Remembering Film Institute Days

Mani Kaul - A personal remembrance

2011-07-10T11:35:00.005+05:30

Mani Kaul

While many Film makers made compromises for their existence, Mani Kaul till the very last breath remained an uncompromising, individualistic creator of films. His films were far ahead of their times which will be always cherished by connoisseurs of good cinema.

I was a student at the Poona Film Institute when he had come there to screen his debut film USKI ROTI in 1970. The film was really something we have not seen before on the Indian screen, consisting of lengthy static camera shots and used only one 28 mm lens for the whole film. Many of us didn't like it at all in the first viewing , because of the static lengthy shots and slow pace of the film. But a repeated viewing made us to study the film more deeply, made us to think and not remain as passive viewers. The carefully composed images of light and shade created by K.K.Mahajan in Black and White was another factor that contributed much to the film. I got introduced to him after the screenings and soon became a friend. During his visits to the Institute, which were quite frequent we used to meet along with K.G.George and other friends under the Wisdom tree or at the canteen. You are sure to find him always surrounded by admiring students. Such was his magnetic personality.

At that time he was having a love interest with a Tamilian girl Lalitha, (whom he later on married) and he asked me to teach him a few words in Tamil so as to impress her. He used to write down words like " Naan unnai kadhalikkeren " ( "I love you ") on a piece of paper and memorize it with proper pronunciation. Later on I have also visited his house "Janaki Kutir" at Mumbai and enjoyed his and Lalitha's hospitality. Though he was my senior, he introduced me to his wife Lalitha as his Tamil teacher!

Ravi Menon who was my batch mate at the Institute had done the lead role in Mani's Hindi film "DUVIDHA" before he made his debut in Malayalam films with M.T Vasudevan Nair's National Award winning "NIRMALYAM" for which I was the cinematographer. Ravi used tell me a number of interesting incidents from his shooting experience with Mani Kaul's team. I lost touch with Mani for a number of years after I relocated to Thiruvananthapuram. A few years back I happened to meet him during the International Film Festival of Kerala and that was our last meeting. He passed away on 6 th July 2011.

I have lost an old friend and great soul and Indian Film Industry had lost a Master Film maker!

I sincerely pray for his soul to Rest in Peace

Farewell Party

2011-06-26T04:08:00.004+05:30

Hailing from different parts of India as well the world, being together in the Institute for three years, sharing experiences we have developed bonds of unbreakable friendships that lasts till today. This uniqueness I have not seen nowhere else except the FTII-ians. Even I myself do not keep in touch with my college-mates from Loyola, Madras except one who stumbled upon me in Facebook after a gap of more than 40 years! The togetherness we were enjoying at the Institute was nearing an end and soon we will walk out of its hallowed gates to seek our fortunes in the Film Industry.

It was time to organize a Get together Farewell party and we had a pleasant evening at a hotel in Deccan Gymkhana. Here are the memories from that night :

After dinner Group Photo

(From L to R - K.Ramachandra Murthy, Sushil K Jolly, Harish Gupta,
K. Ramachandra Babu, Prem Kumar Upadhyay, Naapo Gbande, Ramlal Agarwal, Venugopal Thakker, K. K.Jaiswal, Anil Dhanda,
S D Deodhar and Surendra Sahu)

Shooting of "VIDYARTIKALE ITHILE ITHILE"

2011-06-16T04:28:00.012+05:30

After our classes were over at the Institute my self and Kasturi R Murthy traveled by train to Madras to take up our first feature film assignment. Since Murthy had some relatives at Madras, he preferred staying with them. I joined John and Azad at their office at 49, Wallajah Road and was accommodated there for the time being. We did not have a separate room for ourselves and spent the day amongst the office staff and at night, we all slept in the settee and carpet in Producer Minnal's air conditioned cabin. In the hot and humid climate of Madras the air-conditioning was really a luxury. There was a nearby "Nair's Mess" at Triplicane which provided tasty Kerala type meals at very low prices. It was a small place and was always crowded and you have to wait for some time to manage a seat. The food and accommodation was quite comfortable.

As I was a novice in the Madras film Industry I had to learn many things about the procedures and working methods there. At the Institute you had all the equipments at your disposal and all you have to do is to write the list in the register and take them for the shooting. But here the equipments had to be hired from rental companies. Since Azad had worked in a few P.N.Menon films, he took me to Sujatha Movietone Unit, whom he said charge reasonably and had good workers. The camera we wanted was Arri IIC with option to use blimp as John wanted to use location sound recording. But the compact and portable Nagra recorder was not available at Madras as it was not considered a "Professional" equipment by the sound recordists there. Because of its small size and 1/4 inch tape they thought that it will create sync problems in lengthy shots. P.Devadas an alumni of the Institute who was at that time was with Chitralekha Film Co-operative Studio founded by Adoor Gopalakrishnan was contacted and he joined us with his Nagra equipment to do the sound recording.

We had planned to do our shooting in real houses instead of the usual practice of using studio sets using the household power supply. But to match the indoor light with the bright sunny out door light required the use of more powerful lights, such as 5KW or 10 KW. We could not use them as they would consume more power and the house connection will not take up such heavy electrical load. Generators were rare and very expensive too; hence locations with 3 phase power supply were only selected if additional lighting is required. Apart from the usual Junior and Baby lights I asked for Colortron (USA) lights which I have used at the Institute and are known to give much brighter light out put. To my surprise I was given a Bombay made light which had a sealed beam spot light whose intensity can be varied step by step using a transformer and they called it "Colortran" light! Since it always produced a hot spot I asked for a few white boards to be made for bouncing the lights.

First Day of the Shooting

Having been brought up in Tamil Nadu, I haven't seen many Malayalam films. I have seen a few of them while we went to Kerala on summer holidays to my parent's place. I had seen Ramu Kariat's CHEMMEEN at Madras and P.N.Menon's KUTIYEDATHI ( Starring Jayabharathi ) and few other Malayalam films at the Institute. In fact I have never even witnessed the shooting of a Malayalam film either before I ventured into the film industry as Cameraman.

We were using ORWO Black and white negative film as Kodak film was much expensive and also hard to get and required and import licence. Since ORWO film was manufactured in Communist East Germany and was imported against Rupee payment it was freely available and cheaper than Kodak film. ORWO negative was available in two speeds, ORWO NP55 which was 64 ASA and ORWO NP27 which was 400 ASA but rated as 320 ASA.I used the faster NP 27 stock for indoor filming and the slower NP 55 for the out doors. Since we had white walls all around I did the lighting by bouncing a few units on the ceiling, the walls and on the white boards to get a soft day light effect.

I started the first day of my cinematographic career by taking a close up shot of Malayalam Actress Jayabharathi at a small house in CIT colony in T.Nagar. The scene we had to shoot was her interaction in the role of a school teacher with a few children, who were playing their role of her students. After the day’s shooting was over Jayabharathi called the Producer aside and expressed doubts whether some image will be recorded on the film as this novice cameraman had not put any light on my face. Instead he had focused the lights everywhere on the walls, ceiling, boards etc except my face. Having been used to the hot direct spot lights hitting her face in studio floors, it was but natural for her to think like that. Also I was very young (hardly 23 years old) thin and still not out of the Institute and an inexperienced hand. Having heard this doubtful remark from the Leading lady the Producer also started worrying about the results.

The next day I got a call from the Vijaya- Vauhini Laboratories asking me to meet the Laboratory Chief Mr. Sen Gupta. The reason was they were getting only blank film when they processed the test negative. In those days a 5 ft Test shot close up of a face is taken either in the beginning or at the end of the roll which will be processed first and after checking the density the duration of the processing is adjusted accordingly. Under exposed negatives will be brought up to required density by processing for more duration and over exposed ones for lesser time to obtain a uniform density final negative. Usually the density of the negative image is visually checked by experienced personnel and may vary from person to person. Also there will be a variation of the skin tone of the actor in the close up. In order to overcome this I took a Test shot of 18% grey card (considered to be equivalent average skin tone) and asked them to develop it and measure the density in the Densitometer and keep it as standard for the processing. It was the grey card that they found instead of the close up and that created the confusion.

The Laboratory Chief Mr. Sen Gupta agreed to my contention but requested me to have the face close up as test since the Lab technicians over the years are used to that practice. Finally when the rushes were printed and projected in the Lab theatre all anxieties vanished and the producer and the Director were fully satisfied with the results.

Madhu who had by then been well known all over India for his role in CHEMMEEN was the leading actor in our film. On his first day in our set, unfamiliar with the formalities existing in Malayalam film industry I addressed him as "Mr.Madhu". He turned and gave a piercing look at me, a thin young man of only 23 years for calling a top hero like him in this manner. I noticed it and continued " Please come and stand in position for the lighting". He understood the nature of the Institute bred people as he himself was the product of National School of Drama and willingly came and stood in his mark for me to adjust the lighting. Later on I found everybody else on the sets were addressing him as "Madhu Sir" and I too followed it!

A still from the film

John Abraham plans his first Feature film

2011-06-03T15:45:00.016+05:30

When the strike at the Institute got extended for a long time, our parents were instructed by the authorities to take us back home, to cool our tempers. While at home I was informed that John Abraham is planning to direct a Malayalam film based on a script by M. Azad and both of them were at Madras. So I went there and met them. They had in mind to have S. Ramachandra as the Cinematographer for the film as he was a close friend and room mate of Azad. They have offered me an opportunity to work as an assistant cameraman in that film. Since I have still not completed the course and was looking for an opening to enter the film industry, I readily agreed to their proposal so that I can get familiar with the working methods in Malayalam films.

Azad and John in serious discussion

In a jovial mood

The producer was Mr. Minnal, who was running an AD Agency called Mars Advertising Company located at 49, Wallajah Road, Triplicane. The Malayalam film titled "VIDYARTHIKALE ITHILE ITHILE" was to be produced under the banner Mehboob Movies. At that time both John and Azad were staying there in the office itself and were working on the script as the dates of the shooting schedule have not yet been fixed.

After my return to the Institute the strike prolonged for some more time and finally ended as the Government had agreed to constitute an enquiry commission. Our courses were nearing completion and I was wondering about the future, whether to try my luck in the Bombay film industry or in the Madras film field. In those days Film Institute graduates had a tough time finding work as they were thought to have only bookish knowledge and no practical experience. They had to struggle for some years assisting the veterans in the industry before they get a break. Though I was offered a job at the Hindustan Thompson AD agency, I declined because the work involved was only making sample films in 16mm for clients to view and I was more interested in doing feature films.

I was thinking of going down south at Madras which was a much familiar city to me as I had done my graduation from Loyola College there. Also there was no language problem too as I had my schooling in Tamil medium. Then I received a letter from John and Azad saying that they have decided to give me a break in the film as the principal cinematographer! It came as a great surprise as I was offered this film directly without working as an assistant to anybody at any capacity in the film industry and that too before the completion of my final examinations. I was really lucky indeed to have got such an easy entry in films ! I asked my old room mate and batch mate Kasturi Ramachandra Murthy, who was also keen on going to Madras to work as my assistant in the film and he readily agreed to my proposal and joined me.

