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Volume 7

Issue 2, 2010

INSIDE

Yash Chopra Pradip Chakravarty C. K. Muraleedharan Amal Neerad R. Giri Ravi Yadav

Manoj Paramahamsa Anil Nair Raja Phadtare

Attar Singh Saini Rahul Jadhav Archana Borhade

Master Kishen M. Venkatesan

Volume 7
INSIDE FOREWORD

Issue 2, 2010

1 4 7 9

Full Steam Ahead


Veteran filmmaker and industry leader Yash Chopra, in a rare interview with Deepa Gahlot.

Throw Out The Rulebook


Deepa Deosthalee talks to hotshot DOP C.K. Muraleedharan about his ad work.

The first few months of the year have been difficult for the film industry, what with competition from cricket and off-screen glamour. In spite of all this ,one must admit, we did see a lot of movies being released. Industry leader Yash Chopra, in a rare and candid interview, foresees tough times ahead. Though the Hindi film industry is growing at a rapid pace and spreading its wings overseas, there is also serious competition for local films from big-budget Hollywood extravaganzas. Proceed with caution is his advice. Images goes around the country, taking a look at behind-the-scenes of filmmaking in every region, and continues the series on Young Guns.. Wishing you enjoyable summer vacations and happy reading...

Full Ahead
Steam
Veteran filmmaker and industry leader Yash Chopra, in a rare interview with Deepa Gahlot talks of Bollywood and its place in the world

Keeping Up With The Times


DOP R. Giri talks to R.G. Vijayasarathy.

On what works:
The Mumbai film industry has already gone global, but there are different yardsticks for different films. For instance, Karan Johar's latest film My Name is Khan was distributed by Fox, it was screened at Berlin, it had a red carpet premiere at Abu Dhabi. It had a wide release and entered some territories where Hindi films are not normally released. Because of Fox, it did very well overseas. On the other hand 3 Idiots was not taken up by any global distributor and it was the biggest hit in India, and also did very good business overseas.

Painting With Light


Pradip Chakraborty tells Malabi Sen that he does not let problems affect the quality of his work.

We are losing a lot of things in our culture. In our music, the soul is gone the Indian melody is gone.

11 13 15 17 19 21

The DOP should be like a meek wife


K B Venu met Amal Neerad at Kochi.

A Finger in Every Pie


Ravi Yadav talks to Manju Latha Kalanidhi about his dreams and ambitions. On why dubbing is a harmful trend: Avatar was a great film and is a great threat to Indian films. Dubbing of

Shades of Dreams
Divya K goes into creative details with DOP Manoj Paramahamsa.

Second Time Lucky


Anil Nair shares the ups and downs in his career with K.B. Venu.

Suresh S Iyer Country Business Manager Entertainment Imaging

Hollywood films into Indian languages is eating into the domestic film business in a big way. For such big special effects films, with 300-400 million dollar budgets, dubbing costs peanuts. We should see how to fight this threat. We have to safeguard our industry. Maybe dubbing of Hollywood films should not be allowed.

Hard Work Pays


Raja Phadtare tells Johnson Thomas that he considers the industry as his true home. On Co-productions: A lot of co-productions happened in the last two years, but I dont think it has been a very happy experience for the overseas people; it may have Volume 7, Issue 2, 2010 Cover Credit: Yash Chopra Courtesy: Yash Raj Films been happy for the Indian producers. When a film does not do well, it hurts the person who spends money and takes it up. Co-productions with big studios can be done as far as money is concerned otherwise, we are poles apart culturally. Managing Editor: Suresh Iyer Deepa Gahlot Roopak Graphics, Mumbai Amruta Print Arts, Mumbai After so many years and much advancement there are certain things our audiences will never accept. True, there are taboo subjects that people are making in India and some audiences are accepting them toothose Hindish (Hindi-English) films without songs, which young people are accepting. Films like LSD and Dev D have also done well, but by and large, I dont think we can make films, that can please both
Printed and Published by: Suresh Iyer on behalf of Kodak India Private Limited, at Mumbai. Do write in with ideas, suggestions, comments to kodakimages@rediffmail.com This is an independent magazine. Views expressed in the articles are those of authors alone.

Success is a State of Mind


Attar Singh Saini tells Deepa Deosthalee that he is not disheartened by the fate of some of his films.

24 26 27 28

Flagged Off
Rahul Jadhav shares his career plans with Deepa Deosthalee.

Young Guns - Bright Spark


Divya K meets aspiring cinematographer Archana Borhade in Chennai. Editor: Design and layout:

Young Guns - Child Prodigy


R.G.Vijayasarathy tracks the achievements of Master Kishan.

Printing:

Documenting A Legend
M. Venkatesan talks about the making of his biopic on Gemini Ganesan.

audienceshere and abroad.

Chak De! India

On promoting films: My Name Is Khan and 3 Idiots were good films, I dont think just promotion can make a film successful. In India, now everyone is promoting films in a big way, with all kinds of gimmicks, but all that doesnt translate into success, if the film is bad. Its unthinkable, the money that it spent on promotion, and after all that if the film does not do well, it pinches. All these years not more than seven or eight percent films were successful; and I am talking success-failure in terms of money only. Those days of jubilees are gone. Today, lakhs is nothing, everything is in crores and how much comes back? Business is not more than two weeks, and of this 70 percent is in the first week. If you miss the first week for some reason, you miss the business completely.
Veer-Zaara Ta Ra Rum Pum

Everyday the world is becoming smallerco-productions can be done, technically and financially. The difference in exchange rates goes a long way. Fifty crores are a few million dollars, why wont they gamble? But nobody can make a crossover film; if it is good, it will cross over. In 10 years, a lot of deals have been done at FICCI Frames, ultimately global interaction will benefit us.

On Bollywood and the world: Bollywood has become a big name, the whole world wants it in one way or the other. Indian entertainment, cinema, theatre, costumes, foodeverything. Its a big craze and it has never happened before. We were in Paris at the Ritz Hotel, and Tom Cruise was also there. When he went out of the hotel, there were a few fans, but when Shah Rukh Khan came out, it became difficult to control the crowds. The security people requested us to travel in a bus and not separate cars, because they could not handle it. Its happening at every level. Our stars are very big in Egypt, Amitabh Bachchan is god! India is going global.
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic

On new revenue models: There are other avenues of business but now, the physical format of music is almost finished. Money is spent on the promotion of music, but it is not recovered. Other forms like internet and mobile downloads have appeared, but they are not making as much as we used to make with only music sales. Now, I am told, even mobile downloads are decreasing.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Tashan

New York

On the downside of going global: We are losing a lot of things in our culture. In our music, the soul is gone the Indian melody is gone. They say that the market is dictated by the youth and get away with anything. China and Japan have not lost
Pyaar Impossible

their identity. The advantage of going global is that people are rejecting formula films. They are patronizing new kinds of cinema. The disadvantage is loss of identity. You hardly see Indian costumes in out films anymore, or hear Indian melody. You hardly get to hear powerful dialogues in our films. In
Dil Bole Hadippa!

On globalization: Globalization actually started when we started shooting abroad. Because of terrorism in Kashmir, I started going to Switzerland, where the locations were beautiful. Now almost every country is trying to woo India to come and shoot on their locations. They earn foreign exchange, even if 10 percent of the people who see the films visit their countries. There are lots of deals going on, subsidies offered, as a result it is cheaper to shoot in Switzerland than in India. Rakesh Roshan and Singapore had big deals when he shot Krissh there. There is comfort of shooting, fantastic locations, but I dont think just because you shoot abroad, the film will be successful. We did a co-production with Disney on the animation film Roadside Romeo. They were surprised by our animators and the film won awards internationally. We are doing good work, but when you see Avatar, you know we have a long way to go.

the old days there used to be special dialogue writers with a knowledge of the language, who wrote those dialogues that people still remember. Maybe now people want simple, colloquial dialogue, but you dont hear audiences clapping any more, or crying in emotional scenes. Dialogue ka zamana chala gaya.

All these years not more than seven or eight percent films were successful; and I am talking success-failure in terms of money only. Those days of jubilees are gone.
Badmaash Company

On directing again: I am trying to make my kind of film romantic, human, emotional, so its taking time to finalize. I cant make just any film, and I cant make a fool of myself but I have promised myself, that this year I will direct a film.

Kurkure

Airtel

Throw out the Rulebook


Deepa Deosthalee talks to hotshot DOP C.K. Muraleedharan about his ad work.

A physics graduate from Kerala, Muraleedharan believes his academic background actually helped him a lot in his advertising work. He worked with directors like Prahlad Kakkar, Ram Madhvani and Sumantra Ghoshal in the 1990s. But somewhere along the way, he lost interest and consciously moved away from shooting ad films. Those days the look of ad films was standardised soft, polished and mushy. Beyond a point I got bored with this set format and moved on to feature films instead. It wasnt exciting to spend 12 hours lighting up a teacup or a steel jar. But in recent years, hes back on the circuit after what he describes as a change in the patterns and mood of ad films From happy, peppy, smiley images, we are now dealing with material thats gritty, dark and realistic. Over the past few years, both internationally and locally, the language of expression in ad films has changed. Last year I did a commercial for Surf Excel where a little boy is rolling in the mud to cheer up his teacher whose pet dog has just died. Im not into flowery images and prefer playing with contrasts and silhouettes.
Facia

C.K.Muraleedharan believes that a cinematographer should do something new with each film and
never settle into a style. And that everything must come from the script. Which is why hes very selective of the films he does, both in cinema and in advertising. His impressive body of work includes films like Lage Raho Munnabhai, Johnny Gaddaar and 3 Idiots and commercials for a wide range of products from Cadburys and Surf Excel to Tata Sky and Airtel. Muraleedharan believes advertising is going through an interesting phase where innovation is the keyword and the rulebook has gone out of the window. Hes the man who shot the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time, 3 Idiots. But for Muraleedharan, its never been about the money. Unlike a lot of other cinematographers who dream of making it big in Bollywood, he shied away from feature films for a long time because he didnt connect with the cinema of the 70s and 80s and focussed on documentaries and television mini-series instead. His career in advertising too has run a similar course. Ive been in and out of advertising. I assisted Barun Mukherjee 30 years ago when I first came to Mumbai. There was a time when I practically lived at Famous Studios and did plenty of leftover stuff on different ad films. That was before the digital era, when every effect had to be created manually, he recalls.

