Chennai-based DoP, Manikandan had worked in Mukunda , Srirasthu Subhamasthu , Geetha Govindam and now the just-released HIT . Is he elated at the appreciation the movie is getting? “ HIT is a story that I fell for. From a cameraman’s perspective there’s a different way of approaching a thriller — a certain amount of ratio in the use of lighting and contrast. I followed the script keenly. I was with Sailesh Kolanu (director of HIT ) for one month discussing our plans. Despite being a first timer, Sailesh had great clarity. He also had a clear idea of the technicians and why he wanted to designate a particular person for a department. He apparently took notes on my work after watching my films. I could understand him perfectly in his narration.”
After Geetha Govindam , he must have been flooded with offers? “I got an opportunity to be associated with web series Queen and Auto Shankar. There was so much scope for experimenting, but at the end of the day movies are more energising and give a high after release,” he says. Elaborating on the difference between the two, he says OTT is a strong and a new platform and it is growing by the day.
“There is a duration limitation in films, but in web series there is lot of input required in all spheres. Screen has a grandeur, people watch high quality television series but we need to match that and do better than that, so we need to invest more,” he says.
Dispelling the myth that when a debutant director is at the helm, producers engage strong technicians to back him up, Manikandan says, “The director gives two or three years to the script and he knows what he is doing before he embarks on the project. There is always an interaction between the director and technicians and there is scope for trying a new approach.”
Manikandan was exposed to photography in school where it was one of the vocational subjects. He learnt negative exposing and development there and found the entire process interesting. At Chennai’s MGR institute, he studied cinematography and met lot of well-known personalities in the field.
“I worked as operative camera man in many films and now that I have become a DoP, I rope in many students who graduate from that college as apprentices,” he says and adds, “After converting to digital, I worked on a Tamil film which fetched awards.”
