick to and depict the reality of a given

situation. I preferartificial light, even thoughI

shoot in ava ilab le l ight a lso. At Calcutta

Movietone I was shooting a w i fe being

poisoned by his doctor husband. The Kodak

General Manager in Calcutta Mr.Ghosh had

brought in Digambar Chatterjee the all-India

boss of Kodak. I was using 50ASA film for a

darksituationwith thisdramatic element I

hadonlythreefoot candlesof light asper my

exposuremeter. Digambarbabuwas surprised

andasked ifat allanythingwouldbevisiblein

tha t low l ight . But because the s tock was

Kodak I got excellent results. The emulsion

gives me a lot of latitude.Nowrawstock has

become so costly we cannot experiment

much. But whatever I get in the end the

greateffect,allcreditgoestoKodak.

As afinalmessageto theyoungergeneration

I should say that I appreciate and welcome

heavily the offbeat ideas they are coming in

with. ButI would requestthem tocome back

to our rich storehouse of Bengali l iterature

and draw from them. The audience cometo

be entertained and a goodwholesome story

with a strong plotis bound tohold themtaut.

As you see, a great demand is there for old

c lassics l i ke Ratr i r T apasya , B hagaban

Srikrishnachaitanya byDevakiKumarBasuand

soon.

On the anvil waiting for release are Tapas

Chandas Aamiyo Nebo Challeng e, Shuk la

Mitras Teen Tanaya, Ullas by I s hwa r

Chakraborty and Tarun Majumdars Durgesh

Nandini for ETV. Saktibabu hascontributed a

lotofmasterpiecestoBengalicinema.

He is a poet as well and his book of poemsis

nowinthepress.

Monihara

Ganadevata

Jeta

Jeta


10/17

DhananjayKulkarnistartedhis workinthe industryas adirector ofphotographyfordocumentaries

that gave him confidence to work on moving pictures. He tried his hand on almost all shooting

formats, f i lm and digital, as he got popular with the advertising world. Maggie, Reebok, Iodex,

Aerial, Baidyanath Chawanprash are some of the many commercials in his profile. Shooting

corporate films gave my work a different dimension as I shot from industrial set ups to health

awareness audio-visuals, hesays,I enjoyeveryformatandlovedoingvarietyof projects. Each film

whether a documentary, corporate, ad or a featureteachessomething new. It alsogives me the

opportunity to travel, which I feel is one of the most exciting part of my profession. So I feel

satisfiedthatI took awise decisionof following mydream.Today I getto have thebestof allthatI

desiredandI enjoymy workas well.

IntelevisionDhananjayhasdone someofthe finestshowsas aDOP.Apart fromthesehehas shot

music videos andalso a documentary with Sumitra Bhave. For my workin TV I also gotthe best

videographyawardin2006 and2007fromIndian TelevisionAcademy(ITA),he says.

I have been very fortunate that I could explore so many mediums and though all of them are

equally exciting yet cinema is l ike a cherryon the cake. I was given this opportunityby Mahesh

(Kothare)to shootmy firstMarathifilm, Pachadlela. Fortunatelythefilm wasa super hitat thebox-

office.Thisopenedmy channeltothe Marathifilmindustry. I got someprestigious projects Made

in China (ScreenAwardfor thebest Marathifilm, 2008); Janma (Maharashtra State bestMarathi

debutfilm,2009)and recentlyI did aMarathi filmforRameshDeoFilmstitled,Jeta.

On asking which project has been closest to his heart he wasprompt in replying, I accept only

those projectsthat I canvibewith instinctively.So

allthe projectsI have done have been like babies

to me. However, the one tha t has been rea lly

preciouswasa documentaryI shotin1995 onR.D.

Burman. Whatwas niceabout the whole project

wasthat I gotan opportunity towork veryclosely

with Asha Bhonsle. I hold her in great esteem so

thisfilmhasbeenreallyclosetomy heart.

I have a lso been very p roud o f my work in my

debut Hindi film, Satyabol, by Sanjay Upadhyay. It

wasthestory ofa policecop whofightsthemysterious andmurkysystem.It gotsomeimpressive

reviewsfor a crew ofTV backgrounders gettinginto a debut commercial Hindi filmproject. Apart

from this I a lso shot SunoNa (2009), a socially relevantsubjecton an unwed mother, played by

Tara Sharma, who decides to give birth to the baby. Working with AmyThanawala, the films

director,was a pleasantexperience.