Letter from John

After a few days I received the official letter from the producer confirming that the shooting is scheduled from 5 th June 1971 on wards and I was expected to be in Madras on the 1st of June to attend the pre-production work.

Producer's Letter

My Practical Examinations and Viva Voce were not over when I started my career as a Cinematographer in the film industry. After shooting the first schedule of the film, myself and Murthy returned to Poona finish our exams!

HUNG UP ON THE WISDOM TREE

2011-01-31T05:18:00.011+05:30

At the Film Institute of India ( before Television courses were started), from 1970 onwards we had a “Thought for Today” Notice Board near the canteen where the students were free to put up any interesting matter for the benefit of the student community. It was also a forum for the free expression of student opinion. IBy that time Navin Nischal, Shatrughan Sinha, and Jaya Bhaduri had started making their debut in the closely guarded Bombay Film Industry and were emerging as the future stars. This made the Acting students at the Institute to behave with their heads in the clouds as if they have already become Superstars. It was seen in their arrogance and attitude towards their fellow students. An exception was their friendliness towards Motion Picture Photography students, for they badly needed our help in getting themselves beautifully photographed for their portfolios! Their arrogance towards other students caused a lot friction and loss of good will between the Direction and Acting students. As a result of that many of the Direction students started excluding Acting students from their Final year Diploma films by casting outside artistes in their place. When the Institute authorities insisted that the casting should be done only from among the Acting students, the Direction students cleverly overcame that by selecting the subjects in such a manner, so that a child or a very old woman / man or a tight rope walking street acrobat ( as in my Diploma film - JEEVAN) etc has become the main character. Such roles certainly cannot be played by the acting students and they lost out their chances in the Diploma films. As a result four of the acting students - Raza Murad, Deepak Dhar, Sushil Bhatnagar and Imtiaz Ahmed Khan Pathan did not get to act in any of the Diploma films! Hence four additional Diploma films exclusively for them were sanctioned to accommodate them. But instead of entrusting the Direction department teaching staff to direct those films, all the four films were assigned to the Professor of Acting - Prof. Raushan Taneja.

This odd decision by the Principal Shri. Jagat Murari infuriated most of the students including me, for, some months earlier Prof. Taneja was assigned to do an one hour feature film with disastrous results. The film was planned as part of the programme to showcase the Acting talents of the Film Institute students for the sake of the Bombay film industry. It was an one hour featurette to be shot during the Christmas vacations. The story, screenplay was also handled by the Acting Professor. A lot of precious raw stock was wasted during a ten day shooting schedule in Madh island and there were reports of some of the acting girls missing from location who were later traced to the flats of their seniors cum successful stars in the Bombay film world. At that time I had put up a poster depicting Prof. Taneja shooting in Madh Island and a ship unloading film rolls into the sea. It created some commotion among the acting students but they didn’t know that I was the person behind it.

Now again assigning Four of the Diploma films to Acting Department and to the very same Prof. Taneja infuriated many people. While the discussions were going on, I did a cartoon depicting Prof. Taneja shooting the four diploma films with the four actors and with 4 cameras simultaneously and it was titled “BEWARE - WILD SHOOTER IN TOWN - SHOOTS ANY THING AND EVERY AT SIGHT!" This cartoon I did on my own, but once again left it unsigned and at midnight when no one was around I pasted it on the notice Board.

The Poster that caused the strike

Next morning there was a big crowd in front of the notice board. Some acting boys tried to tear it off but were prevented by some others who had collected there to see it. There were lot speculations about who were behind this sacrilege as the Acting students had given the demi-God status to their Professor. Was it not he who created super stars out of sheer clay - the rank new comers who were taught the art of acting! When the sun went down, in their drunken stupor some of them shouted the choicest abuses and created a big commotion in the Men’s hostel.

Warning for those who dared to tear it!

A complaint was made to the Principal Shri Jagat Murari regarding this by the Student’s Union and in the evening a General Body meeting of all the students was called. A few minutes before the commencement of the meeting I was sitting in the canteen thinking how to deal with the situation. Certainly the Principal will be asking, who had put up the controversial poster. I thought that I will need some moral support from my fellow students. So I told a few of my friends that, it was I who had put up the poster and when the Principal asks for the hand behind it I will be getting up and they should support me.

Assured of their support I went inside to attend the meeting. After the usual introduction, the Principal took a pad and pen to note down the names and asked – “I want to know who had put up this Poster?” Slowly I got up and behind me others got up from different parts of the auditorium. The Principal stood agape frozen with a shocked expression. I turned back and what a scene! Except the Acting students all the other students including Foreign students stood in solidarity with me. I never expected that I will be getting such a massive support. It was just a spontaneous reaction of the suppressed anger of the student community over allotment of the films to the Acting Department.

Recovering from his shock, the Principal asked the students to be seated and then said, “I want to know, the talent behind this cartoon”. This time I stood up alone. Then there was mayhem by the acting students. At the top of their voice they shouted all sorts of things. To control the situation, I wanted to say a few words and I took the center stage. It was for the first time in my life that I was making a speech. I told the students “I know Prof. Taneja for the past three years. Many times I have worked with him in the Acting Practical as well as song picturisation classes. And he also knows me very well too. You are all saying that I have insulted Prof. Taneja. I want to ask Prof. Taneja one thing - Whether I have insulted him in my cartoon?” My strategy was if you ask such a question directly to the person concerned, he will definitely say that he was not offended. That was exactly the reaction I wanted from Prof. Taneja. He got up and told the students that he was in no way offended by it and saw it only as a humorous comment.

Hanging on to that point, I told the acting students that if Prof. Taneja is not offended, then why they are making such a hue and cry and concluded my speech. There was utter chaos and some one shouted that Prof. Gopal of Cinematography Department laughed at the cartoon. Then Prof.Gopal got up and replied that it was true that he had laughed. It was just a funny cartoon and so he had laughed and there was nothing wrong in laughing at it! Still they were not pacified and raised hell (in which department they excelled!).

Finally after much shouting by the Acting Students and some counter shouting by others, the Principal gave a big sermon on peaceful coexistence and ended the meeting by reciting the Shanti Mantra - Om Shanti, Shanti. Since no was action was taken on the erring acting students, it encouraged them more and that night the atrocities were repeated in drunken stupor more forcefully by beating up some of the students. The offending poster was also torn up into pieces.

This time the Student Union demanded stern action against those culprits. After due enquiry, the Principal Shri. Jagat Murari rusticated two students Deepak Dhar and Raza Murad and suspended Lakhan Pal and Susheel Bhatnagar . Immediately the Acting students went on strike protesting the action in front of the Principal's office. After a few hours the Principal withdrew the action taken against the acting students and their strike was withdrawn. This sudden and partisan decision by the Principal without punishing the culprits culminated into a longer strike which escalated to change the history of Film Institute for ever.

The strike went on for months. The students came out from the hostel rooms and stayed in the open, putting up their beddings on either side of the road near the Main gate of the Institute. For the junior students who were missing their education, classes were conducted by the seniors. All negotiations with the authorities were recorded on tape and photographs taken and press releases were sent on a regular basis. Some of the local papers wanted to publish my cartoon, but the original was torn away by acting students. But, I went to the office of a Marathi tabloid and redrew the cartoon for their publication. I was also given the charge of the publicity department of the striking students, to paint the walls with slogans and cartoons – materials courtesy of the Institute Art Department! Once while painting a slogan on a wall opposite to the Principal’s office, he noticed it and summoned me to his office through his peon. I sent back the peon by saying that I do not recognize him as the Principal!

News in The Indian Express

We also celebrated the Silver jubilee day of the strike which was widely covered by the print media on a daily basis. One of the paper cutting is still with me - the news item published in The Indian Express dated 17 March 1971:

FTII students “celebrate jubilee”

Express News Service

POONA, March 16

The united students' body of the Film and television Institute of India yesterday observed the "silver jubilee" of their 25 days old strike. They held their classes for the first time in the open and teaching was resumed as senior students took the classes instead of their teachers.

They continued to wear "Mr. Principal quit" badges and kept up their "lie in the open strike with beddings spread in the open.

That we want to attend the classes and are prepared to be instructed by our fellow senior students is a proof that we are interested in studies and want to appear of the examination and "are not shirkers or bad students" said a student leader.

The campus-canteen walls run riot with slogans and proverbs adopted to suit their present agitation.

Some of them read "worn out engines become efficient breaks but we want a dynamic accelerator" or "this is not a struggle for the present, this is a homage to the microscopic good" or puns like “Mr. Principal we feel that you have to be replaced by a man of principle"

In spite of all our efforts the Principal remained adamant and stuck to his earlier decision and the students had no other option but to continue the strike. To break the strike, the Principal sent notice to the parents to take their striking wards back to their home immediately. Alarmed by the letter, my father arrived at Poona to take me home as soon as possible. I explained him about the strike and after pacifying went home with him. But when the classes were restarted, the strike also began with renewed strength!

One day there was a small crowd of acting students making a big noise under the Wisdom Tree. They were holding five large card board effigies – with the names Vinay Shukla, Surendar Chawdhary, K.G.George, Baba Majgavkar and Ramachandra Babu.written on them. They were beating the cut outs with slippers and brooms and were condemning us to be hanged by neck till death. Thus five of our effigies were hanged on the Wisdom Tree. (Though Vinay Shukla, Surendar Chawdhary, K.G.George and Baba Majgavkar were in no way associated with the Cartoon incident, it was presumed by the acting students that they must be the brains behind it). All their attacks were targeted at the five of us, and we were thus given the rare honour of being hanged on the Wisdom Tree!

Well, that was the story of our hangings and to the best of my knowledge no further hangings ever took place under the hallowed Wisdom Tree. The strike went on for some more time and ultimately brought a lot of changes to the curriculum of the various courses at the Institute!

Bye Dear Ramu…..

2011-01-12T20:23:00.006+05:30

It is with a painful heart that I write these words on learning that my dear mentor and friend Ramu (Cinematographer S. Ramachandra) had left this world on the 10 th January, 2011. He was one of the first few persons with whom I came in to contact at the Film Institute of India in 1968, when I joined in the Motion picture Photography course. He was then studying in the second year Motion picture Photography course and was the room mate of M. Azad (Screenplay writing Course). Hailing from Kerala, my seniors Azad and Kabeer Raother (Direction) took natural interest in me and was always there to help me to cope with the new environment at the Institute. Being the room mate of Azad and a fellow South Indian, he joined them to become my local guardians at Poona. Ramu, as I used to call him, was a charming personality with attractive eyes and long hair. He was very much attached to his friend and room mate, M. Azad and vice -verse.