It was Muraleedharan who shot the first Airtel commercial with Madhavan and Vidya Balan that was directed by Vinil Mathew, one of his favourite directors. We didnt know how well that film would work when we shot it. But when we saw the result, I was confident it would strike a chord and it did.
Fa

Eno

The audience is now used to seeing all kinds of images on television and the internet. So they wont believe anything you show them unless youre sure about where you want to lead them.

Surf Excel

He has also worked with international directors shooting commercials in India and often their perception of India as exotica has a role to play in the kind of films they make. I shot an ad for HSBC which required the ambience of a dance shoot with a fort faade as the backdrop. They wanted 200 dancers and elephants and a grand feel to the images. It was fun doing that too. But he continues to be selective about his scripts and directors. I work with directors like Prakash Verma, Vinil Mathew, Rajesh Krishnan, who wait for good scripts and shoot on their own terms. Ive also shot ads with Raju (Rajkumar) Hirani and weve worked on two feature films together. Its nice working with the same directors again because the tuning is set and it becomes that much easier. Muraleedharan is now preparing to shoot Agent Vinod for Shriram Raghavan and once he immerses himself in the film itll be goodbye to advertising for some time, yet again. My ad film directors are used to my ways now. They know that Im only available if theres no feature film underway. I cant do both things simultaneously.

Keeping up

TIMES
e is always cool and composed. Being a veteran director of cinematography in the Kannada film industry, R.Giri can command a lot of attention, but he is always a low profile man, just concentrating on his work. But his work speaks for him. Recently he made news by working on a film, Sugreeva, which was shot in just 18 hours creating a record of sorts in the Kannada film industry. He has worked for several big projects including the hugely successful films like Budhdhivantha, Anna Thangi, Tavarige Baa Thangi, Maharaja, Veerappa Nayaka and many others. His other films include Raavana, Devaru Kotta Thangi, Bhagyadha Balegaara, Mohini, Shubham, Thipparalli Tharlegalu and Bindaas Hudugi. Giri has really made an impact with his craft and innovative shot takings. He believes that discipline and hard work are the most important factors for progress in the career of cinematographer.
Sugreeva

with the

In this interaction with R.G. Vijayasarathy, DOP R. Giri talks about his career and the changing trends in the cinematography today.
Despite working in many Kannada films and with all the big directors and superstars you remain aloof from the limelight. Why do you remain low profile always? I normally shun all film parties and also the pre-release press meets of films. What is the use in talking about our own work before the release of any film? I think the cinematographers job has to be analyzed by the people and the film fraternity after the release of the film. Our work should speak for us and I believe that any amount of trumpeting your achievements in press meets will not bring in laurels, though it may boost your ego a bit. The appreciation your work receives in media and also by fans after watching the film is more important than media coverage. I respect the reviews But every artiste and technician thinks he is a commodity in todays competitive world and wants to promote himself? Dont you feel isolated in this marketing blitz? I dont think the people who are so conscious about films will accept whatever is said in press meets. Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest exponents of Jazz, is believed to have said, If you cannot blow your own trumpet, who else will? But I think Armstrong, being a genius, must have said it in jest. Even his achievements were appreciated by music lovers and were not analyzed in the background of
Raavana

Cadbury's

While Muraleedharan has shot dozens of commercials over the past few years with a variety of ad filmmakers, his commitment to feature films doesnt leave him with too much time for advertising. Generally I do ad films in between feature films because I spend a lot of time on preproduction for feature films and its difficult to shuffle between the two. And I dont do too many ads. Feature films are more strenuous and the responsibility is much more. But ad films offer him a great deal of variety in terms of creative challenge. Recently I shot a commercial for Eno outside shady restaurants in Byculla with minimal lighting. It has a very different ambience. Today, every script can be innovative so things dont get repetitive. Also, the audience is now used to seeing all kinds of images on television and the internet. So they wont believe anything you show them unless youre sure about where you want to lead them. And you cant copy or repeat things because youll get caught out very easily.

Bajaj

more than what my colleagues working with me in films would tell me about my work. I will normally disassociate myself from any pre-publicity campaigns mainly because my job is to just translate the vision of a director on screen and the film is just a reflection of a directors concept. the statements made by him. I dont think I have been isolated in this industry as every film personality knows that I am greatly skilled and I have my work in films to prove that I can be trusted.

Can you briefly tell us about your background and how you were drafted into films? Frankly I am not that well educated and was not trained in any film institute. I just worked under cameraman-director Dinesh Babu in my younger days. I learnt all the basics working under him and his then assistant P.K.H. Doss, who is himself an accomplished cinematographer now. Working with Babu sir was more than attending a training workshop. He would use available equipments and also
Budhdhivantha

I think Kodak is the most trusted brand for any film cinematographer today.

What were some of the big challenges you had faced during your career?

Painting Painting
with
Musolmanir Galpo Musolmanir Galpo

Pradip Chakraborty tells Malabi Sen that he does not let problems affect the quality of his work.

A film like Shubham was really a challenge. In Lava Kusha which had two superstars like Shivaraj Kumar and Upendra working for it, I had to shoot some of the action sequences in a limited time frame. The stunt choreographer had done his homework and was ready with his shots, but I had to make arrangements for the lighting at a brisk speed. I was able to get things right and the action sequences in the film were much appreciated. Budhdhivantha was another film which was memorable because we had to shoot the songs in China and also in Himalayas in extremely difficult situations. Frankly there are many of them, but I can not recount those things immediately. As a cinematographer you must have seen many changes in filmmaking trends what is your take on these recent changes in the industry? In a way I think every film is a challenge in these days when explosion of talent is seen in todays films. Also new innovations and new type of cameras and equipments are hitting the market. And well-educated trained talents are being introduced in the camera department. Cinematographers of today need to learn more about all the new inventions, equipments and even the new trends that are seen in films today. We are seeing today how digital cameras are entering the fray and we can find even established film directors like Kamal Haasan using Red cameras. There are many Kannada filmmakers who are using the other forms of digital cameras. I think the new technology is spreading its wings very fast and cinematographers should know the contemporary trends in the industry.

shoot in existing light to get the best frames.

Painting Light

Pradip Chakraborty wanted to become


an artist and get admitted into the Government Art College in Kolkata. But the paucity of funds held him back. So, he decided to do a three-year still photography course at the Jadavpur Institute of Printing Technology. On completing this course he left for Mumbai, and with the help of famous art director, Sudhendu Roy, found a place at Natraj Studios as an observer under great cinematographer V.K. Murthy and others like G. Singh, A.G. Prabhakar, Alok Dasgupta and Bipin Gajjar.

Your recent film Sugreeva was shot in just 18 hours and is discussed for its planning, execution and detailed homework. How was this hard task accomplished? I think Sugreeva will be a memorable film for all the people who were associated with it including the spot boys who had worked for it. It was a victory for team work and the artistes, technicians and workers in the Kannada film industry showed that they can plan and execute well to make a reasonably good film, which can be interesting for the audience for more than two hours. Sugreeva had 10 film directors and 10 cinematographers working in tandem. I had worked with film director Pramod Chakravarthy with whom I share a good rapport. I had earlier worked under his direction in a comedy film called Golmaal which is yet to be released. I had also worked as cinematographer in many films produced by his brother Sheshu Chakravarthy. We had nearly 18 sequences to be shot in the main hall of Raja Rajeshwari Hospital where the entire film was shot. We started shooting for the film at six a.m. on October 11, 2009 and finished our shooting just 10 minutes before 12.00 p.m. on the same day. Clearly it was a big achievement!
Devaru Kotta Thangi

How did the journey into movies take off? Towards the end of 1975 I worked under V. Balasaheb as an assistant, and then under Dilipranjan Mukherjee. I assisted Manmohan Singh also. In 1986 my father died and I shifted to Kolkata. My work as independent cinematographer started in 1988, with Dr. Swapan Saha working in his film, Chandrabati Katha. I worked with Ratan Adhikary in his films Shakti, Jibantrishna, Parichay, Anurag, Apan Halo Par; Premee directed by Bikash Banerjee. I also worked with Salilmoy Ghosh in his film Ekti Meye Tamasi. Now I am shooting Pranab Choudhurys film Ekti Musolmanir Galpo, based on Rabindranath Tagores story. Did you come across the demarcation between art or parallel cinema? There can only be a good, well-made film and a badly made film. No other line of demarcation exists, if I may say so. In this context, I can recall, we were shooting a film Aanchal starring Amol Palekar in Mumbai, he was also saying he does not believe in art film per se, a film can be either good or bad. Technically all films are the same where the actual job of filmmaking is concerned. In art cinema you get less intercutting, the emphasis is on storytelling, it is much less jerky to the eyes. For commercial movies, the commerce part is much more important, getting the money back that is invested in making the film remains all important to the producer rather than thinking in terms of quality. The money counting starts even before shooting commences. I still remember with affection a film of mine that was left incomplete, called Jibanjapan directed by Sauren Basu. Only three or five days of shooting was left when work got stalled due to unavoidable circumstances. In that film my work was compared to one of my gurus, Saumendu Roy, I felt very elated then, but the film has been left incomplete all these years. Sauren had stressed at every point the mood of the scene, the visual treatment when a guy goes
Musolmanir Galpo

And he would also work with greater speed. Both Babu and Doss were perfect in choosing the lighting pattern for a particular sequence. I think cinematographers can make a great impact by using very ordinary equipment if they can perfectly do the lighting work. Then I got the first break to work as an independent cinematographer in the film Nighatha which was directed by my brother-in-law S.Narayan who had also become a film producer with that film. The film was shot in hilly areas and also in some inaccessible terrain. We used to go to the interiors with all the equipment and shoot the film. It was a good experience. Later on I worked with S.Narayan in many films, after which I was drafted to work by other film directors. Now, I am working again with my brother-in-law for the big budget film Veera Parampare which will have two big artistes like Sudeep and Ambareesh.