Indian cinema according tohim, isgoingaheadon anexplosive speed. Wehavecreated ourown

identity. Indian filmsare watchedacross andIndian stars enjoy their stardom globally. However,

froman honestreviewI feel weneed towork ondeeperand perhapsmore spiritualsubjects.I do

notimply religious subjectsbut I meansoulful filmswith an insight intolife andits dimensions. I

feel this is a subject for the millennium. I a lso feel Indian television needs to relook its scope.InitiallyIndian televisionwas richinits cultureand text. Unfortunatelywehaveput ourtreasuresin

thedeepsea andforgottenaboutthem. Infact, theconcept ofentertainment needs a review.We

need to understand that we are impacting and influencing various age groups so we have to be

responsible for what we are sending out. This can only be done when commerce gives way to

conscience.

Given anopportunityI would love todirect.But infull honestyI feel I amstill notprepared forit.

Direction isdedicationwithtime commitmentanda whole lotof effortin gettingall theaspects of

theprojectin sync.I will doso only when IfeelI have timeforsucha commitment.

Presently I am looking forward to the release of MastiExpress, a commercial comedy shot on

Kodak.Hehas been usingKodakfilmsforhis projectseversince heworkedas anassistant.Hehas

always been impressed bythe results. I am

really happy with the skin tones and colour

reproductions. If youshootit properlyyou do

notneedto waste toomuchtime onanalyzer.

Vision3is superb.

Talking about the projects that should have

been inhis bucketDhananjay says,Gandhi i s

one f i lm I rea lly w ish I was a part o f. I t i s a

wholesome mealfor a technician, filmmaker,

actor. There is so much to take home from

t hi s f i lm e ve n t od a y c r ea ti v e a n d

technical it is a masterpiece. Apart from

t hi s my b uc ke t l is t c on ta in s n ames o f

Ashutosh Gowarikar, Rajkumar Hirani and

Madhur Bhandarkar from the present times

and Gu lzar, Hr ish ikesh Mukherjee, Ra ja

Paran jpaye and Guru Dutt f rom the past

years. The common factor between them is

that they are substantial storytellers. And I

love visualizing stories. I wish I get to and

wouldhavegotto work with them.

Ashok Mehta, V.K. Murthy, Subrata Mitra

a nd G ov i nd N ih al an i a re my i de al s i n

c inematography. I am yet exp lo r ing and

growing as I learn frommy experiencesand

the works of these experts," he says, as he

prepares fora newdayatwork.

R.G.Vijayasarathy speaksto YogarajBhatabout hissuccessfuljourney

Y ou h a ve b e en t h e m o st

successful director of Kannada

films. You arethe mostpopular

lyric writer in the Kannada film

industry which has been the

moresatisfyingjobforyou?

Youknow I startedmy lifeas an

assistant director working with

l e g e nd a r y d i r e c to r s l i k e

Rav ichandran, we l l -known

w r it e r a n d d i re c to r l i ke

B.Suresha and others. Writing

has a lways been my passion

fromthebeginning ofmy career

in f ilms. I have been writing my

Yogaraj Bhatis one of the biggestbrandsof the Kannadafilm

industry today. As a film writer and director his achievementsremain unchallenged, ever since he directed his third film

MungaruMale which becamea blockbuster. Bhatsnameon title

cards ensures the big openings for his films and he enjoys a

popularityand reputationthat canbe theenvyof anymoviestar.

The biggest stars of theindustry viewith each other to work in

hisfilms, butYogarajBhatprefers toworkon hisownterms.

Hisbiggest strength hasbeenhis writing,whichhas remained a

backbone of all his films. He is strongly rooted in the native

environs and his deep interest in Kannada literature has really

helpedhim writingthe bestscripts, thatensure a steady flow of

family audience to thetheatres.Starting from hisfirstfilm Mani

which failed to attract the audience despite being critically

appreciated, till his recent blockbuster Pancharangi, Bhat has

used hiswritingabilities in scripts, dialogues andlyrics to best

advantage. Besides getting commercial acceptability, Bhats

films havealso wonmanyprestigiousawards including theState

awardand the Filmfareaward.

His has been a successful journeyand transition from beinga

television episodedirector to thetop filmdirector. Hesays that

filmmaking is not justa creative exercise in present times, but

has moved aheadto a job of creating a productthatreaches a

largesegment, forwhich lotof marketingtoolshaveto beused.

Thoughyourfirst filmM

critically appreciatedit f

m a ke a n y i mp a ct w i

audience.Whatdo youfe

your failings in the film?

