I don’t really believe in the mystery of cinematography – what happens in the camera is what the cinematographers create and all that nonsense – I want the director to see what I’m trying to do.
My attention is more on the technical process of filmmaking; I like to observe cinematography and direction.
You can be technically strong, and focus all your efforts on elements like casting, music, cinematography and sets, but they are all just add ons. End of the day, filmmaking is really about how well you tell a story.
I want to challenge my cinematography and my editing.
The only consistency in the work I do is that I try to use cinematography to best tell the narrative and do justice to the character arcs, but not to do it in such an overt way that people are distracted by it.
After I finished my degree in Mass Communication in Manipal, I enrolled for a cinematography course in Pune Film Institute. That is when Nandini Reddy, the director of ‘Ala Modalaindi,’ convinced me to act.
My father would tell anyone who would listen that this dentist thing he was doing was not his passion; cinematography was.
I thought of learning cinematography, so I assisted a cinematographer for an ad.
You make the movie through the cinematography – it sounds quite a simple idea, but it was like a huge revelation to me.
When ’36 Chowringhee Lane’ was released in 1981, I was a student of the Film and Television Institute of Tamil Nadu. Everyone who had seen the film was very impressed with its flawless direction and acting. But we, cinematography students, were stunned by the visual style, which was truly international.
Usually, if you notice good cinematography, then the cinematographer’s failing. I try to make light feel like it’s always motivated and natural in some way and hope that the lighting goes unnoticed.
It’s infrequent that that happens – great performances and magical cinematography and great direction.
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