Budhdhivantha

You are normally using the Kodak negatives.. why this particular brand? I think Kodak is the most trusted brand for any film cinematographer today.

out for work in the morning and the afternoon when the womenfolk staying at home are taking a bit of nap has an altogether different treatment visually, lighting-wise or whichever way you look at it. Sauren stressed not only mood, but also the colour temperature to be used of the raw stock. In the afternoon just before sunset we used 2000K, the orange tone of light we get, then Sauren tried to visualize it. A thousand pities this film could not be completed. It is my bad luck as a cinematographer. For a director a film is like a child unborn, in its process of making.

Photography is the platform, cinematography is the look and eye of the film.

Do you get the equipment and stock you want? We suffer a lot. Availability of good lenses to a good quality camera harangues us always. The lens is the eye of the camera, the lens is prime. What we get here is for me a third hand camera, not even second hand! Supposing we could get Panavision cameras, it would have been great. Some Arri 4s have come into the market, but the lenses are still old. Getting a good lab is also a problem. The standard of Kodak Image Lab out there in Mumbai is a dream for us, we cannot afford to do our processing there due to stiff budgetary constraints. Bengali films suffer due to budget as the market is only regional and hence limited. If you have a good director with excellent technical concepts, the results are bound to be good. But that is, a bit rare, I might say. Here mostly the production manager takes up all the responsibilities, and force us to work not exactly up to the mark. Supposing you have a three-storey house, the light cannot be thrown up to the second storey even. Equipments are a major problem for me. Once I asked for a 16 mm camera, but it gave me soft focus. 16 mm is more difficult than 35 mm, when blown up to 35 mm the focus goes out. Photography is the platform, cinematography is the look and eye of the film. For me 100ASA-EXR or Extended Range is a favourite, I use 5219 500T very good contrast film with excellent latitude, I can use differing filters in this Kodak stock both for indoors and outdoors. I use mostly Tungsten films, I am yet to use Daylight stocks, they are a bit risky for indoors, I must use a blue filter which would decrease the speed, conversion gets difficult. I insist on using Kodak stock for its rich, golden tone. It brings out magnificently the skin tones of an actor, I can freely play with light and shade with Kodak stock. In one case, I was shooting using cinemascope, which creates problems with lenses as it is. But since I was using Kodak stock I could work very smoothly, that way Kodak has no parallel. About Day for Night I am yet to use it lot of lights would be needed which is a waste in our shoestring budget here. Many mathematical problems would have to be worked out, the night sky we see is deep, one has to look out for the exposure, the sky can have 8, the face of the actor 4, then sky must be done one stop under. Normally after 4 p.m. daylight keeps decreasing fast, reflected light decreases with it. I try to finish within 4 p.m. Some directors draw the shooting after 4 or 5 p.m. even, no sky glare is there. I do not like working in this kind of time. Artificial lights do not match with daylight and the mismatch can be detected. For me, mood lighting is all important, in Ratan Adhikarys film there was a night-scene, I enquired about the time, he said about 2 to 2.30 p.m. at night. Then inside the room may be only the night lamp would remain as source, outside spill light from streetlights in a verandah outside. Many directors discuss all this in detail with me.
Musolmanir Galpo Musolmanir Galpo

like a meek wife


won several accolades in youth festivals for photography. I had some stills with me when I appeared for the interview. The board, comprising of stalwarts of the Satyajit Ray era were impressed by those stills. They advised me to opt for cinematography and I agreed. Perhaps I am the first ever cinematography student in the country without a science degree, to study in a national film institute. I had won a National Award for best cinematographer for my diploma film, Meena Jha, in the short feature section. At that time, there was a German exchange programme going on. As part of the programme, I went to Berlin along with a direction student in the How did your passion for films begin sprouting? Right from high school days my dream was to In a film called Khannan there were white-washed walls to be shot. I made the art director Samir Kundu make four different whites on the walls, on which I did the lighting, each using a different pattern. Inside the room cross lighting is essential to avert reflected light coming from the white walls. 5219 500T is my favourite stock. Is Cube projection an answer to bad projection? Cube loses all details in long-throw long shots or even panoramic views. Mid or close shot is okay. Due to monetary problems my answer is analog which I prefer most. I can control the shot compositions etc. all in the final print. Dilipranjan Mukherjee used to say it is better to be abused by one inside the sets than be abused by lakhs on screen. He insisted on quality camerawork. join for direction course at the FTII. The year I g ra d u a te d f ro m M a h a ra j a s Co l l e ge , Ernakulam, was a zero admission year at FTII. So I started doing my post graduation. Again, the next year also was a zero year in the Institute. At that time, the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute had star ted functioning in Kolkata and I joined its first batch as a student of cinematography. Why did you join as a student of cinematography? For low-key, the negative thins out, I prefer mid-key. I had in fact applied for the direction course. And the actors' skin tones? When I was working with make-up artistes like Debi Haldar, I used to tell them to give an orange touch to fair skins, on blackish skin no make-up at all. I have seen artistes of the stature of Shashi Kapoor and Jeetendra or Rakesh Roshan or Rajendra Kumar not using much make-up at all. Where Black and White is concerned, I did only one documentary by Bibek Banerjee called Kidnapped, it was very tough controlling the grey scales. People, after using Black and White once, feel they have to learn lots more. At that time, the film institutes in the country had insisted that students of cinematography and editing should possess a degree in science. History was my subject for graduation. But a science degree was optional according to the SRFTI rules. I had a stint as a still photographer during my college days and My decision was to work in Malayalam films. In fact I was determined not to migrate to Bollywood. Most of the students passing out from national film institutes chose to work in other languages, especially Hindi. They went to Mumbai either from Pune or from Kolkata. I had some regional spirits when I passed out from the Institute. I spent two years in Kerala, waiting for chances to work in Malayalam films. Though I had two short films to my credit, one a National Award winner and the other made in Berlin, nobody showed any interest in me. Many directors appreciated my showreel but there was no space for me in their films. They said the producers were not SRFTI. We spent two years there and did a short film called Fourth World. I wrote the script and wielded camera for the film. It was shot in 35 mm format and was shown in several film festivals across the country. Why did you go to Bollywood before entering the Malayalam industry?

DOP

The

Amal Neerad was preparing for the shoot of his third feature, Anwar, when K B Venu met him at Kochi.

should be

Amal Neerad carved his niche as a stylish cinematographer and filmmaker, armed with his excellent academic background as an alumnus of
the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and an unflinching commitment to mainstream cinema. Amals diploma film won the national award for best cinematographer in the short feature section. Later he stayed in Berlin for two years as part of an exchange programme and made a short film called Fourth World. Before starting his career as a filmmaker Amal had his stint as cinematographer with the Varma Corporation. Both the Malayalam feature films he directed were commercial hits and had attracted the young audience in the State.
interested in experimenting with a new cinematographer. But since I was active in making advertisement films, I had no financial problems. By October 2003, I got a call from a director belonging to the Varma Corporation who had watched my diploma film. I sent him the showreel. Since Ram Gopal Varma was the producer of the film, the next day itself I got the flight ticket. I went to Mumbai and did the film James with them. Then came the Malayalam film Black, directed by Ranjith. I came to Kerala almost like a cinematographer belonging to the Bollywood, did the film and went back. I worked two more films for Varma CorporationDarna Zaroori Hain and Shiva. Then came your directorial debut, Big B It was because of Mammootty who was doing the lead role in Black that I could do my first film. While I was shooting for Black, I was not aware of the norms of the Malayalam film industry and was not very close to the hero. However, after this film, it was Mammootty himself who expressed willingness to listen to a script if I had one to narrate. At that time Varma Corporation had asked me to direct a film for them. But I chose to work this project with Mammootty because I wanted to do my debut film in that kind of a space. Mammootty is the only star in Malayalam who provides a comfortable working space for a debutant director. The entire crew comprise fresh h a n d s t h e d i re c t o r, s c r i p t w r i t e r, cinematographer, editor, costume designer, poster designer almost everyone in the technical crew were debutants. We all got this opportunity because Mammootty was willing to work with such a team.

10

I insist on using Kodak stock for its rich, golden tone. It brings out magnificently the skin tones of an actor, I can freely play with light and shade with Kodak stock

What about low-key shots?