Mani might have failed,

should know manypeop

been tel ling me tha t i t

trend-setting film in th

thatI hadnarratedit inth

o f a novel . There were

fresh elements in the fi

unfortunately for me it

l ittle earlier, by say five

Thatwasonefilm that I d

a lot of passion, using m

myassistantsin keyposi

was a newteam and we

f ilm in the way we b

Mani got rave rev iews

press. Even beforethe re

thefilm, actor Sudeep w

a big star then had seen

r ee ls o f t he f il m w

impressed that he imm

asked me to wri te a sc

h im. And a b ig supers

Vishnuvardhan had like

v er y m uc h a nd h ad

p romoted i t b y w r it i

appreciationfor thefilm.

know why the f ilm fai l

one th ing i s that aud

a lways look a t new a

withlot of suspicion. An

is lot of viewerinertia to

any new a t tempt on

unless there is a big p

campaign to boost the f

big word of mouth pub

favour of the film. I wa

see that this lacunae wa

in my future films and

goodpublicity campaigns

m y f i lm s . I a l so s

interacting with the a

before and after the re

m y f i lm s . T ha t h as

dividendsand allmy film

been commerc ial h i ts

then.

MungaruMale

ownscripts, dialogues andlyrics

for my f i lms. When I wri te for

o th er f il m s, I h av e b ee n

specifically asked to write lyrics

wh ic h h a ve l o t o f p o pu l ar

elements. I amlucky enough to

have written the most popular

s on g s i n t he K a nn ada f ilm

industry today. Though I write

for one or two songs for other

films, I have madean exception

in the case o f the f ilm Jackie,

which has been directed by my

pro tg Soori and which has

Puneetin theleadingrole.I have

writtenall thefive songs of this

f ilm as both Soori and Puneet

wantedit.

One thing is sure, though I am

a n e xt r eme ly p o pu l ar l y ri c

writer, I would l ike to reiterate

that f ilm direction is one thing

that hasappealed to me largely

and I wou ld l ike to remain a

directorfor a long timeto come.

That i s because the work o f a

d i r ec t o r i s c e r ta i nl y mo s t

challengingand creative.

Jeta

ta


11/17

You di rec ted your third f ilm

Mungaru Male after a lull. This

long period shouldhavebeen a

t es ting t ime for you. Was i t a

f r us t ra t in g p h a se i n y o ur

career?

Af te r c omp le t io n o f Ranga

S.S.L.C., I had thought of making

another f i lm immediate ly. I

wanted to produce a f ilm and

g ive a b reak to my ass istant

Soori as director. But somehow

i t d id not materia lize a t tha t

t ime. I did get offers to direct

television serials, but I did not

feel interested totakeup theseprojects. ThenPreetham Gubbitoldme a

story which wasimpressive. We did thescript jointly and thecontent

wastotally fresh. ButI wasnotable toconvinceregularproducers.I had

almostsigneda deal withan establishedproducer,but hebackedoutat

thelastminute. ThankfullyE.Krishnappawasreadyto make afilm witha

new artiste l ike Ganesh, who he knew from his younger days. Later I

directedMungaruMale andtherestis history.

DidyouexpeptMungaruMaletobe sucha hugeblockbusterhit?

Well, I was fairlyconfidentthatthe filmwould berunningfor 100daysin

at least one theatre in Bengaluru, but the film rocked throughout the

state in such a grand manner that it took everyone, including me and

Ganesh by surprise.Well, I think thedialogues andsong picturisations

and the Devadasa character (played bya rabbit) did the trick for the

film. People started flocking to the theatres just to see how Ganesh

delivered thedialogues. Later I made Galipata with a big producer l ike

A.M.Rathnamand SuryaRao whichalsobecamea bighit.

Comments have been made onyour funny dialogues which have been

usedin abundance and yourmusic videolikesong picturisations.Many

film industry representatives also say that your films have no story

content?

I have heard manypeople commenting on lack of story content in my

films. I agree that my films dont have a strong story content, but I

always think it is thepresentation of thefilm which is moreimportant.

My films mayhave a small storythread, butnevertheless theyare very

strongin thewaytheyarenarrated onscreen. Andmy films have always

generated curiositybefore thereleasefor thequalityof thesongs and

the novelty in their presentation. I have spoken a lot on the criticism

aboutthe lackofstorycontent inmy filmsandhaveansweredmy critics

manyatimeson variousmediaplatforms.

Mostofyourfilmsare youth-centricand havelotof contentthatappeals

to the younger generation. You also interact largely with the college

students during your pre and post release promos of the film.

Youngstersform alargesegmentof film-viewingpublicthesedays.And

thenew economicenvironment hascreated anintelligentcinegoer who

wants tosupportgood films in a larger way. They have loads ofmoney

to spend on quality products,

whether it is an audio album or

a f ilm. I think todays young

generation looks at f i lms quite

d i ff er en tl y a nd i t i s t he

responsibility of filmmakers to

l oo k a t t he a sp ir at io ns a nd

d r eams o f t h is p a rt i cu l ar

segment of viewers. I dont see

a n yt h in g w ron g i n ma ki n g

youth-centric films. You should

alsounderstand, that butfor the

support of family audience, my

f i lms which a re c lass if ied as

c lass f i lms by t rade c i rc les ,

would not have made as much

money asthey have done atthe

box-office.