When Azad got his first break as Script writer for John Abraham’s maiden Malayalam film “VIDYARTHIKALE ITHILE ITHILE”(1972) , he had in mind to engage Ramu as its Cinematographer. During the pre-production days they asked me whether I was willing to work as assistant to him in that film and I readily agreed with their offer. But later on finding too many scenes to be shot in the streets with hand held camera they thought Ramu might find it difficult to cope up with his Polio affliction. Ultimately they asked me to be their Cinematographer and I got my first break in the Malayalam film industry. Since John and Azad never had any previous discussion regarding the project with Ramu, he never came to know about it!

Myself and Ramu used to get in touch with each other through letters – he writes long and interesting letters –which arrive after long intervals. We also used to occasionally meet with each other at some of the International Film Festival venues. I remember one occasion, when he came to International Film Festival of Kerala with the film DWEEPA (1982) along with Director Girish Kasaravalli and the late Actress Producer Soundarya. We had a wonderful time catching up with each other's activities. The last time I met him was at Bangaluru in 2006 when he was felicitated by the Suchitra Film Society for being honoured with Karanataka Government Lifetime Achievement Award. At that time I was attending the Bangalore International Film Festival where my short film “CINEKU” was being screened. Afterwards at the party at the Cricket Stadium we renewed our friendship by filling up missing details regarding our work and news about mutual friends.

Last year while I was working in the Malayalam film “INGANAYUM ORAAL” for the first time with our old mutual friend Director Kabeer Raother, he inquired about Ramu’s whereabouts. From the shooting location I called Ramu at Bangaluru and handed over the phone to Kabeer as a surprise. That was the last time I had talked with him. I never had any hint that he was fighting a deadly enemy like cancer and it came as a big shock to me that he had passed away so suddenly. I felt as if I had lost somebody from my own family, for he was so close to my heart as friend, philosopher and guide.

I convey my heartfelt grief and condolences to Ramu’s bereaved family members and friends and pray for his soul to Rest In Peace.

A brief Bio-data :

S. Ramachandra (Shivaramaiah Ramachandra Aithal ) passed out from the Film Institute of India, Poona in 1970. He along with Directors like B.V.Karanth, Girish Karnad, G.V.Iyer and Girish Kasaravalli were the architects of the new wave Kannada cinema movement which took the Kannada film industry to heights during the seventies. S.Ramachandra started off his career as a cinematographer in films with SANKALPA directed by Nanjaraja Urs.

He won the Best cameraman award five times and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Karnataka State government in 2006. He won National Film Award for Best Cinematography in 1977 for Kannada film RISHYA SHRINGA. He had worked as a cinematographer in many films directed by Girish Kasaravalli which brought him much appreciation. He started off working with Girish in his first Swarna Kamal award winning film GHATASHRADHDHA. Later he worked in MANE, KROURYA, NAAYI NERALU, HASEENA and GULABI TALKIES. He was one of the pillars of the New Wave cinema movement in the Kannada film industry. His work in the TV series MALGUDI DAYS (1987) translated in to visuals the writings of the great writer R.K.Laxman and made millions of viewers from all over India to stay glued to their T.V sets feeling as if they were living in the village of Malgudi!

Even a few days before his death, he worked in BETTADA JEEVA directed by well known award winning director P. Sheshadri. This is perhaps his last film as a cinematographer.

Filmography;

This is a partial list of films:

Chomana Dudi (1975)

Rushya Shringa (1976)

Ghatashraddha (1977)

Akramana (1979)

Malgudi Days(1987) TV series

Mane (1991)

Deveeri (1999)

Mukhaputa (2009)

Pallavi,

Grahana,

Kankana,

Rushya Shringa,

Anveshane,

Banker Margayya,

Santha Shishunala Sharief,

Gandharva Giri,

Hombisilu,

Bettale Seve,

Nya Geddithu,

Mudhudidha Tavara Aralithu

Mane

Krourya

Naayi Neralu

Haseena

Gulabi Talkies

JEEVAN - My Diploma film

2010-12-07T04:28:00.008+05:30

For his Diploma film “JEEVAN” , my Director Baba Majgavkar had chosen as his subject a family of wandering street performers who live a precariously balanced life. For a morsel of bread, they perform on the tight rope, balanced between life and death. And death does strikes one of the family members, But private grief has no place in public life. The show must go on.

Taking a Low angle view

Since the story was about a family of street acrobats we could not cast any of our acting students for playing the main roles. A family of real acrobats, Gangaram, his wife, daughter, and son played the leading roles. Jagadish Sodhi, Lakhanpal and Jameela Malik completed the supporting cast.

Myself, Director Baba Majgavkar, Akki Hame Chander (Sound) & M.A.Singh (Editor)

Our unit also consisted of Akki Hame Chander doing the sound and M.A.Singh, the Editing. I was assisted my Kasruti Murthy and Ram Agarwal on the camera. The outdoor shooting was done in a crowded chawl with local people used as onlookers. Since Baba was a Maharashtrian he could communicate with them in Marathi and easily got things done.

Murthy near camera & Baba (with glasses) sitting on right

Crowd of onlookers

Standing on top of the old unit van

The interior of their hut was erected in the studio with thatched grass, bamboo and other materials. Some time earlier, at the Institute I had watched a screening of the Japanese film SUNA NO ONNA ("Woman of the Dunes" -1964) Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara and Written by Kobe Abe. I was very much impressed by the stark B&W contrasty photography by Hiroshi Segawa, especially in the Interiors scenes.

I was highly inspired by the film's cinematography that I wanted to emulate that lighting style in my Diploma film. I wanted the day exterior portions seen through the gaps in the thatched hut and windows to burn and wash out completely with no details against the gloomy dark lit interiors. I asked the Art department to paint the background pure white instead of the normally painted Grey colour. I boosted up the maximum lights on the background to make it so bright, as if it was like shooting in scorching sun. My results turned out excellent, but when the marks came out it was disappointing as the external examiners thought it was shot in real interior locations and not as lighting being done in studio interiors!

The film "Woman of the Dunes" still haunted me for a long time, that years later, I wrote a poem which was published in "Youth Times" Magazine 17-24 November, 1977 issue, selected by well known Poet Kamala Das.

Sunset Sand Diggers

Under the undulating dunes
Desires lie buried
My soul sleeps imprisoned
Somewhere in a bottomless pit,
To each his own
He himself being one.

Ours might be billion light-years apart
Or just a sand wall away.
Above in the gray sky
Under the blinding sun
Circles a lone vulture.
I dig my agony to unearth lost ecstasy.
In constant work, do I exist
My universe — this pit.
Destination unknown,
This journey a one-way trip.
Perhaps our tunnels may meet in the sunset
We may then discover
What we have lost
Or what we have not yet.

Remarkable Friendship

2010-11-18T04:54:00.007+05:30

This is a story of a remarkable friendship between two persons hailing from opposite ends of the Indian Subcontinent, I from Kerala in South India and Sudhir Choudhary from the Northern most part of India, Jammu. Though Sudhir was my junior by a year in Motion Picture Photography we became good friends very soon. Whenever he returned from his home in Jammu after holidays, he used to bring a sack full of dry fruits like almonds, pistachios etc and distribute it amongst his friends. Handsome looking and debonair, Sudhir can be usually found in the company of acting students. While in his second year he wanted to buy a 16mm camera, preferably a Bolex reflex for his personal use and found that a few used cameras were available at Delhi.

Being a senior student he sought my advice regarding the choice of camera and wanted me to go with him to Delhi for testing the cameras before buying and to do the selection. Since it was Christmas vacation time I readily agreed. So we left for Bombay by train and were joined there by Romesh Sharma and M.S. Sandhu ( Both from Acting) and Nitin Mukesh (son of legendary playback singer Mukesh). We all flew from Bombay to Delhi by an Indian Airlines flight. That was my first ever air travel and my ticket amount (we were entitled to student concession) was borne by Sudhir himself. On reaching Delhi we stayed at a house belonging to Mukesh’s family.

Myself and Sudhir went to various dealers and found three or four Bolex cameras both non-reflex and reflex ones. We tested the lenses and checked the camera body and movement for any flaws. Finally we settled on a Reflex model camera in good condition and at a reasonable price. We also purchased a few 100 ft rolls of 16 mm Kodachrome reversal film for testing and for Sudhir’s personal use.

From Delhi along with Sandhu, Sudhir and I proceeded to Chandigarh and did a bit of sight seeing of the well planned and designed city for a day. Sandhu took leave and we both left for Shimla, where Sudhir’s sister was studying at that time and he wanted to meet her. It was the month of December and was quite cold in the evening and we warmed ourselves with some gimlet and nice sizzlers at a bar. To pass time we went to see a John Wayne Western film running in a nearby theatre though we both had seen the film much earlier at Poona. The show started around 5.30 PM and only a handful of persons were in the audience. But the show ended abruptly by 6.45 PM as one or two reels in between were not screened. Since we had seen the film earlier we demanded an explanation from the theatre manager. He admitted that the Projector operator had done a little bit of “Editing” so that he can finish the show and go home early as they don’t have any night shows in winter. The manager apologized and offered to refund the ticket amount but we didn't take it and being Cinema students we gave a stern warning to him not to chop a creative work according to their whims and fancies in future.

Next day we met Sudhir’s sister and left for Jammu and reached Sudhir’s home for a warm welcome. His father had a nice Cinema theatre in Jammu which was an artistically built building with lots of curving ramps. They were also having a logging business in a mountainous forest area from where they supplied wooden sleepers for the Indian railways. Their camp was situated deep in the forest, a few hours drive from Jammu. Sudhir and I planned to go there and try our newly acquired camera to shoot a short documentary on the subject of sleeper making. The ride in the jeep through the mountain roads was a hair rising experience especially if you are seated on the side of the jeep. Beside the wheel you can see only inches of solid ground and then the deep ravine with the river flowing deep in the distance as the jeep is driven at breakneck speed. Of course the drivers are expert persons knowing the winding roads just as the back of their hands but persons new to these places like me are bound to get frightened.

At last we reached a place where the road ended and then it was a long trek up the hill and through the dense forest. It had also some exciting moments such as walking at the edge of the mountain and crossing deep ravines walking on fallen trees by balancing like a tightrope walker.We reached the camp situated at a picturesque location surrounded by tall trees.

Near the Camp

The tents were comfortable to stay with all necessary requirements but the nights were quite cold, which we warmed up with a few drinks around a camp fire and enjoying the nice food prepared by the staff.

The entire operation of producing the wooden sleepers was done there in the deep forests. First the big trees were felled and then using machines they were sawed in to sleeper sized pieces. The sleepers were transported by a unique method by using the force of water flowing there. A specially built channel winding down the mountain is constructed using wooden sleepers and the water from the river is diverted through it. The cut sleepers are then floated down to their destination easily by the swift moving water.