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Stills from Anwar

Your films belong to the mainstream category and exhibit offbeat trends. What were your influences as a student of cinema? I used to watch all kinds of movies right from my school days. A mainstream Tamil movie and Antichrist by Lars von Trier can impart equal amount of excitement to me. I was a member of the Cochin Film Society, which screened a number of classic movies. And, there was a video library called Video House in Ernakulam which had almost all volumes of Bergman, Visconti, Godard and Bunuel. That way I was an avid film watcher right from the VHS era. Even after joining the Institute, I used to go out to the theatres every second or third day though there were regular screening on the campus and the school had a vast video library. So you do not differentiate between the genres?

excellent cinematographers like Venu and Santosh Sivan. Cinematographers from Kerala still have that legacy. In Mumbai, Malayali cinematographers have a place of their own. It is almost like bearing an ISI mark. I still remember Bharathans Thazhvaram and Padmarajans Innale, both cinematographed by Venu, released almost simultaneously in my city. According to me that is the ultimate versatility in cinematography. Those films were different from each other. I do not believe that the cinematographer should have his signature in cinema. That is the reason why I like Innale and Thazhvaram. You will never say that these films were cinematographed by the same person. The cinematographer must behave like a meek and obedient wife who can help in the progress of materializing the directors vision of the film. A number of film school educated Malayali technicians, mostly

I had always tried to escape from being branded as an intellectual filmmaker. That is how mainstream cinema and public usually consider film institute products. That cap will become a handicap when they enter the mainstream industry. I believe in the power and brilliance of mainstream cinema. I will tell you an example. Any other director can plan a different film with the subject of the next film I am making. I mean, the same theme can be converted into an art house type movie. I have seen the kind of crowd in Nandan theatre in Kolkota. I will not be excited if my film is received by that kind of an audience only. I dont want to entertain those people. I can very well sit with them and talk about great films. I want to be part of popular cinema and communicate to the masses. What is your new film Anwar all about? Anwar is different from my previous films. My first two films had their thrust in cinematic elements. They were cinematic from the very first shot. Anwar is going to deal with a more realistic and contemporary issue. At the same time, I have no plan and intention to preach anything to the masses. I want to prove that many rights and many wrongs exist in our world. The concept of right and wrong is never the same for different people. The main characters in my movie belong to different realities and have separate concepts of truth. Anwar is all about the evolution of these characters. And, I want it to be an absolutely commercial movie. You are a trained cinematographer. But you employ others to wield camera for your films. Is it because you believe more in donning the mantle of director? That may be my way of taking revenge. (Laughs) After coming from SRFTI I had spent two years here with the hope of becoming a cinematographer in Malayalam movies. I have grown up watching

cinematographers, go to Bollywood and other filmmaking lands after trying their luck in Malayalam cinema. That had caused deterioration in the quality of cinematography in Malayalam at a particular period. I will be very happy if ten new cinematographers come up in Malayalam because of my films. The historic significance of my first film, Big B, is that it had an altogether fresh crew. Usually when a director makes his debut, the technical crew will consist of experienced hands. But it was the vision of a handful of newcomers that made all the difference in Big B. Like any other part of the country, there are fresh cinematic talents in Kerala too. Given hope, care, space and technical assistance these youngsters too can work as excellently as the technicians we import from other industries providing luxurious facilities. For me, a first time cinematographer who is willing to do anything for his maiden venture is more acceptable than some one who is established in the industry. Even I dont want to be a professional cinematographer. It is like doing any other ordinary job. Satheesh Kurup, the cinematographer of my new venture, spent an entire month for location hunt. I wont get a professional cinematographer to do this job for me. How do you view the advent of state of the art gadgets and devices in cinematography? I believe in the strength of celluloid despite the advent of digital technology in different formats. My first film was shot in super 16. The next one was shot in Super 35 mm. But in Anwar, I am using a mix of four formats. As for the stock, I have used only Kodak. I am a hundred per cent orthodox Kodak believer right from the film school days. I propose to use their Vision 3 for Anwar. Even for the advertisement films I shoot, I use Kodak. It gives the satisfaction of portraying Indian skin tones to near perfection. I am a cinematographer who insists on printing in Kodak positive itself.

A Finger in Every Pie


Ravi Yadav talks to Manju Latha Kalanidhi about his dreams and ambitions.
What is your current movie Maro Charitra about? Every movie buff in India must have heard and seen Ek Duuje Ke Liye. Maro Charitra of 1978 is the original Telugu movie, directed by veteran K. Balachander which was made later made as Ek Duuje Ke Liye. It was one of the biggest hits of Telugu cinema and is among the best romantic movies of all times. As I was passing through Times Square in New York a few years ago, I suddenly had a brainwave: What if we could shoot an emotional scene or song about two Indian lovers here? That thought became a fire and I decided to debut as a director with this great love story. That is why I chose Maro Charitra as the base and developed a similar story. Only this time, the lovers are based in the US and it is a now generation movie. I have also done the cinematography for the movie. It was an astounding experience to be the director and drive the movie ahead and also be the cinematographer and give my thoughts a vision. It was all so surreal. Normally, any other director would have asked me why I chose to shoot from a particular angle or direction. I would have to explain, even defend, and perhaps give up on it, even if I am convinced it works out great for the movie. This time, I just went ahead and tried a lot of shots that I have always wanted to. As a cinematographer, can you tell us a few technical aspects about Maro Charitra? I shot the entire movie in super 35 format using subdued, minimal and almost nil lighting throughout the movie. I shot the entire movie only one stock Kodak 200 ASA 5217 stocks. I used an Arri Master Prime lens with three perforations. I have used so less lighting in some shots that even those in the industry will be zapped. I have never used even a single direct light; but opted for soft, diffused light atmospheric, mood l i g h t i n g to b r i n g o u t t h e emotions. We shot for 90 days across four countries. I personally liked the scene around it for camera navigation, but it was crucial that we run the camera around the house. It was very dark and we could not place lights because of lack of space. I used the shadows of the dark light to bring out the scene. I also love the opening shot of the movie where we used a helicopter about 200 ft above the ground for a grand shot. The shot at Niagara Falls also is among my favourites. Since we were working on a low budget and a super small crew, it was important to keep costs low while still making the product rich and on a bigger c a nva s . Pe r h a p s , b e i n g a cinematographer really helped me as I could choose my locations without much difficulty. I chose New York for i t s s h e e r v i b ra n c y w h i c h

avi Yadav has certainly created a record. His directorial debut Maro Charitra is the first movie in the Telugu industry to have director who is also the cinematographer. Even after having worked as a cinematographer for Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam, even an occasional English movie, Yadav is still not content. He wants more.

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Stills from Anwar

I know that Kodak reproduces my vision impeccably.

where we shot a 360 degree scene around a house in Dubai. The house did not have space

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Maro Charitra

Maro Charitra

Manoj Paramahamsa may be just three


films old but the industry cant stop raving about this young DOPs work. From creating a world of dark grey tones for the thriller Eeram, to shifting to a complete contrast of white for Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya, he has succeeded in establishing himself as a force to reckon with.

D HA ES SDreams of
Divya K goes into creative details with DOP Manoj Paramahamsa

Kodaks versatility gives me the freedom to shoot the scene at my own pace.
My entry into the film industry was What was Kodaks role in your translates equally vibrantly on screen, Las Vegas for its glitz and Dubai for its profundity. By showing good wisdom in the choice of places, we could easily cut costs on lavish and expensive sets. Is it true that the crew was less than 20? Yes, we are a crew of 17 and that is certainly a record. Typically, most Telugu movies of this budget have about 100 or so. Surprisingly, it was not just me who doubled up as a DOP and a director, but everybody took on extra roles. The camera assistant willing became a camera operator and so on. The chief assistant director Arun Prasad did everything from running around to impromptu improvisations. So did the codirector Nirmal Roy. How do you keep yourself updated in your profession? I visit a lot of trade shows abroad. I recently went for a show in Amsterdam. Such s h ow s d i s p l a y t h e l a t e s t equipment and techniques and I get to meet experts in the field. I also pore over the literature and research extensively on the Net about my equipment. I am theory-first-practice-next guy. I do my homework before every shot. movie making experiment? Kodaks versatility gives me the freedom to shoot the scene at my own pace. Whether I underexpose or overexpose, I know that Kodak reproduces my vision impeccably. I have worked on Kodak on 24 of my 25 movies. Tell us about your background and your entry into movies. I am a Telugu who spent a major part of my growing up years at Chennai. My passion for movies made me discontinue my Bachelors degree in Science at the prestigious Madras Christian College and enroll myself at the Madras Film Institute. I did not seriously assist anybody after my filmmaking course. I hung around the sets of Chembarti and after a few What is your next project? I am working for the Akshay Kumar starrer titled Thank You and directed by Anees Bazmee. months of being with Rajeev Menon, I got my first break with Pudiya Vanam in 1987. I have done about 25 movies so far in H i n d i , Ta m i l , M a l a y a l a m , Kannada and even in English. I enjoyed working for big ticket cinemas such as Race, 36 China Town, Socha Na Tha and Aitraaz. In Telugu, I worked for the award winning movie Show. I have shot over 100 ad films including the Hyundai Verna ad. Now, I wanted to get a little deeper into moviemaking and have decided to direct a movie. Eventually, I want to write scripts, do the screenplay, work behind the camera and direct it. I want my finger in every pie. I was never interested in writing and preferred the technical side. I joined the Film Institute at Chennai and everything I thought about cinema changed. I wanted to go to Mumbai, but did not want me to struggle the way he did when he entered the industry. It was then I got an opportunity to work with DOP Saravanan with whom I worked from 2001 to 2007 on nearly 15 films and almost all were hard core commercial films. One day I received a call from Manikantan, my friend and director Gautham Menons associate. He had recommended me for a film and I was asked to shoot a scene for Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam. A fairly simple shot with wet roads on which four youngsters were walking. The first take was as usual but in the second take I tilted the camera down and captured the action of their feet stepping over wet stones. When I said Cut, Gautham was very excited because I had canned something he never asked me to do, yet suited the concept and he appreciated me a lot. Director Arivazhagan of Eeram along with Manikantan had been his room mate. They had spent a lot of time together and discussed films and they knew about Manojs talent. Arivazhagan was working with director Shankar. He wanted to do a scratch film for Eeram and Manoj shot a trailer on a handicam and showed it to Shankar who was impressed with it. scheduled; my father Babu is a director and decided that, but I got to choose which area I would enter. I accompanied him on shootings ever since I was in the seventh standard and at that time, cameras were a big mystery. Dad worked with big cinematographers who also happened to be his classmates, they were very close to me. B. Kannan had done a lot for Dad and as I watched with interest, they decided I would be a cameraman.
Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya

The shutter was kept fully open and we used eye adjustment and simply trusted Kodak. Kodak gave us the eerie effect and consistency.