Have you thought about your

newfilmwith Puneet RajKumar

who is a major super star of the

Kannadafilmindustry?

I w as s uppo sed t o d o a f ilm

titled Lagori with Puneet Raj

Kumar for producer Rockline

Venkatesh, but somehow the

project could nottake offat the

last minute. I did Manasaare for

thesame producerlater.Now, I

am ma ki ng d oubl y s u re t o

prepare a very good script for

Puneetsir asthe productwillbe

a hugely anticipated one in the

industry.

Whydid yougo intohibernation

f o r two year s a f te r R anga

S.S.L.Cwasreleased?

I w on ' t a g re e w i th y o ur

perception that Ranga S.S.L.C.

was not a profitable venture. It

w as a c omme rc ia l h it , b ut I

agree the critics panned it. But

frankly none of my films later

also received any huge critical

appreciation.MungaruMalewas

alsocriticizedas justa songand

music f ilm, while Pancharangi

was c ri ticized for i ts lack o f

story content. Pancharangi has

received more criticismthanany

of my previous films,but what

counts ultimately is howpeople

l oo k a t t he se f il ms . I a m

extremelysatisfiedwiththe way

the people have reacted to my

f ilms s o f ar. I t hi nk i t i s t he

critics job to look at f i lms in a

larger perspective, but I think

the viewer's reaction carries

m o re w e ig h t t h an t h e

perceptionsof critics.

Myfilmsmay have a

small story thread,

but nevertheless they

areverystrongin the

waytheyare

narratedon screen.

Divya K. catchesup withArjun Jena inChennai

Hestartedhis career with Kaadhal Virus in Tamil,andother films hehas

done include Ala Mudalaindi a nd Oka Oorilo in Telugu, Love Khichdi

(Hindi)and Aegan (Tamil).

Initially, I was astillphotographyenthusiast,he reminisces.Therewas

noparticular institute forstillphotographyat that timeso I used tobuy

books,readthemandexperimentwithvariousshotsusingmy Canon.

My film career started as an assistant to P.C.Sreeramfor f ive years. I

have worked on films like Thiruda Thiruda, Thevar Magan,Kuruthi Punal

andsoon. Hispassionfor photographyanddisciplineare twothingsthat

really inspired me. I have done a lot of experiments at that t ime; for

instanceprocesseda filmonthe negative side andgota verycontrasting

effectand unusualtexture.

AfterP.C., I started working with Jeeva. My first independentfilm was

Kaadhal Virus starringRichard andPreetha. I used 5201, 50ASA forthe

outdoor where the highlight area would be high exposure and there

would bedark areas, thecontrast hadto becaptured. I relied on5205,

250D forday affect. I have experimenteda lot.I have workedwith low

light, mixture of temperature conditions andso onlywhere5217,500T

cameinhandy.

Director Kadir briefed me that this was a romantic f ilm and needed

appropriatetonesandcolours.Forthesongshe asked meto experiment

and do what came to my mind. In Ooty the sun would be somewhere

into theclouds,so itwouldbe verydifficultto giveexposurebecause of

themist. Despitethat, wegot excellent shots that were verydr

shot inthesun butusedit formoonlight.Weshot thesongandm

the animation. I matched the l ight to it as the day progresse

morningto moonlightin thesong.

AfterKaadhal Virus, I d id Love Khichdi in Hindi. It was a veryinte

filmwithSada andsix other characters,I have shown Mumbaias

wasa love story where thecharactershave a confusedstate of

used a cyantoneto reflect thisespeciallyin thekitchen where

theitemslikethe vesselswere silver incolour. I alsousedwarm

createdsomeunique light architecturewithaBig Bazaarkindof fe

tubelights.

CinematographerArjunJenahasdoneselectfilms buteach bearshis signature ofbrillianceandpoeticaesthetics.

Havingworkedwith masters like P.C.Sreeramand Jeeva,

hebrings tohisworka uniquelightingarchitecturethat

invitesyouto take asecondlook.

MungaruMale

From theday I wasan assistant,

I have been using Kodak.


12/17

I have done onlya fewfilmsbecause I dont pitch forwork.Thosewho

knowme come tome andI work with teams whogelwithme.

His recent, Aegan directed by Raju Sundaram and featuring Ajith and

Nayanthara wasa stylish andbreezyentertainer. He hascreated some

interestinglightingpatternsforthisfilm. Hesays,Fortheopeningofthe

film,wheretheherosentrystarts,we have createda Hollywood kindof

feelwhereI have addedan aqua blue tone.For 50percent ofthefilm,we

have kept that kind ofthe look andforthe rest amore Indianlook,as its

anIndian story andtheaudiencehasto relateto it.

