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Photo: G. Moorthy

Son of the soil Lover of soft and romantic themes

Brushing aside all these options Kannan Durairaj chose to become a cinematographer and found himself playing an integral part in the success of latest Tamil flick “Santhosh Subramaniam”.

“It is easier said than done. It took me 15 years to come to limelight. Of course, the path I tread on to be a part of a successful movie was never smooth. I did have my share of luck and opportunities provided by kind-hearted gentlemen whom I met on the way. It really amazes me now to look back.”

When Mr.Kanan speaks, you can sense the power, dedication and motivation of an individual who has learnt life the hard way without any Godfather.

“I lost the race to time. Before I came to know about the way to get a seat in the film institute, five years rolled by. My inspirational faculty was at its lowest ebb. But that did not deter me in any way. I continued to learn the art, confident that success will smile one day.”

Born in a family struggling to make both ends meet, he had his job cut out. “Memories of my student days are still green when I aimlessly walked down the dingy streets of Tallakulam. All I knew at that stage was to play football, clinch victories for my team and rise to the top. But, that never happened.”

“Once I found that I could not even move out of Madurai with a tag of a football player, I decided to switch over to photography. I happened to attend a short-term course on videography organised by the Madurai Kamaraj University, which caught my attention. I still remember the joy of the moment when my father, a peon in the Public Works Department bought me a camera, when I expressed my wish to become photographer.”

He joined cameraman Dhanapal as an assistant and then worked under cinematographer Karthik Raja.

He got a big break when his friend Francis, who was an executive producer in the K.T. Kunjumon company, introduced him to K.V. Anand.

Under the tutelage of Anand, he worked in films including Kathir’s “Kadhal Desam”, Vasanth’s “Nerukku Ner”, Priyadarshan’s “Doli Saja Ke Rakhna” and Mansoor Khan’s “Josh”.

“After this experience, I felt I could handle cinematography on my own and signed for Ranjith’s “Bheeshmar”. Unfortunately, it did not provide me the break I was looking for and I was back to square one. But I had to thank director Vasanth for getting me acquainted with P.S. Vinoth, who was an assistant to Santosh Sivan and a sought after ad film maker. I became financially stronger only then. I was able to update my knowledge with latest technologies. Meanwhile, I also became friends with Directors Bala and Ameer.”

Kannan does not forget to render his gratitude to Ameer who recommended him to the film makers, who were at that time on the look out for a cinematographer for the movie “Santhosh Subramaniam”.

“I am basically a lover of soft and romantic themes. I instantly found the subject of the film to my liking. We shot two songs in New Zealand at exotic locations. Sequences shot in Chennai will never look like Chennai. Since I was very particular to reflect the mood of the subject given to me, I used lights judiciously to make it look as if the scene was shot in natural light. The scenes that I have shot should please the viewer. Action is not my cup of tea. But I strive to gel it with mainstream viewing,” admits Mr. Kannan.

Along with Anand Sai (art director), he had virtually created a carnival mood with the colour and brightness depicting the richness of movie.

The locations for the duets linger long in the eyes of the viewer.

He is overwhelmed with gratitude for his producer Editor Mohan, Director M. Raja and actor ‘Jeyam’ Ravi for having popularised him to the Tamil movie viewing public.

“I owe my success to my over supportive parents, Mr. Durairaj and D. Maruthambal and my wife Lakshmi, who has been a burden-bearing stone all through my life,” he signs off beaming with pride.

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