We prepared everything for the film six months ahead of shooting including the complete script and full storyboard, he recalls. We spent a long time finding a grey apartment for the film as it plays a key role. We were given permission for just 12 hours to shoot the entire night sequence and we used just one light. I used 5219 for the night and climax and 5217 for the rest of the film. When I started Eeram, there were two things I wanted to be very sure about, one was stock because of the black and where it was going to be processed. I wanted Rama Naidu Lab, a Kodak certified lab who could reproduce the black I wanted. They recommended 5217 and they gave me tips on handling that. The shutter was kept fully open and we used eye adjustment and simply trusted Kodak. Whether the look was bright or deep, we knew that Kodaks latitude would support us, even up to five stops underexposure, we knew the details would be there. Kodak gave us the eerie effect and consistency.

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Maro Charitra

15

In Eeram, we have used HDRI imaging, something that has not been done so far in Indian graphics. When I heard the script, I decided the CG effects needs and wanted the water movement to be in our control. Normally, the reason CG portions do not look authentic is that they cannot match the contrast ratio on the shooting floor. We gave Indian Artists, our CG team, a very good reference. A highly reflective silver ball was placed wherever the CG was to appear and was underexposed 10 stops and also overexposed 10 stops. This gave us the maximum highlight and maximum shadow and we gave this reference to our CG artists. The water simulation took six to seven months. We needed motion control but the budget would not permit us to hire rigs for this so we made our own solution. After taking a shot, we would record on Nagra. Then we would make markers and then take the next shot in sync. That way, whenever high end equipment was needed and we could not afford it, we made our own creative solutions.

If you diffuse white with white it gets pale so we used sunlight for 80 per cent of the film and you can feel it. When we lost ambient light we used a heavy light to simulate sunlight. The sun was kept in the camera and shot from the opposite angle which brought in plenty of overexposure, we have captured the brightest spot to the shadows in one shot. We also used a lot of cut lights and shadows within frame contrast. I used a lot of 5205 and then Kodak launched 5207, an enhancement and this really helped achieve what I wanted to. We desaturated the colours in DI, this enhanced the whites and removed 50 per cent of the colours. Since the locations are glossy many do not realize this. I had no tones in the film and instead kept it had neutral as I wanted it to feel real with a breezy look. The DI processed songs in Kodak Labs which gave me consistency and even grain structure. On of the most challenging shots was when the hero goes to see the heroine in the middle of the night at a place set against the backwaters. There was no light source.. and we had to place the helium light in the water and this was our main source light, the rest were tiny serial lights. The wind was heavy, yet we had to ensure that it would not move. It cost around Rs 2.5- 3 lakhs just for this light per day and this is probably the first time it has been used in Tamil cinema. The hero Simbu looks different because his hairstyle and less makeup make him look fresh. Normally, the hero is given enhanced lighting, but here we did not do special for him. There is one shot where the hero and heroine are lighted just with the headlamp of a car complete with red tint. It was five stops underexposed and its a Kodak shot! The film was shot in Telugu too and titled Ne Mayu Chesthaney. It was similar to the Tamil version except for certain locations. We improved the visual quality.

Anil Nair is enjoying his second innings in films. Starting his career in movies as an assistant with Ravi K. Chandran, Nair became an independent cinematographer and worked for couple of films. Then he turned to the television medium and became a prominent DOP in teleserials. After spending a decade as a television cameraman, he came back to films with two successful hits, Ivar Vivahitharayal and Happy Husbands. Now he has completed his latest work with Joshi, one of the most prominent directors in Malayalam industry.

How did you start your career as a cinematographer? I was a still photographer covering marriage functions before venturing as a cinematographer. While doing my graduation in mathematics I used to cover functions in the college. After completing my graduation, I became a full-time still photographer. Then I became an assistant of Rameshkumar, cameraman in the Chitranjali Studio at Thiruvananthapuram. He was involved mainly in shooting documentary films. After that, when I had a desire to work in movies director Priyadarshan recommended me to Ravi K. Chandran and I became his assistant. Kabhi Na Kabhi was my first film with him.

Priyadarshans Virasat and Shaji Kailas The King were the important films on which I worked with him. I spent two years with Chandran. Then Sree Shanker, when he became an independent cinematographer, invited me to join him as an associate. I worked on about 15 films with him. In 1999, after working for four years as an associate, I became an independent cinematographer with the film My Dear Karadi, directed by Sandhya Mohan. But that film was not a success at the box-office. I did two more films and they too met with the same fate. Then Baiju Devaraj, a serial director, invited me to work with him. The serial, Sthreejanmam, was a mega hit and I got the Film Critics Award for the work. I was in television serials for the next seven years. All were mega serials on leading television channels. I became friends with Saji Surendran when he directed the serial Alippazham. Then we worked together for six more serials. In the meanwhile, director Jose Thomas invited me for the film Youth Festival. I did the film and it too was a failure at the box-office.

Why didnt you try your luck in films again immediately after that? I preferred to stay with the television industry then. Once again I went back to the world of serials. While shooting the serial Ammakkayi, our team consisting of Saji Surendran and Krishna Poojappura resolved to take up a film project. That was how the film Ivar Vivahitharayal directed by Saji Surendran happened. Krishna Poojappura was the scriptwriter. The film was a success and my work as a cinematographer caught the attention of the public and the industry. Then I got the opportunity to be part of Kerala Caf, a collection of ten short films by different directors under the leadership of Ranjith. I worked with Padmakumar who directed the first segment in the film. Then came Happy Husbands, directed by Saji and written by Krishna. While engaged in the grading of this film, I got a call from director Joshi. That is how I happened to do his latest movie, Christian Brothers, starring Mohan Lal.

The DI processed songs in Kodak Labs which gave me consistency and even grain structure.
The director did not want to see sunlight anywhere in the film so we canned master shots before sunrise. We also used a heavy frost diffuser which we had specially imported. And when we happened to shoot in sunlight, it gave us an overcast feel and evenly diffused shadows which would have been lost in a normal diffuser. Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya was a complete contrast to Eeram. I was surprised that Gautham Menon wanted whites and this was challenging. He said its a conversational love story but not colourful as its an authentic story and I dont want it cinematic. He gave me a lot freedom and lot of time for lighting. We mostly shot in a white house upstairs and downstairs where the hero and heroine lived respectively. We also shot a 450-year-old church in Alleppey. The major songs were shot in Malta where the houses are all off white. The costumes were also white in the film.

Anil Nair shares the ups and downs in his career with K.B. Venu.

Lucky
Your training as a cinematographer was on the job. You were not trained in any film

Second Time

I am currently working in an untitled film with Gautham Menon starring Sameera Reddy. I want to do good cinema. I would like to move to Bollywood and then world cinema.

16
Stills from Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya

17

in the negative itself, shot by shot. Many theaters here do not follow the rules and maintain the conditions required for UFO projection. As a result, the spectators get imperfect images on the screen. This system must be standardized as early as possible. The organizations working in the field must take initiatives in executing this. In short, you believe in taking care of your work until the print is out. Of course, yes. The cinematographer, director and the producer should watch the first print of the film in a theater and ensure its quality. There are people who complain of poor projection in theaters even after ensuring notable movies because of this. I didnt go asking for breaks. In fact I was identified better in television serials. I got six awards in a row as the best teleserial cinematographer. Eventually I began to approach my work in a serious way. I was not that serious with my earlier film projects. I did things according to my conviction. I began to experiment with lighting patterns and other ingredients in teleserial shooting. That was how I managed to become prominent as a television serial DOP. My experience in television serials for almost a decade imparted confidence in me, when I started my second innings in films with Ivar Vivahitharayal. You started your apprenticeship under Ravi K, Chandran and still you couldnt excel in your earlier works? I believe that a cinematographer alone cannot produce excellent results. He must get support from various corners. The directors involvement is the most important factor. The director must be a person with a fair knowledge about the different aspects of cinematography. Only then the cinematographer can work effectively. It is also important to have fine equipment and comfortable working atmosphere. All the films in the first phase of my career were completed in shoestring budgets. I got only 2C camera and never used a fine stock like Kodak. I couldnt work properly and the subjects were not treated well. As a result, those films flopped in all aspects and my work went unnoticed. What is the advantage you find in working with Kodak? Kodak is a reliable stock. Watching my latest work, Happy Husbands, director Viji Thampi telephoned Saji Surendran and asked whether we had done DI on the whole film. That is definitely an appreciation and acknowledgment for my work. I was afraid of the bad results in projection because there are UFO and Cube projections too. But the film covered all the shortcomings in the exhibition system and gave good results in theaters. I think the stock had a major role to play in this achieving this excellent result. A majority of the cinematographers here complain about the inferior quality of theatres and projection system. How do you evaluate this situation? Our theatres are not maintained properly. To ensure high quality of the print, the cinematographer, director and producer should work well in advance. We got the first print of Happy Husbands one week before the release of the movie. I got enough time to correct the print. For UFO, I made correction I have no such ambitions as of now. I dont want to be a very busy cameraman. I want to work with different subjects that allow me to experiment with camera and lighting. What are your future plans? Since you have been doing all sorts of popular films, do you have any plan to change your style? Joshis school is entirely different from others. I could learn a lot from him. I was fortunate to have worked with him at this stage of my career. Joshi had seen the latest film I had worked. He said his only concern was whether I would be able to zoom the camera in the proper manner. After three days of shooting, he was convinced of my capability in that area. He was the person who taught me how to work professionally at a fast pace. How was the experience of working with a veteran like Joshi? When did you actually start using Kodak? I started using Kodak in my second innings in films. When we planned to do Ivar Vivahitharayal, the very first thing I had insisted on was using Kodak. The producer, who was a relative of the screenplay writer, never interfered in our work. He was concerned only about the quality of the movie. The process of making that film had the spirit of teamwork. To what extent can the quality of the print and projection be improved? We will not be able to do anything once the prints reach the theaters. The cinematographer can sit along when the print is transferred into the digital format. I saw the print of Happy Husbands before release and was satisfied about its quality. Problems arise when some theaters hesitate to provide the required facilities for exhibition. This can be corrected only by the interference of concerned associations. excellent result in the laboratory. That is really a sad situation. This can be avoided only if the makers of the film take some precaution.