Another interestingsequencewasone inthe carparkwhereI used alot

oftubelights onthe pillars.We alsopoured water onthe ground toget

thereflectionthere too.I used alot ofdaylight fortheface ofthe artiste

andthe whole ambiencewas fluorescent light. I gota neutralskin tone

andauniqueeffect.

Forportionslikepolicestations,I donot like tolightup thewholeplace

brightlyas it losesthe realism.Instead, I like touse akind ofsmokyfeel

togiveit authenticity.Sincetherewillbe manyhighcontrastarea,smoke

helps cover thedarkareasand provideprintableresults.Thepitchblack

andwhite getpickedup thankstoKodak.

For one songsequence, I used an 8KV par l ight and a heavy key l ight,

theartistesand everyone hadto be visible, there would be glare. That

wasdifficultto handlebut interesting.Director RajuSundaramgave me

a lot of freedomand it was very interesting to work with him.Weshot

someactionsequencesin Hong Kong.

Fromthe dayI was an assistant, I have been using Kodak. I have also

used it for my short f ilm Silent Scream. This is a psychological f i lm to

create social awareness about suicide, an issue affecting society every

minute. Itsaboutsomeone contemplatingsuicide andwhatgoes inthe

mindthosefewminutesbefore theact,it happensin real time. Itshows

whatgoes oninthe mindaftertheoverdoseofsleeping pills.

I am currentlyworking on Kamban Kazhagam being directed bya new

directorAshokKumar.Its aboutan aimlessyouthwhosuddenly realizes

that he can do something in l ife. Theres a small boywho changesthe

path ofhislife.We areplanningtoshootin Pondicherry,I want toexploit

the French ambience. Usually, people tend to merely match Chennai

with Pondicherry butI want tocapturethe flavour. I maydo a filmwith

GauthamMenonin 2011.

Iwantto experiment withallgenres.I like touse hugelights andcreate

somethingbrilliant. I also likedoingpoetic,aesthetic shots. Above all,I

wantto dosomeinspiring films afteryou seethefilm,you shouldfeel

inspired.

Aegan

Aegan

W h at p r om p te d y o u t o t a k e u p

cinematographyas yourprofession?

I wasinterestedin still photographyevenas a

schoolboy andhad tried my hand at drawing

too . After complet ing P lus Two, I joined

A d ay a r F i lm I n st i tu t e t o l e ar n

cinematography. My diploma film, Velicham

(Light)won theKodakaward forbeststudent

movie . Then I joined K . V. Anand as h is

assistantcameraman.

Howdid yourtrainingunderK. V.Anandhelp

you mould yourself as a cinematographer?

At t he I ns ti t ut e I l ea rn ed t he or ie s o n

c i nemato gra ph y . Bu t my c o ncept s o n

cinematography underwent a sea change

once I joined theindustry under K. V.Anand.

Itwas, infact,a processof unlearning.I learnt

how to improvise according to changing

s i tua tions . A c inematographer needs to

update his faculty almost everyday so as to

survive in this ever developing field. Anand

brings noveltyto each project. I had a lot to

l ea rn f ro m h im a nd c ou ld u pd at e m y

professionalknowledge.

Filmmakers who have influenced you during

your filmins titutedays

Steven Spielberg is a great influence. I saw

a lmost a ll h is movies whi le I was in the

Institute. Christopher Nolan who directed

filmslike Memento, Following and Inception i s

another favourite. And I am a great fan of

HongKong filmmakerWong KarWai.

How did your entry into Malayalm

happen?

M y f i rs t f i lm a s a n i n de p e

cinematographer was in Malayalam.

Madambi directed by B. Unnikrishna

Mohan Lal in the lead. I amhappy th

myfirstfilm withMohan Lalas hero.V

four days o f shoot ing before I join

p ro je ct . I n f ac t, I g ot t he c al

Unnikrishnan at midnight and was a

join the very next morning. I knew

about thestoryor howto treat thesub

Bollywood and Tamil, they have exh

s ho o ti n g s c he du l es . B u t i n m

independent movie I got only 32 d

shoot ing . I cou ld not p lan the s

beforehand. And to add to the woes,

know Malayalam. Anyway, I gotan a

tohelpme with thelanguage.

ChallengesforVijay Ulaganath, a graduate from the Adayar Film Institute in 2002, learnpracticallessons in cinematography with acclaimedcameramanK. V.Anand. He w

as an assistant cinematographer with Anand forsix years on movies like TheLeg

Bhagat Singh, Khakee,Kana Kanden,Chellame andSivaji. Theyoung DOP who belo

Tamil Nadu isnowa busy cinematographerinKerala.

VijayUlaganath tells K.B.Venuhe doesnot like gimmicksVijayUlaganath tells K.B. Venuhe does notlike gimmicks

Neela


13/17

Lal Joses Neelathamara was the film that

establishedyouinMalayalam.