A view of the channel of wood

Sudhir with his newly acquired Bolex went around and we filmed the entire procedure of making wooden sleepers, right from felling of the trees, cutting it to sleeper size and transporting it down to the plains etc.

Sudhir with Bolex

We spent a few days in those sylvan surroundings exploring the forest and filming the activities. It was time to return back to Jammu. There I enjoyed a few days of great hospitality at his home with fine food mixed with affection. I took leave from their lovely family.The smell of pure Basmati rice still lingers on in my mind. Nowadays you don't get that kind of rice any more!

The return trip was by train and Since Sudhir wanted to stay home for a few more days, his father had asked the manager to book a ticket for me to Bombay. When I arrived at the Pathankot Railway station I was handed a First Air-conditioned class ticket and I was allotted a separate Coupe in the compartment. The manager said there was no vacancy in First class due to holiday season rush and only First A/C was available.It was really a luxury in those days and only very rich people traveled in First A/C class as it was more expensive than even air travel.There were only a handful of passengers and the compartment was practically empty through the journey. I was alone in the coupe till I reached Bombay with occasional intrusion by often pampering liveried waiters seeking orders for food and beverages. To fight the boredom of the two days of traveling alone, I started writing a long interesting letter to my father about my trip. Finally I reached Bombay and then went to Poona.

After passing out from the Institute, once in a while we used to correspond with each other but the link got broken sometime. I lost his address and could not contact him either for a long time. But sometime back I managed to get his phone number from his batch mate Anil Jain from Delhi whom I also got in touch after many years through the net. I phoned up Sudhir and had a long chat after so many years. He is planning to visit Kerala in the near future and I hope to meet him once again to strengthen the bonds of Friendship!

A Short Assignment

2010-11-16T20:25:00.002+05:30

While still a student, I got an opportunity to work for a day for as Cinematographer for a short documentary film. At that time Ms. Parvathi Nair was working in the National Film Archives after completing her studies earlier at the Film Institute. I think she did the Editing course there. She was directing a short film for the Films Division which was shot by one of my seniors and had almost completed the film. But she needed some more shots to be taken and so requested me to do a day’s shooting for the film.

The shooting was to take place at Bombay and some kids were the actors. We went on a Sunday Morning from Poona by the Deccan Queen train finished the shooting and returned by the evening Deccan Queen. The equipment was hired from the Institute and the film was shot using 35 mm Black and White film.

Surendar Chawdhary's Rehearsals for his Diploma film

2010-10-30T05:38:00.009+05:30

Surendar Chawdhary was preparing for the shoot of his Diploma film VILAAP and he used to discuss the script with his cinematographer R.S. Agarwal and associates Kasturi R Murthy and myself. His film was about a tree being cut in a forest and humanises the event by showing various incidents that happened under the tree. For the opening shot he wanted a leaf falling from the tree on to the ground. The problem was that he wanted the single leaf in tight closeup and follow the falling leaf's movement using a crane. It was a pretty tough task indeed and required precise operation of the crane as well as the camera. Since he very much needed the dramatic shot for his film, we decided whether it was possible to such a camera operation by conducting a trial during our practical class.

I did the trial using the Arri Blimp camera mounted on a crane and as Surendar dropped the leaf in front of the camera, the crane was moved according to the trajectory of the leaf's fall. When there was wind it just moved out of frame and we had to wait for the windless period.

Myself on the camera with Surendar

After several trials we were able to synchronize the fall of the leaf with the camera and crane movements so that the leaf was always in the frame till the very end. Thus Surendar was assured that the shot he wanted so badly for his Diploma film could indeed be taken .

The shot set up

Later on the actual shot was taken by R.S. Agarwal himself during the Diploma film shooting and was incorporated in the film. Such attention to detail and meticulous planning by Surendar paid rich dividends later 0n. Eventually his film won the Grand Prix of Winged-Ibex statue in the short film category at the First Tehran International Film Festival 1972 and several other honours.

AZAD and the BHANG Story

2010-10-29T04:12:00.011+05:30

Azad had come back again to the Institute for the Convocation and he was staying as a guest in my room. He used to smoke beedi and some times smoked ganja also which was available at very cheap rates. Since I do not smoke he purchased some Bhang from a shop, for the first time and told me that this will take me high. Bhang is a preparation made from the leaves and flowers (buds) of the cannabis plant consumed with sweets or mixed with almonds,spices, milk and sugar as Thandai during the Holi festival season. It was also sold as green Halwa and sweets are said to enhance the kick of Bhang. These are not considered a drug, but a traditional sleeping aid and appetizer. Sadhus and Sufis use Bhang to boost meditation and to achieve transcendental states.

He had brought four Goli’s ( balls) of Bhang. Since I have never taken it before, I asked my friend Sahu on the modus operandi of taking Bhang. I gave one goli to him but I took only half a goli mixed with milk and sugar since I was cautious about this unknown substance. Afterwards we both went to Law College mess and had our Sunday lunch with sweets. While taking food I jokingly told Sahu that the Bhang had no effect on me.

But while we were walking back along the Law College road, I felt some changes taking place. The road seemed endless and I felt I had been walking for hours and still not reaching our hostel. After a while I found that I am watching myself on a screen in Mid Shot walking and walking with the background passing just like a back projection process shot. Somehow, I reached my hostel room and lied down on my bed. The room seemed to twist and take a distorted strange shape. I felt as if my body was made of plastic, then iron, ice and of different materials. Slowly I sank into deep sleep. Some hours later I woke up and I found myself normal as the psychedelic effect of Bhang had worn off.

Late in the evening Azad came to my room along with another friend Verghese who was working at the Film Archives. I explained to them the effect Bhang had on me. Azad laughed it off saying that it was because, I was a non-smoker of Ganja, Bhang had more effect on me. He and Verghese each consumed on goli (ball) of Bhang mixed with milk. After an hour of chit chat Azad again took the remaining half a goli too saying that this Bhang had no kick at all for a veteran Ganja smoker like him and felt it as a waste of money. If he had purchased Ganja instead of the Bhang, by that time he would have been floating on the clouds.

At that time a Hindi feature film shooting had been going on in our campus starring Asha Parekh and others from Bombay. We all went to watch the shooting taking place at the exterior of our sound studio. The lighting was being done on the exterior staircase of the studio. When it was over, the star of the day, Asha Parekh came and stood there in position for the final lighting corrections. Azad whispered in my ears that how many Asha Parekhs are there? I said, only one. But he said he was seeing multiple figure of her standing at each and every step! When he asked Verghese, he also confirmed that he too was seeing multiple figures. Both felt that something was happening to them and wanted to get back to the hostel room. As I was interested in watching the shooting going on, I gave them my room key and asked them to take rest and I will join them soon.

After some time, Sahu came rushing to me saying that something had happened to these two fellows as they were at the hostel calling police, police etc. Immediately I went there and on seeing me both of the rushed towards me and pleaded please help us, please. It was this "please" which was misunderstood as "Police" by the students who gathered at the commotion! I told the onlookers that there was no problem and it was the effect of Bhang. I took both of them in to my room and asked them what had happened.

Azad explained to me that as soon as he reached my room and tried to open the lock he found the black iron lock shine like a diamond. When they entered the room the walls stood at odd angles and the room took a distorted shape. They both started singing songs to get away from the weird feeling. Azad went near the window and looked down and saw an Ambassador car on the road. Spontaneously he composed a Malayalam poem about the Ambassador car and started reciting it and they were having a nice time. Suddenly he was gripped with an unknown fear that he was going to die soon. He wanted to see his mother who lived in Kerala at least once before he died. Hearing that Verghese was also haunted by similar feelings of death and they both started crying holding on to each other. Then they came down from the hostel room and pleaded for help at passing students saying "Please. help, please!".

I pacified them saying that there was nothing to worry as it was all the effect of Bhang. But they could not be convinced and started to weep saying that there was something poisonous in the Bhang and they were sure to die. Before they die they wanted to see their mothers for the last time. However much I tried to convince them, they could not be convinced that it was just a passing feeling only due to the Bhang. Then I suggested that we will go and consult the Institute Doctor who lived near our campus. Holding my hands tightly from either side both of them accompanied me towards the doctor's residence. By the time we reached the Institute gate Azad asked me anxiously that how far still is the doctor's place since it had been hours since they have started walking. I could understand their feelings very well as I myself had similar experience in the afternoon while returning from the law college mess!

Finally we reached the doctor's residence and I explained to the doctor in detail about what had happened, while they both were waiting outside the consulting room. The doctor replied " Nothing can be done now. Let them take rest and sleep. In the morning it will be all over" On hearing the words " Nothing can be done" they thought even the doctor had considered them as a hopeless case and they were sure to die. Instantly they fell flat at the foot of the doctor and cried in Malayalam, "Yejamaane Rakshikkane" ( meaning "O Master Save us" ). Dr. Deshpande who was a Maharashtrian could not understand what they were telling. I whispered to the doctor to give them some placebo so that they will psychologically feel better. He gave them some vitamin tablets and warned them never to take such substances in future. They promised to him on oath that they will never ever have Bhang in their lifetime. I trust they kept up their promise and I too never had it afterward!

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

2010-10-25T04:56:00.011+05:30

To promote students' awareness of things happening around the world and also creatively express themselves, a "Thought for Today" Notice Board was set up near the entrance to the Film Institute canteen. Students were free to post newspaper or magazine clippings, art work, posters etc of general interest to the student community.

Those were the days of Film Institute graduates getting their share of limelight in the closely guarded Bombay film Industry. They were also featured in the National Awards - Rehana Sultan won the Urvashi Award for the Best Actress in 1970 and K.K. Mahajan for excellence in Black and White photography in 1970 for SARA AKASH. Navin Nischal and Shatrughan Sinha had become recognised Stars! So when a film like UMANG starring many Film Institute graduates came out, it raised much expectations amongst the students. The film was brought to Institute for a screening and we had a disappointing ordeal of viewing it. Next day the reaction was out on the Thought for Today Notice Board - "UMANG" - Insulting & Infuriating. Doomed is the country if this be its youth! A Film to be banned!!

(L to R) Dixit, Raina, (unidentifiable)K.G.George and Surendra Chowdhary

K.G.George is all smiles!

Obviously the comments were put up by the Direction students and the Acting students didn't like it. They were keen on getting in to the film Industry by any means without caring for aesthetic values. So they were all praise for the Industrywallahs irrespective of their caliber. At the 8 th Convocation butter was liberally applied by these "Chamchas" which was intolerable. I reacted by drawing a cartoon and had put it near the UMANG comments, which you can see in the left bottom side of the board!

My Cartoon

As it was unsigned , many of the Acting students felt that the cartoon was put up against them by some Direction students who were jealous of Acting students getting all the attention and glamour! They did not know that I was person who authored it !!

