Zooming in on Bollywood
SREEDHAR PILLAI
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Ravi K. Chandran has clicked with some of the biggest names in the Indian film industry.
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The style that I have evolved today is more realistic and closer to the character.RAVI
IN THE FRAME: Ravi K. Chandran's eye for detail and colour has earned him an enviable place in the film industry.
All recent trendsetters in Bollywood like `Dil Chahta Hai,' `Koi Mil Gaya,' `Yuva,' `Black,' and now `Paheli' have one common factor - Ravi K. Chandran, director of photography. In the early days of cinema they were known as film photographers, then as camerapersons and now they are called director of photography (DoP)!
Today in Bollywood, they call the shots and heroines like Rani Mukherjee and Priety Zinta insist that they have their favourite lensman to do their ad films. Says Rani Mukherjee: "Ravi's lighting and his camera are amazing in `Black' and all my friends told me that I had never looked so beautiful like in `Paheli,' thanks to his eye for detail and colour."
Brand in Indian cinema
Ravi K. Chandran is a brand among Indian cinematographers and today he insists that his name be included in poster and publicity designs of the film. As Ravi says: "I have been able to highlight the significance of DoP's, as they are the real people who give the required look, which has become an important factor for a film." No wonder then that he is the highest paid cameraman in India.
Ravi comes from the land of cinematographers - Kerala, which has produced some of the finest cameramen like A. Vincent, Madhu Ambat, Santhosh Sivan, Rajiv Menon and others. Ravi was influenced by his brother Ramachandra Babu, a doyen among Malayalam cameramen who was a favourite of the late Bharathan and I.V. Sasi in the Seventies and Eighties.
Ravi, who hails from Haripad and considers his big brother as his role model and guru, says that he picked up his early lessons from Babu and adds: "Those were the golden days of Malayalam cinema when directors like Bharathan, Padmarajan, I.V.Sasi and Hariharan reigned supreme. All of them were technically competent and knew that camera played an importance role in filmmaking."
Exposure to good cinema
Ravi is proud that he grew up on good cinema and had an early exposure to the works of Truffaut and Godard. He delved deep into the craft by reading on cinema and watching cinema of international repute. Now, his living room in his residence at K.K. Nagar in Chennai has photographs, sketches, and more books and magazines on films than furniture!
He got his break as an independent cameraman in `Kilukkampetti' and later `Ekalavyan,' directed by Shaji Kailas. The slow motion walk of Suresh Gopi and top angle shots, which Ravi introduced, became a part of Malayalam commercial cinema. "Those were just gimmicks and I don't do them anymore. The style that I have evolved today is more realistic and closer to the character," recalls Ravi.
He moved to Chennai and started assisting Rajiv Menon in such films as `Minsarakanavu' and as an independent cameraman in `Kandukondein Kandukondein' and his growth was phenomenal. Later, it was Priyadarshan who gave him the big ticket to Bollywood with `Virasat,' the remake of `Thevar Magan.'
Remember, Tabu kicking up dust in the golden light in the song `Dhol Bajne Laga... .' With this shot Ravi arrived in Bollywood. Thanks to his lighting and stylised realism in the shot composition in `Virasat' he could make Pollachi look like a Rajasthani village, the milieu of the film.
This was what got him Farhan Akhtar's `Dil Chahta Hai' in which he created the chic urban look that won him a lot of critical acclaim. And the way he shot `Black' has made him a strong contender for this year's National Award, something which has been eluding him all these years. He adds: "The film `Black' gave me immense satisfaction as a cinematographer and it will remain as one of my best."
Some of his best work can be seen in Mani Ratnam's `Kannathil Muthamittal' and `Ayitha Ezhuthu' (`Yuva' in Hindi), Shankar's `Boys,' Farhan Akhtar's `Dil Chahta Hai' and the recent `Paheli.' Says Ravi: "Mani sir is one of my favourite directors. He shoots fast and uses a lot of natural light. He is one director who allows you to improvise and the results are there to see."
After `Paheli,' Ravi is all admiration for Shahrukh and the admiration is reportedly mutual. "Shahrukh is sharp, intelligent and knows everything about cinema. He motivates the unit and believes that it is teamwork that leads to a successful film. He does not have the ego of a superstar and is down-to-earth," says Ravi. He will be doing another film with Shahrukh next year.
As a rule, Ravi does only one film at a time and during breaks he does ads as he finds them more lucrative.
Next project
Ravi is now moving over to his next project for Yashraj Films, the biggest banner in India. It has Aamir Khan and Kajol in the lead and will be directed by Kunal Kohli. He says that it has a wonderful script and he has started work on it, like drawing sketches of the shoot (something that he picked up from the late Bharathan) and has made montages of it. He spent a month in Prague along with the director to get the `look of the film.' Ravi, the perfectionist has no plans to direct a film but looks forward to doing a film as DoP (his favourite word) in Malayalam, if the script is exciting, for directors like Jayaraj or Shyam Prasad.
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