I simply loved the subject of the film. I heard

t ha t i t w as a r emake o f a f ilm t ha t w as

releasedin theseventies or eighties.I hadnt

watched that movie. Lal Jose explained the

subject with the minutest visual details. I

could visualize the whole movie while he

narra ted the sub ject to me. I got the ful l

English translation of thescript andthe chief

assistant directorexplainedeverythingto me.

Even themeaning ofthe lyrics wasexplained.

Bythe time I started the shooting, each and

every word inthe script wasclearto me.This

was an added advantage and it helped me a

lotinexecutingmy plans.

How was the experience of workingwithLal

Jose?

Lal Jose has excellent sense of framing. He

narrateseverythingvisually. Workingwith Lal

Jose w il l be a p leasure for any upcoming

cinematographer. He never interferes in the

DOPswork.

What w a s y o ur m o du s o p e ra n d i f o r

Neelathamara?

For Neelathamara Iusednaturallightsas faras

possible. I wanted contrasts of black and

green; for that I chose Kodaks 200T and it

gave the desired result. Only one stock was

used throughout.Therewasno interventionof

digitaltechnology.

Tell us aboutyour latest film, Elsamma Enna

Aankutty?

The camera movements andtreatment were

slow in Neelathamara because the subject

demandedsuch a pace.But in Elsamma Enna

Aankutty there are several brisk movements.

There were dramatic climatic changes in the

l o ca ti o ns a l l t h e t ime . I t w a s r a in i ng

throughout. The sky was c loudy. I cou ld

manage thecloseshots butit wasdifficult to

take long shots in that atmosphere. Outdoor

lightingwas notin my control.We waitedfor

long for the sun to appear and the shooting

was extendedbeyond schedule.

Butdidit affectthe resultsin anyway?

Notat all.Wecouldattaingoodresult despite

the unfavorable weather conditions. We got

several shots with natural beauty, especially

when we shot when i t was raining . I u sed

Vision3 5213 ofKodakinthisfilm.

InNeelathamaraandElsammaEnna Aankutty

you were handling newcomers. How is that

experience?

Ann Augustine, the heroineof Elsamma Enna

Aankutty, is a brilliantartisteand shelearned

thebasics ofbehaving in front of thecamera

very quickly. During the initial days we took

only two or three shots a day. But later we

could increasethepace.

Youstartedworkingwithbigbudgetmoviesin

Tamiland Bollywood.Whatdifferencedid you

find as you started working in Malayalam

f i lms? Whatre your impressions of the

Malayalamfilmindustryin general?

When I joined K.V.Anandas an assistant he

w as d o in g b i g b u dge t mo vi e s, w h ic h

demandedbig sets, sophisticatedequipments

and innovat ive v isual t rea tment. As an

a s si s ta n t c i nemat og r ap h er I h ad a n

opportunity to explore new possibilities and

newheights in technology andit wasa great

experience getting trained under him. We

were trained to control, manipulate and get

thingsthe waywe wanted.But when I started

m y c a re e r a s a n i n de p en d en t

cinematographer in Malayalammovies, things

were completely different fromthe wayI had

worked before. Theentire movie wasshot in

40daysand wehadan Arriflex35- IIIcamera

with Hawk Anamorphic lenses. Most of the

present day mainstream Malayalam movies

a re d ia logue d riven and demand a lot o f

movement shots. Weshotmostof thescenes

i n h il l a re as a nd f ac ed p ro bl em s i n

maintaining lighting contrast and depth.

Thanksto Kodak asit never disappointedme.

Shooting Malayalam movies is quite a great

experienceand fun.

Generally,howdoyou preparefor ashoot?

F ir st I g o t hrou gh t he s cr ip t, t he n h ol d

d iscuss ions w ith the d irector and the a rt

director. Then the decision on the look-and-

f ee l o f t he mov ie w il l b e t ak en . F or me,

locat ions p lay a v ital role and I bel ieve in

extensivelocationscouting. I alwayspreferto

shoot on celluloid and when I say celluloid I

mean Kodak. I love Kodak stocks especially

5 21 7 200T f or t he w ay i t h an dl es t he

highlights, reproduces rich blacks and tonal

reproduct ion. I p re fe r 5217 200T for the

challenging locations, day interiors. Fornight

exteriors I prefer 5219 500T for the subtle

blacks.I trust Kodakand itneverfailedme.

Whatkindofmoviesdo youpreferworkingon?

I would l ike to do realistic subjects with a

romantic f lavour. I dont l ike gimmicks with

the camera. May be that is the reason why I

ama greatfanof WongKar Wai.

Neelathamara

Neelathamara

Ialwaysprefer toshoot on

celluloid andwhen I say

celluloid I mean Kodak.