MT and P.N.Menon at the Institute

2010-10-13T05:07:00.013+05:30

M. Azad who had passed out in Screen play writing earlier had started working as an assistant to the well known Malayalam Film Director P.N.Menon in the film KUTTIYEDATHI. The screen play was by the renowned Malayalam writer M.T.Vasudevan Nair, popularly known as M.T. Having worked with both of them Azad was instrumental in bringing them to the Institute for the first time. M.T.accompanied by Azad was there at the Institute as a Guest faculty for about a week interacting with the students and taking classes in screen play writing. He also used his spare time viewing some of the world classics at the National Film Archives. Azad being a very good friend and well wisher of me took particular interest in introducing me to these towering personalities from Kerala.

Myself and M.Azad

This meeting with M.T. was to have a great impact on my career later on. When in 1973, M.T.decided to make a film based on his short story "Pallivalum Kaal Chilambum" as NIRMALYAM, he thought of me and asked me to work as cinematographer in his maiden venture as Director. Even though he had known many renowned stalwart cinematographers in the Malayalam film industry who were too happy to work with him, he had chosen me , a comparatively new comer as his cinematographer. Azad who was also the Associate director was instrumental in having all the key technicians from the Film Institute itself - Editor Ravi and Sound Engineer Devadas and a Key role played by actor Ravi Menon. M.T.'s trust in the caliber of Institute Alumni never failed him and it is history that the film NIRMALYAM was chosen for the Golden Lotus as the Nation's Best Film. My association with M.T.continued in more films directed by him - BANDHANAM, VAARIKKUZHI. I became a very close friend to him and his family members and he considers me as a younger brother to him.

Shooting NIRMALYAM- Devadas sitting with MT ( dark glasses)

Azad's maiden film VILKANUNDU SWAPNANGAL was also scripted by M.T. and naturally I was the cinematographer. A major portion of the film takes place in Dubai and it was the first ever Malayalam film to have the location shooting at the Emirates.

MT, Sukumaran, Me and Azad during Dubai shooting

Azad once again came to the Institute, this time with Director P.N.Menon and his film KUTTYEDATHI. The film was well appreciated by the students and everyone liked the raw texture of the film and the rustic personality of P.N.Menon. I was also meeting him for the first time and found him to be receptive to experiments. Already he had Institute Alumni Ravi as his Editor at a time when the film industry in general had an aversion towards Institute graduates on the whole. He also had Madras Institute of Film Technology trained Ashok Kumar as his cinematographer.

Later on I did the cinematography for P.N.Menon directed Malayalam film UDAYAM KIZHAKKUTHANNE and for his Tamil film DEVATHAI (along with Ashok Kumar)

P.N.Menon ( in dark glasses) behind the camera

Film -UDAYAM KIZHAKKUTHANNE

With P.N. Menon

Actuality Coverage

2010-10-11T19:06:00.010+05:30

As part of our Actuality Coverage Project, we cinematography students have to shoot and edit a news coverage short documentary on our own. We were free to select our own subject and were provided with Black & white 16 mm negative film. I was in search of some suitable subject when I was informed by our department that an important surgery was going take place at the Sassoon Hospital, Poona. A team of two British Doctors will be performing a comparatively new surgery - Corneal Transplantation. I was asked to cover the event as part of my actuality coverage project and I was also given two rolls of 16 mm Kodachrome reversal film as well.

I had my own doubts whether I will able to stand the sight of blood etc as I have never before stepped inside an Operation theatre in my life! Putting aside my fears I reached the hospital and before being allowed inside the room we were asked to change in to the hospital's sterile garments. Our instructor Mr.Ramanathan was also with us to sort things out with the hospital people. I talked with the doctor regarding the procedures so that I can shoot only the relevant portions without wasting film on unimportant activities. Fortunately for me there were two operations scheduled to take place that day. In case I miss some shots, I can always shoot them during the second surgery.

So first I concentrated on covering the surgery in full in close up as I can take the wider shots later. I mounted my Arri 16 BL camera high on a tripod to get a clear view of the eye being operated in tight close up. I took a light meter reading beforehand with the lights on to determine the exposure as it is very critical to have perfect exposure since I was using Reversal film. Once the operation started I was fully concentrated on getting the necessary images as perfectly as possible. My fears went away as there was not much blood shed, may be two or three drops in total. After the first surgery was over I took several cut-away shots and insert shots, long shots etc by mounting the camera on a shoulder pod and moving around without disturbing the doctors and the other personnel.

At the surgery - Mr.Ramanathan beside myself on the camera

In those days eye donation was not much in vogue in our country and the donated eyes came from Ceylon where they have many Buddhists who consider it as a noble act. I marveled at the rock steady hands of the surgeons who were doing the operation with the help of small microscopes fitted over their spectacles.

Another view

Finally when the rushes were projected many faint hearted students could not stand the sight on screen of a big close up of the eye and the eyelids being pierced by a needle and blood oozing out. Even I had a similar feeling though I had witnessed the real thing in person!

With Director P.G.Viswambharan & Actor Jayaram
FIRST BELL ( Malayalam Film)

Though in my later career, I had shot many surgery sequences in Operation theatres for feature films they were only enactments and not the real ones. Hence that day at Sassoon Hospital has a unique place in my mind!

Formation of Units & Documentary Shooting

2010-09-17T05:21:00.029+05:30

We were twelve students in the class and were divided into four unit groups of three persons. When one person does the job of lighting and operating the camera , one of us will do the follow focusing and the other push the trolley or help with lighting etc. Our Unit consisted of myself , Ram Agarwal and Kasturi R Murthy. Also Filming units were formed with one student each from Direction, Photography, Editing & sound departments for making the Documentary and Diploma films.

We were to start our work in our Documentary films and my Director was Baba Majgavkar. Akki Hame Chander as Sound Recordist and M.A.Singh as Editor completed the crew.

With Baba (Right) and Agarwal ( L)

Baba looking thro viewfinder, Murthy standing beside Camera

The title of the Documentary was BHAJIWALA and was supposed to be a parable on the misadventures of a vegetable seller in a multilingual community in a humorous manner about our linguistic problems. It was shot on the exteriors of a housing colony and was enacted mostly by the Direction students themselves, K.G.George as the vegetable seller.

K.G.George

The shooting location was in the foot path outside a housing colony of flats and a small crowd of onlookers gathered to watch the proceedings. It gave an opportunity to Assistant Director Raina to bring out the megaphone and wield it to make himself the centre of attraction.

Raina with the Megaphone

The shooting was a really a fun experience with all characters speaking in their own language and finally the commotion ends in a big fight amongst themselves. It was not a choreographed one, but a free for all fight! I had to do a lot of hand held shots to film that sequence.

Me with the camera and Baba guiding me from behind

I am standing on the wall with support from Agarwal, Baba
looking on & Singh noting down.
K.G.George is sitting in the centre

Food crisis

2010-09-12T05:19:00.003+05:30

Being in the Final year, I was allotted a single room for myself at the hostel. But the food at the Hostel Mess was always a problem as the students came from all States of India and foreign countries too! It was an impossible task to cater to the tastes of the inmates who are used to their regional cuisines with limited resources. Last year a Malayali , Mr. Panikkar was the mess contractor and so the menu had Sambhar, rice etc which was quite acceptable to the South Indians. He had also provided North Indian dishes and Roti etc for other students. But this time a new contractor, a Punjabi Sardarji Mr. Chadda took over the mess. The food turned out to be mostly of the North Indian variety and rice was limited to only a cupful and we coming from the South found it difficult to digest this change in cuisine. Since I was in the Mess committee which decides upon the weekly Menu, I reintroduced Sambhar and rice. But unfortunately the experiments by the Punjabi cook to prepare Sambhar turned out to be a disaster in the form Dhal with some added chilly powder. Ultimately we conceded defeat and swallowed our pride and ate the North Indian food provided. Some ingenious students had electric hot plates in their rooms and did their own cooking and managed with pickles and other condiments.

Some students found out that nearby Law College Mess was providing reasonably good food with unlimited rice too, and they were allowing students from outside to eat there. Added attraction was the sweets served with Sunday lunch, which you can have as much as you want. So I along with Murthy and Venugopal Thakkar, I joined the Law college mess and our food crisis was happily solved.

Debu, dear friend, Bye......

2010-09-01T20:46:00.011+05:30

Yet another personal loss - My dear friend and batch mate from the Institute, Debu Deodhar passed away in to eternity this evening ( 1, September 2010)

Debu Deodhar

A very close friend from the Institute days he was one of the two day scholars in our class, hailing from Poona, the other one was R.S. Agarwal. Now we have lost both of them, Agarwal having taken the lead. As I had written in an earlier post, we used to keep in touch with each other quite often and whenever possible during my short visits to Mumbai myself, Jaiswal and Venugopal Thakker used to have a get together and talk about good old days at the Institute. I found him always with a smile which was spreading cheer all around as a source of positive energy!

One of those Happier days at CC

This time about a month back while I was in Mumbai for the CAS program Jaiswal told me about the critical condition of Debu. Kanal and Kondra who were also attending the CAS , told me about Debu's illness. It seems Cancer had gained an upper hand as it was detected rather at a later stage. Since I had to leave as soon as the CAS was over, I could not pay a visit to him. I was not able to get him on the phone either and left an SMS message.

On my recent visit to Chennai, I happened to meet Kasturi Murthy and passed the information about Debu. I was hoping that Debu will get better and had only today sent a mail to Jaiswal inquiring about Debu's health. But, this evening I received the message from Kanal that Debu is no more!
God calls those dearest to him much too soon! May the Lord give strength to his near and dear to bear this untimely loss. I join in their prayers for the departed Soul to Rest in Peace.

Debu in 1968, at Film Institute

Short Bio and Filmography of Debu:

Debu Deodhar had worked for Directors like Raj Dutt, Amol Palekar, Aziz Mirza, Nana Patekar, Bhimsain and many others. He had also bagged awards like Maharashtra State Award, Zee Gaurav Puraskar, Goa State Award etc.

His work was last seen in a recently released Marathi film ‘Marmabandh’. His forthcoming films are 'Laadi Goadi' and 'Tamashaa'. Some of his other films were - Savalee 2007, Maati Maay 2006, Kshan 2006, Lal Salaam (2002), Pehchaan (2005) , Stumped 2003, Dhyasparva (2001), Kairee (2000) ,Lekroo (2000), Silsila Hai Pyar Ka (1999) ,Daayraa (1996), Bangarwadi (1996), Prahaar: The Final Attack (1991),Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen (1990), Lapandav (1993) Shejari Shejari, Gav Tas Changal, Tinhisanja & Akriet (1981).

He is survived by wife Shrabani, daughter Sai and son-in-law Shakti Anand.

