Directors may well be the captains of their ships. But not having a cinematographer to be able to read their mind and capture their vision in visuals may take the wind out of their sails.
Constantly having to put themselves in the director’s shoes, it is hardly surprising that cinematographers choose to navigate the ship on their own by donning the director’s hat faster than any other technical crew.
Mollywood is witnessing a steady rise in the number of such cinematographers-turned-directors. Tinsel Town has learnt that award-winning cinematographer Sujith Vaasudev is the latest to join the tribe. The grapevine has it that popular actor Prithviraj will play the lead role in the family-oriented film. Sujith brings a wealth of experience as he has cranked the camera for blockbusters such as Drishyam , Memories , and Papanasam , the Tamil-remake of Drishyam .
Next in line to join the director’s club is Jomon T. John, the young cinematographer known for his works such as Neena , Oru Vadakkan Selfie and Picket 43 . He is reportedly working on a movie with actor Dulquer Salmaan in the lead.
There is also Shyju Khalid, who is expected to start working on his first feature film soon. Shyju is not new to the role as he had earlier directed Sethulakshmi , one of the segments in the anthology, 5 Sundarikal . He was behind the camera for memorable movies such as Traffic , Salt N’ Pepper , 22 Female Kottayam and Da Thadiya .
Their acclaimed predecessors like Rajeev Ravi, Amal Neerad, Sameer Thahir and Jibu Jacob have already left their stamp as filmmakers. In fact, all of them are in the process of captaining their next ventures which may set soon set sail.
Fine performance
and a long wait
There were times when Manoj K. Jayan feared whether one of his finest performances would never reach the audience. Kaliyachan was filmed in 2012 and it also won him the State Award for the second best actor, but its producer, National Film Development Corporation, according to the film’s debutant director Farook Abdul Rahiman, was in no hurry to release it.
The film is coming to the cinemas next week, though. “I am delighted that the film is finally being released,” Manoj told The Hindu . “It should have been released long ago, and I was wondering whether it would be released at all. So it is a relief to know that people would able to see it finally.
Manjoy plays a Kathakali actor in Kaliyachan , which is based on P. Kunhiraman Nair’s poem by the same name. “Kathakali is a tough art to learn, but I tried to get the basics of it for my role,” he says.
“It was a challenging role to perform and it is definitely among my best in Malayalam cinema; it ranks along with my roles in films like Sargam, Pazhassi Raja, Kudumbasametham, Ananthabhadram and Ardhanari .”
Kaliyachan , Manoj fears, would be among the last of the serious films in Malayalam.
“People no longer make such films because there is no incentive; this year’s State Awards are a classic example of that,” he says. “It was as if the jury was determined to honour popular cinema at the expense of artistic films.” Among the films Manoj is currently working on are Zacharia Pothan Jeevichiruppundu and Valliyum Thetti Pulliyum Thetti .
“I play the title character in Zachariya Pothan …,” he says. “And I have an interesting character in Valliyum Thetti …, which has Kunchacko Boban and Shyamili in the lead.”
(Reporting by
G. Krishnakumar
and P.K. Ajith Kumar)