LalJose talks toK.B. Venu aboutapproach tohis

DirectorLalJoseis knownfor theversatilityofsubjects andlocations hechoosesfor hismovies.

Afterthe successofNeelathamara, heis settingup h

latestfilmin arusticatmosphere. ElsammaEnna

Aankutty (Elsamma, theBoy) belongstothe hilariou

genreof moviesthataudiencesexpect from the

creatorof blockbusters likeMeesamadhavan and

Chanthupottu. The movieis anattemptto grabthe

throbsand flavours ofKeralasvillagelife,with

realisticcharactersand naturalsettings. Lal Josewho

hasintroduceda numberof heroineslikeKavya

Madhavan, SamvruthaSunil and MeeraNandan has

newcomerAnneAugustine,in theleadrole.

What i s your l a te s t movi e

El samma Enna Aankutty al l

about?

The s to ry i s set aga inst the

backdrop of a hill-sidevillagein

K e r al a . E l s a mm a , t h e

protagonist is forced to take up

the responsibi l ity o f look ing

after herfamilywhenher father,

a d runkard and i l lic it l iquor

t rader, meets w ith a sudden

death. Since he was the local

newspaper agent too, Elsamma

takes upthe jobof a newspaper

distributor in the village. She

also works as a local reporter.

She is the eldest of four sisters

and her irresponsible mother

s p end s t ime e i th e r d o zi n g

around or visiting the village

church. Theyoungersisters too

a re n o t s e ri ou s a bo ut l i fe .

Visua lly the f ilm i s going to

entertain the spectators with

the scintillating beauty of early

mornings in Thodupuzha, the

s leepy h igh range township

bordering the Western Ghats.

The hero, played by Kunchako

Boban , i s a local milk vendor

who a lso has h is duty hours

during ea rly mornings . The

newspaper g i rl and the mi lk

vendor boy together will rock

Balan Pillai City, the imaginary

t own shi p wh ere t h e s t ory

unfolds. Anne Augustine, my

heroine, has portrayed the role

to my satisfaction.

Why t h e h e ro in e i s c al le d

Elsamma,theBoy?

She takes up the responsibility

ofan entirefamily despitebeing

a girl and behavesalmost l ike a

boy. She says she doesnt l ike

being called a boy, though she

doesnt hate boys. But she is of

the opinion that a majority of

themareboringpersons.

Doesthe filmresemble movies

l i ke Ammayane Sathyam by

B a l a ch a n d ra M e n on o r

Rasathanthram by Sathyan

Anthikad in which girls were

disguisedas boys?

Not at all. Some friends asked

me whetherthis filmresembled

Chanthupo t tu i n w hi ch I

experimentedwithDileepin the

r ol e o f a y ou ng m an w it h

feminine mannerisms. We used

such a cut in a song sequence

butnow even thatdoesntexist

inthemovie.It isjustElsammas

peculiar and unique character

thatmatters.

Y o u r p r e v i o u s

Neelathamarawas full o

talents, including the he

heroine.This timetoo,yo

anew heroine

I want to make my f ilm

relaxedmood. Theadvan

using young andfreshta

that I w il l have them w

throughout. I w il l be a

e xp lo it t he ir t al en ts

maximum.I dont blame t

heroines for being busy

time.Theyneedto work

than onefilm simultaneo

maintain their career. I

actors according tothe s

asas

RainRainFreshFresh ElsammaEnnaElsammaEnna Aankutty


14/17

I c ho ose. I f t he s ub je ct i s s ui ta bl e f or

youngsters I go for f resh faces and i f i t

demands experienced hands I approach

seasoned actors. Established directors can

always experiment with new faces. But new

directors f ind it difficult to survive without

stars.

Each film needs at least one star. It could be

the artiste, director or the producer himself.

Take the example of Manjil Virinja Pookkal

which was a big hit in the eighties. Actors

Mohan Lal, Shanker, Poornima Jayaram and

the director Fazil were newcomers. But the

productionhouse,Navodaya,wasa bigname.

To what extent do you experiment with your

medium?

As in anyfield, technologicaladvancementis

r ap id i n c in ema. Now we h ave s everal

versionsofdigitalmediatochoosefrom. ButI

willmakemy films oncelluloidso longas this

medium exists. Because only celluloid can

impart theromantic moodI expect to create

in my movies. Cel lu lo id i s superio r to the

d igi tal medium because i t i s capab le o f

h igh light ing on ly those images tha t the

f ilmmaker and the DOP want to show the

spectators.The digitalmediumis incapable of

providing even the exact darkness that we

Many films are remade with the support of

l a te s t c i nemat i c t e ch nol o gy i n o t he r

languages.

There seems to be a f lurry of movies with

young actors in the lead roles after the

success of Malarvadi Arts Club and Apoorva

Ragangal.Howdo youevaluatethistrend?