Final Year at the Institute

2010-09-01T06:02:00.009+05:30

After the vacation, returning back to the Institute for the Final year was a mixed experience - meeting friends, missing old senior friends and making friendship with the bunch of new arrivals. The seniors(1970 MPP Batch) who have passed out were V. K. Gandhi, S. Ramchandra, Lai Teck Kwong, K. K. Nayak, J. K. Patra, J. P. Bhagat, Biman Chandra Sinha, A. K. Nigam and Abdul Sattar Mokurwal. A batch of Malayalis consisting of G.S.Panikkar, Bhaskaran Unni, Kabeer Rawther ( Direction) Muralidharan ( Sound) and M. Azad ( Screenplay writing) also completed their studies and left the Institute.

There were no theory classes, only hands on practicals and practicals with NC and BNC Mitchell cameras! This time the Direction students joined us to do combined dialogue exercises etc. We took turns lighting the sets, Operating the camera, pulling focus and pushing the dolly etc. That way we got trained in all aspects of camera including mounting of the camera and lenses and loading the film in magazines etc.

V.N.Jatla ( Direction) and me on Camera

Myself on Camera and S.K.Jolly Follow focusing

Prof.Satish Bahadur - An Appreciation

2010-07-27T04:55:00.009+05:30

With his unique personality and teaching methods he made a lasting impression in the minds of generations of film students at the Film Institute. He opened their eyes and made them see films in a different way for the rest of their lives. People from different walks of life coming from all parts of India started appreciating films in an artistic manner through the courses conducted by him. Prof. Satish Bahadur had single handedly carved a niche in Film Studies in India and had cultivated Film Appreciation in to a separate form of art.

Prof. Bahadur started his career as the head of the department of Social Science in Agra College where he had created two film societies. Noted Film Critic Ms. Marie Seton suggested to Mrs. Indira Gandhi that the newly inaugurated Film Institute of India should have an additional department of film appreciation and further told her that the first person to be considered for the job should be none other than Prof. Bahadur.

Prof. Bahadur invented his own teaching methodology, making full use of the National Film Archive at the Film Institute. In the time to come, the format of Film appreciation created by Prof. Bahadur would become standard format for all future courses in India in Film appreciation. Along with P.K. Nair, the founder director of the National Film Archives, Prof. Bahadur for nearly twenty years toured the big and small towns in the country teaching cinema to lay audiences. Some of the young people even considered film making as a career option owing to his influence.

Prof. Bahadur receiving a Memento from Dev Anand

during the FTII 50 Celebrations, 2010

The person who made the most indelible impression on me at the Institute was Prof.Bahadur. In those days, I had a great liking for Actor Omar Sharief after viewing David Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. With his handsome looks, hair falling in his forehead and square jawline, Prof. Bahadur reminded me of the great actor Omar Sharief. His charming personality and child like enthusiasm made him the most popular person at the Institute and he was always found surrounded by groups of students.

His lectures at the class room theatre were a delight to attend and students never missed his classes. He was a chain smoker at that time and used to smoke even while lecturing at the classes. Often he will take out tobacco and paper from the pouch and roll out a cigarette while speaking and try to light it after several failed attempts. After one or two puffs it will go off and he will continue to drag at the unlit cigarette stub! His call "Ramayyan" to the projectionist to start the screening in the class room still rings in my ears even after a passage of many years.

After leaving the Institute I never had an opportunity to meet him, but I was looking forward to seeing him some time during the year long 50 th Anniversary celebrations of the Institute. The inaugural ceremony I could not attend and my good friend Sound Engineer Muralidharan had sent me some photograph, in one of which Prof.Bahadur is seen receiving a Memento from veteran Actor Dev Anand. Unfortunately Prof. Satish Bahadur passed away on Saturday,24 July, 2010 after a brief illness. He was 85.

Even after retirement, Prof. Bahadur continued to participate in seminars and wrote film analyses in academic periodicals. At the time of his death, Prof. Bahadur had just completed the editing of a book analyzing the film Pather Panchali which is likely to be released later this year.
For his lifelong work dedicated to opening new vistas in film studies, Prof. Satish Bahadur remained unrecognized by the Government, the Indian film industry and even by his former students who became eminent film personalities.

I sincerely pray for his soul to Rest in Peace and express my heartfelt sympathies to the members of the revered teacher's family.

Juniors from Motion Picture Photography

2010-07-08T05:31:00.010+05:30

We had some very nice relationship with our junior students and especially from the Motion Picture Photography course. They often got in touch with us if they had any doubts to clear and we sought their help when we needed some still photographic prints to be made.

A.S. Kanal, K K Maitra, Sudhir Choudhary, Siba Naryana Mishra, Narayana J. Kondra, Ashok Krishna Malik and Anil Jain Satish Aima were our juniors in the First Year M.P.P. course. A.S. Kanal is now running Vikshi Institute of Media Studies at Pune and I often keep in touch with him and we met several times in Mumbai in Cinematographers Combine Programmes and in Pune at the FTII. Also I have contributed articles for "The Cinematographers Handbook" edited by him. Anil Jain Satish Aima was a very handsome guy who was mostly found in the company of acting students. Some time after the group photo of that period was put up in my blog I received a mail from Delhi, sent by Anil Jain who was happy to be taken back to those times. Though I had known Sudhir Choudhary we became thick friends only in my final year and I will write about it later.

Some of the few dayscholars from Pune attending the Institute were my classmates R.S.Agarwal, Debu Deodhar and Narayana J. Kondra from the first year. Later on while I was shooting my first Hindi film PATITA directed by I.V. Sasi in Mumbai, I needed a Focussing assistant and it was my classmate K.K. Jaiswal who suggested Kondra's name. He worked with me in that film and we didn't, have further contacts as I was mostly concentrating on Malayalam films. I happened to meet him again in Mumbai during the Cinematographers Combine Program in October, 2003. Recently I met him in June 2010 at the CAS Presentations Program organized by Cinematographers Combine at Mumbai.

N.J.Kondra

Myself and Kondra at CAS

The Program was also an occassion to meet many friends from the Film Institute such as Kanal, Jaiswal etc. I also met after thirty years my senior at the Institute S.R.Krishna Murthy who had done part of the reshoot of my film PATITA in my absence at that time, while he was working with Producer Pramod Chakraborty in Mumbai.

With S.R.K.Murthy

Library at the Institute

2010-06-03T05:24:00.005+05:30

The library at the Institute was really a repository of knowledge, filled with number of technical magazines, technology and many other rare books. Reading books from the library was an eagerly awaited activity, especially the journals like American Cinematographer, Popular Photography, Sight and sound etc. Books like Five 'C' of cinematography, Focal Series on Cinematography , special effects, Technique of Film Editing, by Karel Reisz were all much in demand.

There were also some gems of rare books which I had borrowed and copied down important portions. Some of those handwritten manuscripts are still with me. After completing the course at Pune, I have started working in the Madras film industry. I found that the American library there had a vast collection of film books and magazines. I became a member there and a regular visitor browsing through American Cinematographer and other magazines. During the extreme hot summer months the super cool air conditioned library was a favourite refuge for me. The proximity of the Woodlands Drive-in restaurant took care our stomach and on some days short film screening were also held there as added attraction.

When I had started earning sufficiently, I took out subscriptions for American Cinematographer magazine and SMPTE Journals, which had helped me to keep up with up to date information. Reading of books, not only technical one, others like literature etc had really expanded my knowledge to a great extent. It had reshaped my way of thinking too.

This reading habit still continues with me , now with a slight change - the Internet is an ocean of knowledge and I am flooded with information and getting drowned!
he library at the Institute was really a repository of knowledge, filled with number of technical magazines, technology and other books. Reading books from the library was an eagerly awaited activity, especially the journals like American Cinematographer, Popular Photography, Sight and sound etc. Books like Five 'C' of cinematography, Focal Series on Cinematography , special effects, Technique of Film Editing, by Karel Reisz were all much in demand.

There were also some gems of rare books which I had borrowed and copied down important portions. Some of those handwritten manuscripts are still with me. After completing the course at Pune, I have started working in the Madras film industry. I found that the American library there had a vast collection of film books and magazines. I became a member there and a regular visitor browsing through American Cinematographer and other magazines. During the extreme hot summer months the super cool air conditioned library was a favourite refuge for me. The proximity of the Woodlands Drive-in restaurant took care our stomach and on some days short film screening were also held there as added attraction.

When I had started earning sufficiently, I took out subscriptions for American Cinematographer magazine and SMPTE Journals, which had helped me to keep up with up to date information. Reading of books, not only technical one, others like literature etc had really expanded my knowledge to a great extent. It had reshaped my way of thinking too.

This reading habit still continues with me , now with a slight change - the Internet is an ocean of knowledge and I am flooded with information and getting drowned!

Another friend passes away

2010-04-18T09:44:00.013+05:30

One of our senior most Film Institute graduate, director Aziz (P.M. Abdul Aziz) passed away at his residence on Saturday, April 18, 2010. He was 75.

He was one of the first FTII graduates from Kerala to direct a feature film. AVAL (1967) featured Madhu, Adoor Bhasi, K.P. Ummer, Bahadur and Usha Nandini. Scripted by Thoppil Bhasi, the film had songs written by Vayalar Rama Varma, Music by G. Devarajan. and cinematography by Mankada Ravi Varma. His other feature films were NJAVALPAZHANGAL, ATYUNNADHANGALIL KOODARAM PANITHAVAR and MAANPEDA. Later on he went on making documentaries, produced and directed 37 of them.

He started his career as a school teacher. His interest in art and culture made him leave his job and plunge into theatre. Chaverppada, written by him, won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award in 1973. The play was staged at a national theatre festival in 1975. He directed TV productions including Sayahna Kodathi, Kavikal Kalpanakal and Ennappadam.

He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.

I met Aziz in 1972 while I was staying at Madras sharing a flat with Prabhakaran and K.G George both alumni from the Institute. As it was also frequented by others from the Institute like John Abraham and Editor Ravi, our place was nicknamed POONA HOME by Malayalam Actor Adoor Bhasi who was also our neighbour. Aziz used to come there to meet Prabhakaran who was also the Producer of the film MAANPEDA directed by Aziz. During one of his visits, he asked me to work in a Documentary for the Government of Kerala, titled "Tribal Life in Kerala" in Eastman colour. For that documentary we had travelled right from Thenmala in the south of Kerala to Kannur at the northern end. We did cover a large number of tribes in Attapady and Sultan's Battery too. It was a very interesting and unforgettable experience walking through the forests and climbing mountains to meet those remote tribal people.

Once, after our shoot at deep jungle area in Kannavam forests, near Kannur , we lugged our equipments back for many kilometres, to find our only car's tyre flat and there was no spare tyre either. Also we did not have a jack to lift the car. It was getting dark and we were a few kilometres away from the nearest road. With the help of the people we lifted the car, placed some stones underneath it, and removed the tyre. The driver then rolled it to the nearest road, caught a bus, got the puncture repaired and finally returned at 10 PM. Till then we were waiting in the jungle with a campfire to protect us from the wild animals.

