A film depicting two eras always poses a challenge to cinematographers. Divakar Mani, who worked for Ranarangam , says he attempted something new for the story that takes place in two time frames — one where Sharwanand is a rising gangster in the 80s, and another contemporary era when he is romancing Kajal and looks aged. For the period portion, which forms 60 % of the story Divakaropted for something simple and plain, inspired by Shiva and Roja , he says.
He talks about the approach, “We kept it very organic in terms of camera movement and lensing and had no glare. I worked especially with costume, with art and make-up department to create a perfect background and tried to achieve the look most of it through the camera while shooting and not during DI. We had to replicate colonies that existed in 1990 and worked together with the rest of the departments after going on an extensive recce in Vizag and Kakinada. We noticed that a lot of development has come through in terms of big billboards and hoardings which weren’t present in that era, so we put up a colony in Hyderabad at Aluminium Factory. The college and port scenes were shot in Kakinada. It still has an earthiness, rawness that could have existed there, especially the fisherman’s colony with hoardings of Gold Spot and Woodwards Gripe Water etc. The total number of working days was 75 for the entire film.” Divakar avoided Jimmy and fly cameras to avoid disturbing the era.
In the second half, we observe there are two minutes of past and two minutes of the present; yet it is possible to differentiate through makeup, tone, lensing and look of the hero. A special team from Mumbai worked on Sharwanand’s look and his friends to project a difference as they are with him in the past and the present. Divakar admits being a great fan of Roger Deakins and he tried recreating a train robbery scene that director Sudheer Verma was inspired from a Hollywood film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford . He adds, “It is difficult to achieve it but we tried attempting. When the trailer came out, a lot of people messaged me asking if it was from the Brad Pitt film. People who follow cinematography and good cinema will know. It is not a copy but we did something similar.”
Sudheer and Divakar share a great rapport ever since Keshava ; they both understand each other’s filmmaking style, visual sense and what they expect from each other. During Ranarangam , Sudheer left the design and composition to him. If they were to work on a third film together, Divakar says, it has to be of a different genre. “You don’t want to eat idli all three times a day. You look for a different taste, approach and do distinct work. I want to experiment. I won’t segregate between a documentary and web series.”Finally, he is all praise for Telugu producers who believe in their technicians and invest in the project. He says there is a warm bond unlike with producers from a corporate or an independent set up. He urges that producers too should be honoured, given awards for believing in experimental subjects. They are courageous and they stand to lose first if something goes wrong. “There’s a category for the best producer award at Hollywood too. Because of their faith in us, the industry flourishes,” he points out.
