Love stories with the lens

Love stories with the lens
Raavanan and My name is Khan

The cinematographer plays a crucial role in the making of a film. He is responsible for taking the vision of the director and the screenwriter to the screen, in the right manner, failing which, the viewers will take home no images to remember, and also a flawed film.

This year, two painters, with complete freedom of creative expression, broke barriers with the way they expressed their love for cinema with all the artistic vision they could find inside of them. Both Ravi K Chandran (My name is Khan) and V.Manikandan (Raavanan) set benchmarks in Indian cinema because their images in both films were symbolic (with the use of right colours in context to the story), achingly mesmerizing and visually exciting with a great deal of emotions in them.

Ravi K Chandran, the man whose work was applauded as “Sweeping”, “Confident” and “Exquisite” by international journals The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, translated the script of “My name is Khan” to the screen with his own beautiful vision, several notches higher than the director this time. Within a few minutes into watching the film, as you realize he is a genius, you know why the ruling Khans of Hindi cinema squabbles for his dates.

He says, “I had to make a choice between this film and “3 Idiots”. Aamir Khan was hoping to sign me up, considering the good track record we had with “Dil Chahta Hai”, “Fanaa” and “Ghajini”. On all the adulation he received from the foreign press, he thinks, “No matter how much international recognition you get, what matters is the appreciative calls you receive from your friends and family, post the release of each film”.

His last release “Anjaana Anjaani” starring Ranbir Kappor and Priyanka Chopra, opened to mixed responses, but did rake in impressive collections in the first week in India (32 crores INR nett). He is currently filming for Surya’s “Ezham Arivu”, directed by AR.Murugadoss, after which he will begin work on Hrithik Roshan’s “Agneepath” early in 2011, being produced by Karan Johar (Dharma Productions).

If you are a creative artist or cinema fan, V.Manikandan’s visuals in “Raavanan”, might leave you disturbed with his scale of intensity. On his consistency in the film he says, “I have the knack of remembering the shots I filmed, even if I have to recall them a year later. This helped me with my work, because we had to shoot “Raavanan” over a long period of time. When Mani Sir narrated the script to me, he told me he wanted an epic quality to the film”.

On working with Maniratnam, “Mani Sir is Mani Sir. He is a unique person, who wants to break the rules and make a difference with every film that he makes”. And on collaborating with a senior like Santhosh Sivan on the same film, he says, “Mr.Santhosh Sivan is a person I love so much. He is spontaneous with his shots, and I look up to him. In the early stages of my career, neither he nor Mr.PC.Sreeram accepted me to work as their assistant. I am here on my own today, without a mentor”.

Manikandan is not deterred by the fact that his last release “Khatta Meetha” failed at the box office. He thinks, “The film could not be visually exciting because of the nature of storytelling. It was a low budget film, and I was happy with my work”.
V.Manikandan is yet to sign any films post the release of “Raavanan” and “Khatta Meetha”. Although he worked on both Farah Khan’s earlier films “Main Hoon Na” and “Om Shanti Om”, due to production hassles he is not working on her next project “Tees Maar Khan” starring Akshay Kumar.

Through the eyes of these two extraordinary master craftsmen and their exquisite images, as you watch their respective films (“My name is Khan” and “Raavanan”), you will go through a varied range of emotions, from pathos to laughter, agony to joy and from wrath to peace. Both cinematographers deliver elegant tones, perfect frames and the images that are stunning, haunting and powerful, will stay with you long after you leave the theatres (even to the common man). And in both cases, it is the best film of their entire filmography.

Swarupa Pillaai