Hard Work
Raja Phadtare tells Johnson Thomas that he considers the industry as his true home.

rom his initial days as a struggler in Mumbai to his present status as a recognized DOP in the regional language (Marathi) circuit, Raja Phadtare has come long way. Cinema was always his passion. He used to steal away from home to watch films in the single theater close to His village. Since a new film was exhibited every week, he used to be there every week and some days when he was not busy with studies, he used to watch the same film over and over again. He believe this gave him great perspective.

PAYS

Wasnt it tough for you in those days? Yes it was tough but I was willing to work hard and struggle through to my big break. While in college I undertook course in still photography which gave me solid base. Thereafter I was working in theatre, doing the So how did you make your first entry into film? When I was studying for my graduation I was already fascinated by the camera and the images it could create. I found myself more engrossed in the imagery on the screen than in the story or performances. I was curious to know what went into the making of those images and this led me to inquiring about cinematography. My family was totally against my entering this line so I had to run away and come to Mumbai to pursue my dreams. I joined Kirti College to complete my education and soon after I was lucky enough to get a break in 1998 with the great Ashok Mehta on his film Moksh as the twelfth assistant to the DOP. It wasnt paid position but I was eager to learn, and learn from him I did! light designing for plays, before I met Ashok Mehta, who was kind enough to take me on as an assistant on his project. Initially I was just doing the menial tasks but I paid attention to what was happening on the camera side and that helped improve my knowledge and gave me the confidence to approach others for work. The first year I was just an interested observer on the sets. Its only after the first year that Ashokji let me handle the camera. I spent over two years under Mehtajis tutelage and I must say that those two years taught me most of the skill I put to use today. Ashok Mehta is the master of lighting and through keen observation and hard work I have been able to use what knowledge I obtained from him in the work I have done so far.

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What did you do next? Were you able to get other positions as DOP assistant? Those days it was quite tough for me. I had no money and my parents were not supporting me with any finance and so I had to find my own solutions. For the next three years I worked in television. There was plenty of work there and serials were a big fad. But I could not take it for longer than three years as my goals were different. I wanted to establish my career in films and t h e re f o re m ove d b a c k t o filmmaking. I went South and worked as Rajiv Ravis assistant in three Tamil films there. Thereaf ter I worked with another DOP, Rajkumar on two films and in 2007 I came back to Mumbai to work on my first project Gal Gale Nighale, a Marathi film produced by Kedar Shinde, as independent DOP. Are you satisfied working in the Marathi film Industry? I look on it as a challenge. The budgets are well short of a crore and though we use good equipment and cameras (like the Ari 435) , we do not have as much at our disposal as that on a Hindi film set. So we are always cutting corners and trying to achieve better results despite the obvious handicaps. It has been a satisfactory experience so far and I have been able to learn much more than if I had started in Hindi cinema. But now I do feel it is time for me to give Hindi cinema a try. Have you been using Kodak in all your films? Once you get used to getting the kind of results you get on Kodak then its hard to go back to

another product. I am completely satisfied by the results that Kodak gives me. I usually use Vision 3 . It gives me unbelievable results. Canvas was the first film I shot on Kodak Vision 3 and I used it for exterior shoots as well as interior shoots. The saturation levels were fantastic. I was able to experiment a lot with the film and it all came good. My work on Canvas was appreciated by most people from the industry. Producers and directors began to recognize my worth after that. For Partner I used 500T and when I checked it out on the telecine, again the results were just as I desired. The colour saturation levels are great and there are no grains despite the film being shot on Super 16. For Babu Band Baja, I am using 500T for the exterior shots and 250D for the interiors. How do make your decision on the stock you need to use for a particular film? The story is the deciding factor for me. Depending on the story I take a call on the stock. I read the script, do the requisite test shoot and only then do I finalize what I would need as raw stock. When I was shooting Canvas in which there were a series of murders to shoot, I had to specifically test 500T stock to see whether the night shots would appear consistent or not. Kodak brings consistency to my work and DI helps when there is a need to bring in new elements. I am in fact looking forward to using Kodaks new Vision3 stock which I am told is the best you can have!

Attar Singh Sainis life could have taken a


different turn if he had done Karan Johars Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, a film he was first offered. B u t w h a t s co m m e n d a b l e a b o u t h i s achievements as a cameraman is that his work has received praise even though the films he has shot havent fared well. From Chocolate to Radio, Saini has tried to make his visuals as life-like as possible and make optimum use of location light and ambience. He wants to be part of a successful film and hopes that a good script will lead the way.

Chocolate

Success
Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal

is

a State of Mind
Institute. All they see is how much interest you have in the subject. And for me it was an eye-opener because I didnt know this kind of cinema exists. When I saw films like Bicycle Thieves, 8 , Knife in the Water and the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, images from these films were imprinted on my mind. Saini recalls how his teachers encouraged him to learn from nature and recreate reality. Gradually he learnt to observe things closely and study light conditions in every situation. Now its become second nature. Fresh from the Institute, he assisted Surinder Saini on Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na. I spent several years doing television shows for MTV, singleepisode series and serials like Baat Ban Jaye and Ye Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum. The amount of hard work I put into television was akin to

Attar Singh Saini tells Deepa Deosthalee that he is not disheartened by the fate of some of his films.
Its been a long journey for Attar Singh Saini from a small village in Haryana to the glamorous world of Hindi cinema. The shy cinematographer had no interest in films through his growing years, but knew he wanted to do something different. My brother couldnt fulfill his dream of going to the FTII and so he asked me to apply. I learnt that there were just six seats in each department and knew I couldnt get in without some filmi connection. Yet I applied and forgot about it, he remembers. But he did get a call for the interview and orientation course and once he got through, it was a short step to getting hooked. Luckily, it didnt matter what you already knew when you entered the

20

Success is important. If your visuals are good, but the film fails, you dont get work.
Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal

working on a feature film. I didnt give up on the medium because it is a flat image. My reference point was always cinema.

21

Radio

Till one day, Karan Johar approached him for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I showed him my work and he liked it and said I was on. I told him I was going away for a month to get married and by the time I got back, things had changed and they had hired another cameraman because they wanted someone with experience. I think very few people, like Ram Gopal Varma, have the knack to nurture new talent. Eventually, Saini made his debut with a small film called 7 Phere directed by Ishan Trivedi. But he got noticed for the stylish look he gave to Vivek Agnihotris 2005 film Chocolate, which was inspired by the Hollywood cult film The Usual Suspects. It is my endeavour to simulate naturalistic patterns. In Chocolate I tried to make optimum use of the ambience of the London locations where we shot. I usually try to use the light conditions available on location instead of injecting lighting which doesnt match the scene. I believe simplicity is more difficult to achieve than hamming.

While Chocolate didnt succeed commercially, his work was widely appreciated and the visuals were used as reference material for commercials and films. Success is important. If your visuals are good, but the film fails, you dont get work. Failure has hampered my progress, by my work has helped me pull along. After a point it is disappointing to find that your work doesnt get noticed. And that seems to have been the story of his career. Though the moderate success of Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal may have helped. Goal has been my most challenging film so far because being a sports subject, one was dealing with difficult situations. Firstly I had to get used to the rhythm of the game of football, then we had heavy tele shots and multiple characters and locations. Sainis recent film Radio too didnt fare well, although his work as cinematographer was widely appreciated.
Radio Radio

The amount of hard work I put into television was akin to working on a feature film. I didnt give up on the medium because it is a flat image. My reference point was always cinema.

Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai

Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai

Chocolate

I like the new Vision 3 stock its really life like in terms of highlight and details.

Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal

Next he is working on Milap Zaveris Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai. It has elements of science fiction and is the story of a girl from outer space who comes to our world looking for love. He also intersperses his film work with commercials and has shot for innumerable brands and products including Hyundai Santro, Sunfeast Biscuits, Rexona deo, Surf Excel, Pepsodent etc. Today ad films are getting more realistic and you can create the same kind of mood that you do for feature films. Which is why ad filmmakers prefer

working with feature film DOPs. Advertising comes with its own satisfaction. You finish your work in two-three days and because the scripts are short, in a way, complete perfection can be achieved. Saini who likes to play with the tone of an image and explore darker areas swears by Kodak stock. It gives me the realistic feel I want. Also the consistency of stock from batch to batch is unmatched. I like the new Vision 3 stock its really life-like in terms of highlight and details.

