The Telugu film industry has always produced most number of films every year and we get to see all the talented technicians coming down south to work with the most popular names among the directors and heroes. Be it Ayananka Bose (DJ) or PC Sreeram, they all couldn’t stay away from our mammoth budget glitzy scripts, hospitable people and pleasant climate of Telangana. We have a mix of both seniors and young cinematographers juggling dates here in Hyderabad.
Cinematographer PC Sreeram
Most directors who are making their debut prefer to choose young talent who are creative in their work and who can deliver the output with reasonable equipment in the required time. If their budget permits they are sure to try for big names like PC Sreeram who is now doing Kalyanram’s movie, PS Vinod who has done Manam , Oopiri , Druva and Hello . The rest are Santosh Sivan ( Thuppaki, Spyder ), Guhan ( Jawaan ), Manoj Paramhamsa ( Race Gurram ), Madhie ( Sreemanthudu , The Ghazi Attack ), Thiru ( Janatha Garage ), Ravi K Chandran ( Bharat Ane Nenu ), Vijay Chakravarthi ( Nanaku Prematho ). Sai Sreeram ( Ala Ela, Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada, Geetanjali ) is another cinematographer who is in demand, he had been roped in for Anish Krishna’s film starring Raj Tarun but had to leave the project to fulfil his directorial ambitions. He has launched his debut project with Naga Shourya recently.
The cinematographers who are rising and were spoken for their work this year were Nizar Shafi ( Nenu Local, Mahanubhavudu ), Divakar Mani ( Keshava ), Suresh Raguthu ( Garuda Vega ), Shaneil Deo ( Kshanam, Goodachari ).
Mohan Krishna of Ishqiya fame contributed to Raja The Great .
Producer Sravanthi Ravi Kishore says “We have very few talented and well trained DoPs as of now. We are second biggest in terms of number of movies produced. Hence we need more number of technicians. Most of our big movies have huge budgets and they have the affordability to pick the best in the country. To be honest, the success or failure of film should not be considered while choosing a cinematographer. Generally we give the choice to the director to select a DoP and at times leave it to the hero. Most of the DoPs of big films are chosen by heroes only.”
There are veterans like S Gopal Reddy and Sameer Reddy who are producer friendly and make no demands, they are currently doing medium budget films. Sameer Reddy is the most sought after cinematographer, his latest work was Satamanam Bhavati, MCA, Samanthakamani, Vunnadi Okate Zindagi . There is always constraints of time and budget for low and medium budget films, in case of big budget films, the constraints is dates of artistes.
Most stars and directors have a rapport with the cinematographers and prefer to repeat them. Some more popular cameramen are Karthik Ghattamaneni ( Prema Ishq Kadal, Karthikeya, Express Raja, Surya Vs Surya, Premam, Ninnu Kori and Krishnarjuna Yuddham ), Nagesh Banell ( Pelli Choopulu, Jayammu Nischayammu Ra ), Yuvaraj ( Krishnagadi Veera Prema Gadha, Lie, Savyasachi ), Venkat C Dileep ( Nene Raja Nene Mantri, Jyo Achyutananda, Oohalu Gusagusalade ). Jagadeesh Cheekati is waiting in the wings and ready to make a mark.