When the film's negative was being it was found that a roll of 400 feet colour negative was found missing from the editing room. Inspite of many days of searching it was not to be found and we had only the black and white rush print of the missing footage with us. With the deadline approaching, we had no other go but to make dupe negative from the black and white print and while printing appropriate colour tints were added to make it look like a colour film! Months after the print was handed over to the Government department, the missing roll of colour negative was discovered in the editing room. By then it was too late to do anything.

When he showed the film for approval, the authorities insisted on including few shots of the concerned Minister too. At that time I was in Madras and with my consent he hired a camera and cameraman from Trivandrum to take the shots of the Minister at the Secretariat but he could get only a few bits of black and white negative ! Finally I had to print those shots too with a sepia tint to make it a colour film.

Later on I used to meet him often at the International Film Festival of Kerala , last time being a few years back. I convey my heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved family members.

I pray for his Soul to Rest in Peace

50 Glorious Years of Film Institute

2010-03-21T16:42:00.003+05:30

FTII is celebrating the Golden Jubilee Year from 20 th March 2010 onwards at Pune. I really miss being there meeting old friends and teachers and taking part in the celebrations. Any how I will plan and come there for one of the major functions as this is going to be a year long activity.

My Best Wishes to all those who are fortunate enough to be present there !

May the Institute grow up bigger and bigger like the Wisdom Tree and spread its branches all over the world!

A friend invites after 42 years

2010-01-25T21:16:00.012+05:30

I first met Kabeer Raothar in 1968 when I joined the Film Institute and he was senior to me by one year and was studying in the Second Year Film Direction Course. He immediately took over the role of a Godfather and had been a wellwisher and advisor.

After leaving the Institute while doing K.G.George's debut film SWAPNADANAM, we met again. By that time he had already directed a Hindi film called LUBNA and was based in Mumbai. Later on he had been to Kerala and had directed AMBALAKKARA PANCHAYAT and few other films.More than Twenty years back he had asked me to work in one of his films, but I could not find enough dates to accomodate his request. In the meantime after several unsuccessful attempts at film making, he is planning a come back Malayalam film titled INGANYUM ORAAL. This time well in advance, he had my dates committed and we have started the shooting of the film from 7 th January 2010 onwards at Thiruvananthapuram. The switch on ceremony was performed by Shri.S. Kumar of New Theatres and the clap board sounded by the Hon. Kerala Minister Divakaran. The cast consists of Sai Kumar, Vinu Mohan, Raghavan, Mamu Koya, Indrans, Sreekumar, Praveena, Sarayu, K.P.A.C.Lalitha , Janaki, Kulapally Leela etc

Switch on by Shri. S. Kumar

From (L-R) Myself, S.Kumar, Minister Divakaran, Praveena,
Kabeer Raotherand Producer Sainudeen

Myself with Kabeer

Kabeer giving instructions as leading man Vinu Mohan watches

Isn't it great, that 42 years after meeting Kabeer Raothar , I am working with him in a film !

Meeting of old friends

2009-11-18T20:20:00.005+05:30

Today, along with my Director Shashi Paravoor and Art Director Krishnan Kutty, I happened to go to Chitranjali Studios to see the floor for erecting a set for the shooting of a song sequence of our Malayalam film KADAKSHAM. On the floors, a film shooting was in progress, a film about Raja Ravi Varma directed by Lenin Rajendran and Cinematography by Madhu Ambat a good old friend of mine. Acting as Raja Ravi Varma was none other than Cinematographer Santosh Sivan!

From behind the camera he had come before the camera in a new role as performer and I found him really enjoying it, memorising his dialogues like a student preparing for his examinations! He is taking it as a challenge and is working hard. I am sure that he will really leave his imprint in this new field too and wish him all success!

It was also rare meeting of old friends and journalist Pallissery was keen on recording the occassion for posterity, this meeting of three Cinematographers - all FTII graduates.

Santosh, Myself and Madhu Ambat

Santosh as Raja Ravi Varma

In a Romantic Mood!

A rare Group Photograph

2009-09-18T04:38:00.023+05:30

Towards the end of the Second year, after a student gathering at the Institute some one hurriedly organized a group photo session, which resulted in a rare photograph containing a large number of students. (1970,1971 and 1972 Batches)

To see the names of the persons, please check the List against the numbers marked on the photograph:

1.A. Swami Nathan, 2.Arun Kumar Nigam, 3. Madhusudhan, 4. Desh Gautam, 5. Balbir Sharma, 7. Page, 8.Mushir Ahmed, 9.Mrs.Mushir Ahmed, 10. Mrs. Jagat Murari, 11 Jagat Murari ,12 B.K. Chaturvedi,13. Sudhartha Basu, 14 Imtiaz Ahmedkan Pathan , 16.A.S.Kanal,17, J P Singhal (SPW), 18. J.K.Patra, 19 Akki Hame Chander, 20 Venugopal K Thakkar, 21 Surendra Sahu, 22 . Kumar Nayak, 23 T.N. Mohan, 25 Baba Majagavankar, 26. J. P. Dikshit, 27 Vinay Shukla, 30. HarishChawla,31. Harish Gupta, 32 S,K.Jolly, 36. M.Azad, 37 Harbhajan Singh, 40. Bhaskar Unni, 42. Amrit Lal Lakhanpal. 44. Manoj Kumar(SRSE), 45, Ramachandra Babu, 47. Deepak Dhar,48. Baburao Tanajee Rokade 49. Raza Murad, 50. Subhash Soin, 51. Anil Jain Satish Aima, 52. K.R.Mohanan, 53. G,R,Menon, 54. Krishna Ragahav, 56. Faisal (Jordan)58 .Surendra Chowdhary, 60. Peer Mohammed, 62 .Venkataswami Naidu Jatla, 64 Kasturi Ramachandra Murthy, 65. Paulose,66. Umesh Bihari Mathur, 69. Shyamal Krishna Ghosh, 71. V.N.Raina ,72. Satish Kumar Gupta(SRSE), 75. Kabir Rawther. 76. S K Srivastav (SRSE)

The list is incomplete - I request my friends to provide me the missing names so that I can complete the list.

I think the picture was taken by none other than K.K.Jaiswal as he is missing from the photo. The light was fading as it was quite late in the evening and some more photos were taken, one of which is given below.

Baba Majgavkar ( standing first from left) Surendra Sahu (centre with glasses)Deepak Dhar (tall person in the back row) are among the few in this smaller group.

I found another photograph , which was slightly out of focus with a slight rearrangement, this time I am sitting down in the front row ( second from left) flanked by K.K.Jaiswal on my right and Baba Majgavkar on my left.

( My thanks to K.K.Jaiswal for filling up some of the missing names)

Film Archives and P.K.Nair

2009-09-01T06:26:00.007+05:30

The presence of National Film Archives in the Institute campus itself was a great blessing to the students of Cinema. Many days a number of films new and old arrive there from countries around the world. All the films were screened and assessed about their contents as well as their physical condition before being sent to the storage vaults by none other than P.K.Nair. The students were permitted to attend the archives' screening conducted in the Institute theatres after the class hours. It was a rare opportunity for the students to see such a large number of films from such a variety of film making countries and that too right in their campus. I do not know of any other Institute in the world which had this kind of access to world cinema, at that period.

Sometimes when films arrive in large numbers the screenings will be held early in the mornings and even on holidays too. Nair saab never sat alone in the theatre even at unearthly hours, for there will be always a faithful crowd of students around him to give company. Only it thinned when the films were some very old Indian films from silent era or early sound period.

An interesting thing happened during our time at the Institute. In the height of winter I woke up early in the morning due to the extreme cold and looked out of the window from my hostel room. I saw a large crowd of students in front of the class room waiting for the projectionist to come and open the theatre doors. Later I came to know the real reason for the sudden interest of the students in the screening in spite of the extreme cold climate. The Madras Regional Film Censor Board was wondering what to do with the accumulating collection of censor cuttings from the regional films censored their from their very inception. Finally some one higher there had decided to send this huge collection of tidbits to the Archives! All these bits of objectionable material was joined together and projected for cataloging purposes. Even though the details of screening was kept a secret and the timing was fixed at odd hours, some of the students smelled it and thronged the theatre. They had their eyes full with glimpses of gyrations and exposure of flesh by sexy sirens from the south! Unfortunately I missed the show as I was feeling too lazy to come down from my room because of the cold outside!

An amazing thing was that when some of the cans were opened in the archives, it was found to contain bricks and stones etc instead of film clips. Obviously some body in the censor office returned the cuttings back to the producers for clandestine joining in the films and filled the cans with some weight!

I should also mention about the great support Nair Saab got from the dedicated staff who worked there day and night, especially Kurien, Varghese and Parvathy Nair (a former Editing alumni). Beautiful Parvathy Nair with her elegant demeanor, was the centre of attraction amongst the students. While I was in the final year I had an opportunity to do the cinematography work in a documentary film directed by her. The film was shot in Bombay and I had my maiden travel in the legendary Deccan Queen train.

After the Archives screenings Nair saab used to discuss the viewed films with the students and explained the aesthetics of cinema. It was a kind of informal education which contributed for the development of cinematic sensibility amongst the student community. All the students showed much respect to Nair Saab even many years after leaving the Institute.

I used to meet him often at the International Film Festivals at Chennai or Thiruvananthapuram all of which he very religiously attended. Later on when he built a house and settled there, we used to meet in film functions. Once I happened to be a member of the Film Preview committee of the International Film Festival of Kerala and for a week viewed hundreds of films and selected entries for various categories. Because of his extensive and exhaustive knowledge of Cinema he was much respected by the film makers of Kerala.

When I was the General Secretary of Malayalam Cine Technicians Association ( MACTA) during the Guru Pooja I had the privilege of honouring Nair Saab by conferring the Honourary Membership of MACTA. Though he was just recovering from an accident injury in Pune, he had travelled all the way to Ernakulam to attend the function.

Nair Saab at MACTA Function
Myself making the introduction speech

Film Processing Laboratory and Library

2009-08-31T06:10:00.008+05:30

Though we had to study the theoretical aspects of film processing, only after we actually started filming that we understood the intricacies of the chemical process and how it affects the density of the negative etc. Of course the man who was most helpful to me there was Raman Nair (Editing 1966 Batch), the younger brother of Film Archives P.K.Nair. For reasons unknown, after completing the editing course he had been working in the film processing laboratory. Years later we were associated in the Malayalam film "AEKAKINI" directed by G.S.Panikkar.