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Chocolate

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Flagged Off
Rahul Jadhav shares his career plans with Deepa Deosthalee

Given that the market for Marathi cinema is relatively small and yet, the competition is with the much glossier world of Bollywood, theres always an element of uncertainty. Jadhavs last Marathi film Avadhoot Guptes Zenda, for instance, didnt get the kind of prerelease push it needed and instead, landed up in a controversy, thereby spoiling its chances of box-office success. We had expected some sort of political backlash to the film because of its theme, but it came from unexpected quarters. By the time it released, pirated prints were already in circulation all over the state. Zenda is about the split in a political party, the feud between two warring cousins and the ordinary grassroots level workers whose lives get affected by these upheavals. The film isnt flattering to the political fraternity and allusions to at least three prominent Marathi leaders are obvious. Wed expected Raj Thackeray to react, but he was surprisingly sporting about the film and instead, we faced resistance from a group wed never heard of, called Swabhiman (formed by Maharashtra revenue minister Narayan Ranes son Nitesh). For Jadhav, Zenda was a turning point since apart from being the DOP, he was also the films Associate Director. I set my role as DOP aside for this film because it was so strongly driven by characterisation that the camerawork had to be unobtrusive. It also gave me the opportunity to think from the directors point-of-view. And thats his next target to direct a film of his own. Jadhav is working on two scripts simultaneously, a comedy and an offbeat subject against the backdrop of the Naxalites and farmer suicides in Vidarbha. When I approach producers, some of them like my scripts, but want me to give them a guarantee that the film will recover its cost. Thats something no director can give.

Young cinematographer Rahul Jadhav is trying to make the transition from Marathi to Hindi
cinema and from being a DOP to making his own film. A veteran in television and well-known in Marathi cinema for films like Aga Bai Arechya and Zenda, he hopes to direct his first film in the near future. Jadhav would have had a bureaucratic career if his newfound love for cinema didnt pulled him in a different direction. With his middle-class Maharashtrian background, it was obvious his family preferred he took a good government job instead of roughing it out in the unpredictable world of film. Fortunately, his father, a still photographer himself, encouraged him, and he became an assistant to Rakesh Sarang instead. My father was doing stills for the serial Shriman Shrimati. One day he couldnt go to work and I stood in for him. Sarang saw me at work and asked if Id like to join him, he remembers. He spent nearly five years with the senior DOP before taking off on his own, first in television and then films. I shot 700 episodes of Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka and over 300 of Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin. The latter was very exciting because I approached it like a feature film and experimented a lot with the look, particularly when we shot her make-over. Before long, he was DOP on the sets of Kedar Shindes Aga Bai Arechya, loosely inspired by What Women Want. I walked into that film with absolutely no experience of working on film. Along with my partner Raja Satankar (they work together as a team), we split the job between us, made storyboards and just rid on our confidence to see through the project. Its unusual to see a cinematographer duo. How do they divide the tasks between them? Sometimes we shoot independently, or if were involved with the same film, one of us operates the camera while the other handles the lighting etc. Jadhav has shot a dozen films so far, most of them in Marathi, though his last release was Tabu-Sharman Joshi starrer Toh Baat Pakki. Working on Marathi films can be challenging because often producers dont have the resources to give the DOP his choice of locations. You have to make compromises due to budget constraints. When we did Aga Bai Arechya, it was the costliest Marathi film ever at Rs. 1.5 crore.

Stills from Aga Bai Arechya

But whenever his debut film rolls, hes sure

Kodak film is so good, it realizes my vision and captures everything exactly the way I see it.

hell shoot it on Kodak, because Ive never worked with any other stock. I dont even know what other stock -- Kodak film is so good, it realizes my vision and captures everything exactly the way I see it.

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Zenda

25

Guns
I took the Mindscreen Film Institutes six-month associate cinematographer programme and was the first female student to be admitted there. We learnt about different cameras, lensing, camera angles, screen grammar and cinema appreciation accompanied by practical classes for different types of lighting, composition, camera movement besides sessions for story boarding, architecture, painting and field trips. We shot a 20-minute short film called Aasai Mugam Marandhu Poche, a teenage love story with a tragic twist. This gave us first hand experience with script work and shot breakdown, telecine and DI, even the background score. The script included a wide range of lighting setups and moods.

Young

Prodigy
He is just 14, but is already regarded as an accomplished filmmaker. At
the age of nine he had directed his first feature film titled Care of Footpath featuring many well-known artistes like Jackie Shroff, Sudeep, B.Jayshree, Saurabh Shukla and others. Before his first venture as a film director which surprised many, Master Kishan was already a successful child artiste in the Kannada film industry, having won several awards. Kishan was born to a family of film enthusiasts and his parents had a creative bent of mind. His father B.R.Srikanth was working in Central Government and was associated with many film personalities and even assisted in the story and music departments. His mother Shylaja Srikanth had worked as a music director for many films. His father says, "From his young age, Kishan showed enormous interest in learning the process of filmmaking. He showed talent in understanding computer graphics, Photoshop and had even shocked many computer hardware experts with his knowledge of computers. He was also a voracious reader of film related books and was browsing the internet to know many things about films. Since he was academically brilliant, we did not oppose his eagerness to learn many things. He had started to act in Kannada films at the age of three and was responding very quickly to the instructions received from the film directors and his actor colleagues. He had won many awards as a child artiste in films. But when he first told us that he wants to direct a film and had a script ready, we were really astonished. He was not even eight, when we heard him talking about directing a film. But he had convinced of his abilities before we decided to encourage and back him in his endeavour." When Master Kishan announced that he would direct a film, many people did not believe it. During the launch of the film, a team of journalists and filmmakers questioned him about various aspects of filmmaking and were astonished at the way Kishan cleared their doubts. He was able to speak authoritatively on the achievements of Steven Spielberg, Guru Datt, James Cameron, Mani Ratnam, Shankar and many others. He was able to analyze lighting patterns and camera angles in some sequences of top films. Jackie Shroff, who had acted in a special role in his film Care of Foot Path, said that he had accepted the offer to act in a nine-year-old boys film mainly because he was convinced that the young director was a genius and was up to something which was certain to be critically appreciated and win the hearts of the people. Shroff addressed a press conference after finishing his work in this historic film to hail Master Kishan as the most focussed director who had a firm grip on his script and the team.

Child

Guns

Young

R.G.Vijayasarathy tracks the achievements of Master Kishan, officially the youngest filmnmaker in the world

Spark
Divya K meets aspiring cinematographer Archana Borhade in Chennai.

Bright

Rajiv Menon and I shared a great student-teacher rapport. His sense of music and rhythm is inspiring and he has an immaculate taste in colors and textures. It all reflects in the work he does, each of which is overwhelmingly beautiful. I have worked as an assistant on Ghajini, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and as an associate on Drohi (Tamil). I also did second unit work on Drohi and Peter Gaya Kaam Se (yet to be released). All the films that I have worked on were shot on Kodak and all the stocks whether itd be 250D or 50D or 500T have been impeccable in performance. The Kodak 5219 500T stock is one of the most brilliant stocks ever. Its latitude on the highlight side is just spellbinding. So many times during an outdoor shoot, we took a reflected reading of the sky and thought Oh, this is going to bleach out for sure but then when we went back to the DI suite and saw the details in the clouds, it just blew us away. Whether it is for outdoors or indoors, it is just the perfect stock to me but I still have a huge crush over the Kodak 5201 50D for the kind of rich blacks that it brings out. Its just beautiful. I also have learnt a lot during my visits to the Kodak labs, Mumbai

Archana Borhade is like a bright spark of energy in the film industry. An


engineering graduate, she worked with Wipro Technologies as a software consultant for a while before turning to where her heart truly lead her cinematography. She is currently working as an associate cinematographer on the Hindi film Joker. Archana says, To me, cinematography is to film what soul is to the body. Whether it is good or bad, stunning or lousy, pretty or gritty its what makes a film and its story visible to us. When you are a cinematographer and you are looking through the eyepiece of the camera at the movie unfolding within the frame that you set, with the lighting that you arranged and you see it happen a millionth of a second earlier than the rest of the crew crowded around the monitor, theres a certain high it gives you and I want to live for that. Thats why its cinematography for me. My interest in cinema started during my childhood when I was the preferred storyteller of the class. Years later, before my third engineering term exams, when I was bedridden in the hospital and introspecting about my life and career choices, childhood memories came flooding back and I realized that cinema was my calling; I had to tell stories, I had to make movies because thats the only way I could be truly happy.

Kishan says that he was inspired to write the script of the film after closely watching the rag pickers in the street. I wanted to send a positive message through this film. I just wanted to say what I strong believed in, that hard work will certainly pay dividends and any child who is brought up in poor surroundings can make it big if he is determined to achieve something." Master Kishans first directorial venture Care of Footpath won the Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) Award for the Best Childrens film in the year 2006-07. The film also won many prestigious awards from the Karnataka Government including the Best Children's Film award and the Best Child Actor for Kishan. His achievement was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records; Kishan was the World's Youngest Director of a professionally made feature length film at the age of nine. He replaced Sydney Ling who was just 13 in 1973 when he had directed the Dutch film Lex the Wonderdog. A year ago, Master Kishan received the National Award for Exceptional Achievement by the Union Governments Ministry of Women and Child Development. The film also ran successfully for more than 100 days in its theatrical release.

talking to the qualified professionals such as Mr. Suresh Iyer, Mr. Solomon and Mr. Amudhavanan who are always so encouraging. I have worked with Mr. Ravi K. Chandran and hes a perfectionist who brings extraordinary levels of discipline and creativity to his work. It is just fascinating how much you can learn by just watching him at work. I also worked with Mr. Santosh Sivan on one of his short films and it was an experience of a lifetime. Hes daring, impulsive, a creative genius and an absolute master of visual storytelling. Mr. Alphonse is a great teacher and brings a high level of professionalism and articulateness to his work My dream is to become a good cinematographer; to be able to bring stories to life on the screen and make moments memorable and evocative, to make the characters relatable and be instrumental in making cinema that lets the audience have the great movie experience.

