‘I don’t know what age is’

Veteran cinematographer PC Sreeram talks about his association with filmmaker Mani Ratnam and why his frames emphasise on aesthetics.

April 26, 2015 08:46 pm | Updated December 05, 2021 09:09 am IST - HYDERABAD:

Dulquer Salmaan and Nithya Menen

Dulquer Salmaan and Nithya Menen

Magical, dreamy, poetic are some terms being used to describe the viewing experience of Mani Ratnam’s O Kadhal Kanmani ( Ok Bangaram in Telugu). Veteran cinematographer P.C Sreeram has a huge part in making this possible. The film marks the coming together of Ratnam and Sreeram 15 years after Alaipayuthey ( Sakhi ); their association dates back to early 80s. “We used to go together and approach producers for work. At one point we thought it’s better to try our luck individually. Both of us did a few films and then teamed up for Mouna Ragam ,” recalls Sreeram.

After OKK, he is taking a breather. He’s been working on back-to-back projects — Shankar’s I , Balki’s Shamitabh and OKK . Work, he says, has been therapeutic. “I need to work every single day, to survive, after I lost my daughter,” he says.

He was shooting abroad when he got Ratnam’s message asking if he’d be available to do a small film. “I had committed myself to Shamitabh till November. Mani said he’d wait for a few days. No one is indispensable. If I had kept him waiting longer, he would have gone for another cinematographer,” he says. If the shots of local trains and some portions of the song sequences in OKK remind viewers of his earlier films with Ratnam, Sreeram says, “Many of Mani’s films are about middle class people. Or, at the other end, he explores the underbelly like he did in Nayagan and Thalapathy . In a city like Mumbai, the middle class commutes in trains, buses, autos or taxis. Both Adi (Dulquer) and Tara (Nithya) are youngsters working their way up. So they use these modes of transport and these shots are inevitable.”

For a story that revolves around four characters — Adi, Tara, Ganapathy (Prakash Raj) and Bhavani (Leela Samson) — Sreeram wanted a distinctive colour palette. “Once you step into Ganapathy’s house, you know it’s not in South India. Art director Sharmista Roy (“she’s wonderful”) gave us a few options and I chose the colour she was reluctant about. The deep red/orange tone, I felt, will reflect the young couple’s sensuality. They aren’t living together for intellectual exchange of ideas; are they? Normally, one hesitates to use a strong colour for a small room. Here it worked,” he explains. The décor in Tara’s hostel, too, was carefully handpicked. “She is an independent woman who lives each moment of her life. I remembered spotting a British era glass at a YWCA accommodation and we wanted something similar in Tara’s room,” he says.

While he captured Ahmedabad through the eyes of the budding architect Tara and brought in a sense of space and mood into Mumbai’s exteriors and interiors, Sreeram says he doesn’t distinguish a space as outdoor and indoor. “I react to the script and interpret a space. When I look into a frame, it should look aesthetic. Only if I feel like looking at it, people will like it.”

Over the years, Mani Ratnam has dipped into still photographs shot by Sreeram in his college days, much before he became a cinematographer, for references. That stage, says Sreeram, has passed. “We’ve transitioned to the digital world. I used to shoot stills, on film, as homework for a project and share it with the director to see if our journey is the same. I remember clicking stills of Nagarjuna’s house during Geetanjali .”

The audience may put the spotlight on films he and Ratnam did together, but Sreeram reiterates, “Be it Vikram Kumar, Pratap Pothen, Bharatan, Balki or Shankar, each director has played a part in my evolution. After Mani and I did four films ( Mouna Ragam, Nayagan, Agni Natchatiram and Geetanjali ) consecutively, we decided to work individually, explore new avenues and ideas. I did Kuruthi Punal and Thevar Magan before we did Thiruda Thiruda together. Again, for Alaipayuthey Mani felt he needed me. We don’t get weighed down by people’s expectations.”

Sreeram is 59 and Ratnam will turn 59 this June. As moviegoers have pointed out on social networking forums, the duo has come up with a film that’s young at heart, brimming with energy. Sreeram searches for words, “Hmmm, the body reacts differently as your grow older,” then adds, “I don’t know what age is. There are days I behave like a grown up, on other days I behave young or even childish.”

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