Sathyan Sooryan has never watched a horror film in his life. Today, he’s getting accolades for his work as a cinematographer in the Nayantara-starrer Maya.
“I am really scared of ghost films,” he says, “I started watching one when I was a kid and was so scared that I ran away from the theatre.” When he was signed on for Maya , the director (Ashwin Saravanan) asked him to watch some Hollywood flicks in the genre to understand how horror was tackled. “I watched The Conjuring and Insidious and only then realised how horror was shown in films.” It seems to have helped. With clever use of lighting (and darkness), Maya has clicked with the audiences. “Shooting horror is actually easy,” reveals Sathyan, whose role model is P.C. Sreeram, “The more you keep your frame obscure, the better. The trick lies in understanding when not to light up.”
Sathyan points out that it was Nayantara’s presence that had many audiences hooked. “She was a thorough professional and always gave her best on the sets,” he says. But it was not always smooth sailing for the team; going with the theme of the film, they encountered some spooky experiences as well. “Whenever we shot the sequences involving Maya, the lead character, it used to rain. It was spooky that way; everyone on the sets was talking about it.”
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