When filmmakers depend on superstars like

Mohan Lal and Mammootty, the themes

revolve around them so as to suit their age.

Now we h ave a g ro up o f you ng h eroe s.

Filmmakers whoare planning to go for plots

with the same success formula of Malarvadi

Arts Club are sure to bite the dust. If different

subjects are chosen with the new talents

therewillbe wonderfulmoviesahead.

What is your evaluation of Elsamma Enna

Aankutty?

I underwent severe mental strain during the

shoot. I went about shootingthe filmwithout

studying the climatic pattern of the place.

Now I understand that Thodupuzha, where I

shot thefilm is Keralas Cherrapunji. Wehad

unexpectedrainfall allthetime. I hadto shoot

for almost two extra weeks because of this.

Butit wasa blessingin disguise.Youcan see

thescenicgreenery ofthe landand theblack

rocks androadsneatlywashedin rain. I have

also made use of almost eight waterfalls in

the localitywhich are seen onlyduring rainy

season.I owe muchto therainsfor thevisual

beautyof theframes. Theonlyconstraintwas

t ha t I h ad t o b e t en se a bo ut mee ti ng a

deadline.

expect in movies. We can exclude whatever

wedontwant toproject onthe screen.But in

digital films youmight seeobjectsor imageswhich the director actually wants to avoid.

D i gi t al f i lms f ai l t o p ro vi de t he t h re e

dimensional effect that celluloid always

promises.My firstloveis celluloid.Inthis film

I have used thelatest versionof Kodak.I ama

strong advocate of Kodak. I had dropped a

project when theproducer refusedto provide

me withthis stock. DOPVijay Ulaganath has

done an excellent work He has used natural

l ight to the maximum to explore the scenic

beautyof thelocation.

ElsammaEnna Aankutty



Iam a strong advocate

ofKodak.I haddroppeda

projectwhen the producer

refusedto provideme

withthisstock. a chanceI would like totry outthis look once. Speakingof that,

Kodak stocks areincreasinglybecoming post friendly(DI) with

latitudeandalmostinvisible grain structure. I feel thereshouldre

stockthatpresents usa possibilityto usegraininessas anartistic

I strongly believe that f ilm is a directors medium. We are

translate their ideas intoimages. Therefore I would like tobe ab

clearabouttheintentionsof a director behindeachsceneandthe

a whole. I liketo planbeforehand, so I would liketo dointenser

thelocations andwouldlike to getinvolved inall theprep work

than this, every film or script has a particular nature. I will try

portraythemthroughlensing,framing,lightingand movement.

At the end of our third year at f i lm school, we are supposed to

half an hour-long diploma filmin 35mmformat using spherical

Snehal Nairaccidentallyfound someold passportsize images l

thestreet. Thosewere black andwhitephotographs andappeare

old.Our Instituteis locatedon oneof thefastest growinglandsc

theKolkatametropolis,in terms ofcommercialandresidentialbu

Often thesebuildingsseemto generate from theearthitself.

My directorwantedto documentthis transformation of landsca

somehow link those found photographs through a narrative st

We zeroed in on using black and white stock instead of colo

needed to use it to achieve an abstract quality that will help

connect the graphic qualities of those photographs and that

landscape. I choseKodakDoubleX (5222)film andusedit topro

degree of contrast in the look of the film.For some parts of th

have pushed(overexposed)thestockto introducesomeamount

into theimages.I usedCarl ZeissUltra Prime lenses andan An

25-250mm forsomeshots.

I really enjoyed shooting this f ilm.A lot of credit goes to my d

Snehal Nair. He was very clear about what he wanted and how

should we venture into the abstraction in terms of visuals. W

shooting buildings, bridges andconstructionsites andmoving t

barrenlandscapesinorderto find aspacewhereourhumaninter

innaturehas nottakenplace.

My interest in photography began during my college years in andaround 2002.One day while I was at the Kolkata Book Fair, I chanced

upon a book of photography by famous French photographer Henri

Cartier Bresson. His photographs that captured the world in its actual

state of movement and transformation hooked me. I started taking

photographymore seriously and bought an SLR still camera. It is this

interest in capturing images that gradually propelled me towards

cinematography.

After passing out from SRFTI,I have assistedcinematographer Ranjan

Palitand SavitaSinghin twoofher featurefilms.CurrentlyI amassisting

veteran cinematographer Anil Mehta in a Hindi feature film. In a f i lm

school,you aregiventhebasicinputsup toa certainlevel.We carry out

exercises andprojects under a certainbudgetand thusconcentrate our

skill onwhateverwe have inour hand. Workingin abig projectgivesme

theopportunity toworkwith thelatest technologyand handleelaborate

set-upsor tolightup a bigzone.It isa uniqueexposureI amenjoying

working under Anil

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India Images Q4 2011

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