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27

DOCUMENTING A LEGEND
In 2009 he scripted and directed Kadhal Mannan - (The King of Romance) for Dr. Kamala Selvaraj under her banner Alamelu Creations. This was South Indias first biographical film, in Tamil, Telugu and English. The decision to make a biopic on Gemini Ganesan, one of the legends of Tamil cinema, was not easy as many of the places, landmarks and other things present in Tamil Nadu and rest of the South India had changed; most of his contemporizes were no longer alive, and the small set that was still around, was above the age group of 80. The never-ending discussions about production and logistics took place at all levels, since a filmmaker doing a period film starting in British Era India demanded that the visuals speak of the time and feel of early 20th century Tamil Nadu Pudhukottai, in particular and the recreation of the film studios of Madras of the 1940s was a challenge. Says the director, The first and only option in my mind was film, although the lure of digital camera and digital formats was there from all the fronts, none of them was about the quality or feel, but only in the domain of complex tricky economics. Super 35mm Film was the format finalized and shot using Arricam LT at 3 Perf, to save on the precious little moments which can be brought to life without cutting in between a difficult shot of a child artiste in the drama part, or interrupting a renowned speaker at a time when he is making a crucial point in the documentary part of the film. Although this is a not a commercial film, the kind of production values is very important, not just because it is Tamil cinemas first biographical film on a film actor, but also for the need to represent the culture, heritage and prosperity of Tamil Nadu worldwide. Since It was a three-language output in Tamil, Telugu and English, with lots of period portions in the Brahminical village of Pudhukottai (1920s), Madras City of the 1940s and Gemini Studios representing the film industry of the post-Independence era (1945-48), the concept discussed with the art and production departments was not to put a sepia tone in the post production nor shoot in black and white, but to recreate the era using a specific but authentic color palate just as how the Tamil language and the slang of that era was researched and brought out. Since it was a more than two language output in the docu-drama genre involving a drama part which runs for the first 50 minutes and a docu part which runs for 60 min, the need to have a strong origination to have an effective DI was very essential. Although a lot of digital formats are available with a variety of combinations for post tweaking, film is the only format which is time proven as far as archiving of content is concerned. As a qualified filmmaker I feel the need for making a biographical film is not just for commercial reasons, but to tell tomorrows generation what was prevalent yesterday not just in the world alone but also in the field of film. Although cinema is a modern art, a lot of contributions of the older masters has not been documented and this is one such attempt to recreate the screen magic of late acting legend Gemini Ganesan. Film is the most portable and efficient format to work for documenting people and places, not just because it is cable free unlike the so called high-end HD cameras which promise near point and shoot cinematography, but for the reason that lensing and recreation of a certain cinematic feel and an emotional look is possible with a magic ingredient of film. Kaadhal Mannan was shot on Kodak stocks, with an Arricam LT, 3 Perf, with live sound with Cooke S4i Lenses Kodak 5207250D 500T for indoors involving sets of period houses and recreating of film sets of 1946 Tamil film Chandralekha, and also for celebrity interviews, and 5219 500T for outdoor shoots in harsh conditions like semi-vegetative villages, lakes and shoots with elephants and other animals etc. Globally even on advanced HD Broadcasting TVs, more than 60 percent of the prime time content is shot on Film. TV series like The Shield and Sex and the City and low-budget films like Leaving Las Vegas (1995) were shot on 16mm film, and yet the quality and visual appeal of it remains timeless. Chennai M.T. Amuthavanan Origination Products Tel No: 91-44-2362 3086 / 9840333350 Fax No: 91-44-2362 2522 Email: mohankrishnan.amuthavanan@kodak.com Kolkata Chirag Gandhi Mob: 9830915152 Tel No: 91-33-30286254 Fax No: 91-33-30286270 Email: chirag.gandhi@kodak.com Kerala Visakh K.J. Mob: 91-9895708469 Tel No: 91-484-2366230 / 36 Fax No: 91-484-2363211 Email: visak.kj@kodak.com Mumbai Cinelab Aparna Bhusane Tel No: 91-22-67026600 / 02 Fax No: 91-22-67026666 Email: aparna.bhusane@kodak.com Bangalore Ananth A. Padmanabha Tel No: 91-98860 08642 Email: anantha.padmanabha@kodak.com Hyderabad Surya Basa Origination Products, Tel No: 91-9885823238 Fax No: 91-40-2381 6181 Email: surya.basa@kodak.com Mumbai Rachna Pawar Tel No: 91-22-66416762 / 66 Fax No: 91-22-66416769 Email: rachna.pawar@kodak.com Chennai T.M. Prasanth Distribution Products Tel No: 91-44-2362 3086 / 9840489900 Fax No: 91-44-2362 2522 Email: prasanth.mohan@kodak.com Hyderabad S. Gowrishankar Distribution Products Tel No: 91-9849015950 Fax No: 91-40-2381 6181 Email: santhanam.gowrishankar@kodak.com Regional Offices Movies for me have always been a way to spend a lazy weekend. However, associating with Kodak has changed my perception completely. Today, I not only enjoy movies for their content, but also appreciate the finer nuances of filmmaking, especially cinematography. My other interests include experimenting with new cuisines, solving puzzles, listening to music, reading and travelling. From document imaging in the copier industry to motion picture imaging in the entertainment industry the journey has been simply exhilarating. I have been working for two years in the EI department at Kodak, handling sales of ECN in the Hindi feature film segment and also marketing activities in film institutes and it has been a thorough learning experience. Dealing with new products, new markets, interacting with creative minds and students has been my main focus area. Oodles of energy, creativity and passion drive this industry and working with Kodak, puts me in the limelight. For me, it's All Work, No Compromise! Sandheev Nair Deputy Manager Entertainment Imaging

Motion Picture Film

M. Venkatesan talks about the making of his biopic on Gemini Ganesan.

M. Venkatesan is a qualified
ad filmmaker from Chennai, who has worked extensively in the area of advertising, having produced and directed more than 40 projects ad films, short films, promos, documentaries, internet video ads and music videos. He is a film school graduate, who specialized and obtained a D.F.Tech in Film Direction from the L.V.Prasad Film and TV Academy. Since then, he has done ads and popular films and handled corporate brands like Preethi Mixes, Federal Bank, City Developers, Grundfos Pumps, C B a z a a r, A i r b e e , S r i Ve n k a t e s w a r a N e t r a l a y a Hospitals and Surien Pharamacuticals etc. In 2007 his short film, Kshama, based on the early life of Mahatma Gandhi was screened at the IIFF- Indian International Film Festival 07 at Chennai, and in the same year was the official Indian entry for the Gandhian Panorama Film Festival and was awarded the Jury Prize. It also won the Best Film Prize at Auteurs Short Film Festival organized by St.Thomas College, Chennai. In 2007 he produced and d i r e c t e d a d o c u m e n t a r y, Madurai Jallikathu Bull Fighting in India, for the New York Times, which was well received on the international television and

For more information; visit www.kodak.co.in/go/motion

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internet markets.

RAFEY MEHMOOD
Filmmaking for me is like a great coming together of ideas and people. I grew up in Allahabad. When visitors would come over, we, along with them and their cameras, would be taken for boat rides to see the Sangam. Since midstream, it would be difficult to spot the actual confluence of Ganga and Jamuna, we watched out for the slight difference in the colour of the two waters. The mythical third river Saraswati, flowed below and was invisible. We as kids just dipped our hands in the water to try and touch it. Filmmaking is a bit like the boat ride: it carries the possibility of the spectacle of the two great rivers meeting; the nuances of the subtle waters, both are buoyed by some kind of deep underlying faith. I passed out of FTII in 1989. When I shot the climax of Haasil on the banks of the Triveni Sangam it was as if many things had come together. In 2007, a crew from 12 different countries assembled to shoot the Haj for the Imax film Journey to Mecca..In footsteps of Ibn e Batuta. On the third afternoon of the Haj, we perched ourselves on top of a minaret of the Kaaba to take a long computer-driven time-lapse shot on this spectacular format. As the evening fell we saw a million pilgrims perform their sacred circling of the Kaaba called Tawaaf. It was staggering to think how this event would unfold in subtle shifts of light over possibly a five-storey high screen. While units come together and part, my association with Kodak is a continuous one. I have always found myself testing the new stocks they develop. I am a great fan of their researchers who have provided uniform standards for this visual art, which spreads across the globe. I think of Kodak as an institution they preserve and bring together many ways of seeing. I know all cinematographers work with a spirit of inventiveness and endurance. The erstwhile DOPs and my seniors stand like luminaries on the path of Cinematography. In a sense they have already thrown much light to mark the path of our journey. (Rafey Mahmoods DOP credits for features include Mithya, Haasil, Mixed Doubles and the Imax film Journey to Mecca in Footsteps of Ibn e Batuta. He shoots commercials and is a filmmaking teacher. He has also won a National Award for Cinematography.)

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