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Tamil Nadu

To him filmmaking too is a form of activism

“I believe I have integrated the audience with myself. My struggle then becomes about how to satisfy myself”

— Photo: M. Karunakaran

R.V. Ramani

A search for self-expression led him into the realm of filmmaking. Many years, experiences and films later, filmmaker and cinematographer R.V. Ramani continues his search; not just in his own world, but through the lives of those he captures in his films. “Everyone is searching for a kind of correctness in expressing themselves. Artists do that consciously and others in their day to day lives do it unconsciously. Issues arise because of the lack of avenues for expression. In my work I search for that quality in people,” he tells Krishna Velupillai.

One of his new films deals with writer Sundara Ramaswamy’s struggle in his last years to express himself. “He struggles with his very identity as a person and a writer. I wanted to capture this,” he says.

Ramani’s earliest work, however, was not quite as profound. Brought up in Bombay, his first adventure behind the camera was when he used his father’s camera to shoot pictures at a cousin’s wedding. “When the rolls were developed, they were all blank. I wanted to know why. After that, I became obsessed with cameras. I wanted to learn every thing about them,” he says with a laugh, admitting that in fact, his advent into a career behind the camera was by default.

From blank rolls to a career in photojournalism and later entry into the world of cinematography, “I joined the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and went on to work in several commercial ventures, including fiction and ad films,” he says.

But now, Ramani works exclusively on documentary films.

“No” to objectivity

“Documentary films have their own grammar. They also give you complete authorship.” Ramani refuses to accept the concept of objectivity. “Films are every personal. I need to be able to see the filmmaker through the film. Those kinds of films excite me. Saying that this is what the audience wants is only a form of escapism,” he says, passion for his work suddenly escaping his quiet and composed demeanour.

For Ramani there is no apparent contradiction between filmmaker and audience. “I believe I have integrated the audience with myself. My struggle then becomes about how to satisfy myself. It is just like the work of a poet or artist,” he says.

Question his art and the media he works with, and (this time on philosophical lines) Ramani explains the idea behind one of his current projects. “It is about my camera which was destroyed in the tsunami along with the footage. It deals with creating an image of a notion of reality. The images I saw live were completely different from what was recorded and aired. The dilemma here is then, is even documentary real? What is real about an image that comes out of the camera?”

Apart from being a philosophy in itself, filmmaking is also a form of activism for Ramani. “When there is a mass media and you take a stance within that framework, it is a form of activism. In the end filmmaking is about sharing my work. Sometimes films are made because they have to be made; other times you make films to discover the film. Filmmaking for me does not end with the completion of a film, it will remain a continuous process.”

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