The Library at the Institute was one of the finest in India with regard to books on Cinema and collection of journals. Many a hours were spent in the library reading the latest issues of Sight and Sound, American Cinematographer etc. It was there that I became deeply attached to the American Cinematographer magazine that for many years I continued reading it to keep up with the latest technologies in Cinematography. After leaving the Institute , I was in Madras working in films. I became a member of the American library where I used to visit often to borrow books on cinema as well as to read the latest issue of AC magazine. The air-conditioned comfort of the library in the scorching summer months at Madras and the proximity of the drive-in-woodlands hotel was an added attraction. Later on when I could afford it I became a subscriber and continued reading it to update on the emerging technologies.

It was a great joy that an interview of mine was published in that great magazine when I did an English film BEYOND THE SOUL Directed by Rajeev Anchal. Please click HERE to read the interview published in September 2002 issue of American Cinematographer Magazine.

The Library at the Institute had played a major part in my film education shared only by the National Film Archives. I think most of the Institute Alumni will definitely agree that the Library and the Film Archives had contributed much to their film education.

Subrata Da's Box Lights

2009-08-29T20:47:00.013+05:30

In the studio there was this strange looking wooden box one side of which was covered with translucent tracing paper. We were told that it was the invention of none other than the great master Cinematographer Subrato Mitra himself. It seems that when he was shooting PATHER PANJALI the West Bengal Government helped Satyajit Ray by providing some lights which turned out to be Police search lights ! Subrata Da adapted them for his movie work by bouncing the light on to white boards to soften the harshness of bright search lights. He also devised an inexpensive and ingenious soft light by fixing a number of house hold bulbs in a wooden box and covered one side with translucent tracing paper. Using that light he was able to create very soft and shadowless lighting effects. When he visited the Institute earlier ( around 1967 or so) he got two lights made for demonstration purposes.

Box Lights

We used those lights christened "DUBBA" ( Hindi word for Box) lights during our practicals and found them to be very useful for soft and naturalistic lighting effects. Bala Mahendran ( Balu Mahendra) carried the idea to Madras and got the Box lights made for his films. When he started colour film work he replaced the house hold incandescent bulbs with photo-flood lamps and used them in his films for many years. He even had an assistant appointed only for carrying his personal light to the location and back. Many in Madras thought that Box lights were Balu's invention but the fact is otherwise as seen from the photograph below!

Subrata Mitra with students

Bala Mahendran near window , Naresh Bedi( with beard)

Subrata Da had conducted the workshop at the Institute before I joined there and hence I did not have the opportunity to meet him or to attend his classes for a long time. Years later, I had the honour of meeting him when he came to Thiruvananthapuram to inaugurate the Indian Society of Cinematographers in 1995. He gave an excellent talk during the function and later interacted with the Cinematographers present. As President of the ISC, I shared the stage with him when he was conferred the Honourary Membership by eminent Film Director Shri.Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

Subrata Da, Adoor and Me

Though the Box light was very useful I found that carrying it to location and back is cumbersome. So when I started working in films at Madras, I got 4ft X3 ft wooden frames made on to which I stretched translucent thin plastic sheets ( shower curtain material) and placed them in front of lights to achieve similar soft light effect. In the later years it was replaced by white acrylic sheets, grid cloth etc.

Practicals with Acting students

2009-08-29T09:05:00.006+05:30

As part of our training we had combined practicals with acting students who enacted small scenes which we will light up and shoot. Professor Roshan Taneja or Asrani (who was working as Part time lecturer) were there to direct the acting students and to supervise the whole thing.

Myself, Venu, Murthy ( Focus) and Prof. Taneja

Apart from doing small sequences we also did a few song picturisation exercises in which we used to take the sound track of popular Hindi films and the acting students will enact giving lip movements to the songs. This was done with the intention of showcasing the talent of the acting students to the Bombay Film Industry. Below is a still from one of the song sequences starring Jaya Bhaduri and Danny.

Jaya Bhaduri and Danny

Our outdoor exercises were done in the hilly wooded area, called forest near the swimming pool which had different kind of landscape and trees so that a variety of shots can be tried without leaving the campus. The only thing is collecting the equipments from the camera department, loading it on the trolley and pushing it up hill. But the return downward journey is much easier, you just keep a hold on to it so that it won't pick up speed and go too fast and unstoppable!

Special Effects

2009-08-29T06:18:00.005+05:30

Shri. Rajagopalan Nair ( K.P.R.Nair) was taking classes in special effects cinematography which to me was a fascinating and exciting subject as you can magically create wonders on the screen by employing a few tricks. But a majority of the students were not much interested in experimenting and learning the special effects process. Myself, Murthy and Jaiswal were keen on knowing more of the subject and used to attend his classes regularly with rapt attention. Though we had one or two hours of classes per week, we were allowed to go to Nair saab's room anytime and fiddle with the equipments there. He used to answer our questions and explained the intricacies of special effects cinematography. His room was full of old and antiquated equipments in various conditions of disrepair.

There was Bell and Howell High speed camera which used to run up to 200 -250 frames with which we tried some high speed shots. We took an old miniature model of a building from the Prabhat days, rigged it with some wires and debris, strategically placed burning rags and recreated a burning building catching fire and collapsing. The things I learned there along with help from the book "The technique of special effects cinematography" by Raymond Fielding was very useful in my career afterwards. In many films I did my own masking shots (double roles), in camera dissolves, glass shots, title effects etc using the reliable Mitchell camera.

Also we had the rare opportunity of using the Front Projection system, the only one of its kind in India. In all other places only Back projection was being used which was giving poor image quality and restricted the lighting to be done from the side s only to avoid it spilling on the screen. As the front projection system with its glass beaded screen and front coated mirror produced excellent results, people from Bombay film industry used to come down for their front projection shots. Nair Saab taught us how to set up the partial mirror and aligning the camera and the projector properly so that the photographed object itself will cover its own shadow, which is a very tricky one. Unfortunately after leaving the Institute, I could not try front projection as that system was not available elsewhere in India. Though I have done many back projection shots, I feel that front projection results were much superior ones!

In his spare time Nair saab can be seen in his room, tinkering with some equipment or other. In those days he was also trying to build a subtitling machine by himself. He later on succeeded in making one such machine which I was told that the National Film Archives utilized for subtitling purposes.

More of the Second Year Classes

2009-08-28T05:07:00.006+05:30

While writing about the Second year studies, I went astray as certain happy as well as unhappy incidents happened about which I strongly felt that I should react. In that process the narrative thread had broken, which I hope to later set right by editing the posts.

It was quite an experience to start lighting the sets in the huge indoor studio with it's high catwalks full of different types of lights mounted on it. Prof.Lall Jaiswani and Mr.Ramanathan were in-charge of the practicals and they explained to us how to use those lights according to the needs of the scene. The experienced light boys ( though they were quite old, were called like that ) helped us with expert advice on how to proceed with the placement and lighting of the sets. We were divided into groups of three so that when one person operates the other two pitch in as assistants doing the follow focusing and pushing the dolly. In my group the other two were Ram Agarwal and Kasturi Ramachandra Murty.

S.K.Jolly follow focusing and me on camera

Initially we had no models for our practicals and one or two amongst ourselves had to act out the movements for the lighting exercises. One day I was doing the acting part and I was sitting near a table and the lighting was in progress. All of a sudden a group of school students on a study tour rushed in to watch the film shooting going on! They thought I am some kind of a star as I was performing before the camera and started asking me for autographs! I also obliged them wondering why of all the people they are asking ME for autographs! Then I remembered my schooldays...

I was 8 or 9 years old at that time. From our school we were on an excursion to Mahabalipuram which is a famous tourist spot near Madras. While seeing the monuments we saw some film unit shooting going on. We were told that it was the Tamil film "ALLI PETRA PILLAI" starring S.S.Rajendran. A scene in which a horse drawn cart driven by some actors was being pictured. Some people wearing blue coloured dhoties were resting under the shade of trees. ( In Black and White days pure white was never used in costumes, instead blue or saffron colured clothes were used, which I learnt when I myself became a cinematographer ) Some boys shouted Pulimootai Ramaswamy ( a popular comedian with a big girth) looking at a fat man amongst the blue coloured dhotiwalas and soon they surrounded him with pieces of paper torn from notebooks for autographs. Every one wearing a blue dhoti was considered to be a worthwhile cine actor and were asked for autographs by the eager crowd of students. Puzzled by their sudden popularity the extra actors signed on every scrap of paper presented before them. I too was one of the boys who collected the autographs on pieces of paper from my note book.

As our lighting and camera operating skills improved we had combined exercises with Direction students working out small sequences.

On the sets with Direction students

SILENT SITAR STRINGS

2009-07-27T16:21:00.005+05:30

It seems to be my fate that I should continue to write about great departed souls one after another. Yet another death had happened - Bhaskar Chandavarkar Eminent music director and Sitarist Bhaskar Chandavarkar died on 26 July 2009.

In my Blog of 22, December 2007, I wrote about him.

While at the Institute during 1968-71 period I came in contact with his magnetic personality and handsome looks and friendly behaviour. The above photograph was taken by me for a brochure of his sitar performance.

Later on he had done the Music Direction of K.G.George's debut Malayalam Feature film SWAPNADANAM (1975) for which I was the cinematographer. Though he had composed music for some four songs, they were not used in the film. But he got the Kerala State Award for Best Background Music for his work.

It is unfortunate that I could not meet him afterward.

The strings of the Sitar are silent.
The player had gone away
To make Heavenly Music

May his soul Rest in Peace.

AFTER THE OSCAR - A few Thoughts

2009-03-15T13:19:00.013+05:30

The Oscar award had magically transformed tiny Resul Pookutty into a super mega phenomenon. Everywhere he went he was mobbed by thousands of people from all walks of life. TV Channels and newspapers were vying with each other for interviews and oraganisations are competing with each other to shower him with more awards and gifts. I was the witness for two of the occassions of which one of them was a TV Channel's Film Award night. At the jampacked stadium Resul got the biggest standing ovation and cheers even the so called "Super stars" of the Malayalam film industry could have ever imagined.

Reception at Thiruvananthapuram

Oscar and BAFTA awards

It was a very proud moment for me. I, as a Technician was really moved by the reception he got in Kerala - especially witnessing a fellow technician like Resul who remains on the set in the background as an invisible presence is being treated like a superstar. The spotlight and boquets are always reserved only for those who don the greasepaint. Those poor technicians who mould, make and and embellish them are treated as dirt. There are many Satellite TV Channels giving various Film awards - there are many awards for actors - Best Actor , Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting actress, Villain, Comedian, New comer, Best pair, Overall performance etc but NONE for Sound Recordists!

There was once a move made by some of the TV channels even to stop giving awards to technicians like Cinematographers and Editors etc. Their argument was why waste money on those who are behind the screen and the crowds just are not interested in seeing them! They only come to see the stars, the dances and to hear the songs and nothing else. But, strong opposition from Technician's Unions made them to rethink and some of the technicians managed get in the awards lists. Even when Oscar winner's names are published in the newapapers the technician's names are coveniently left out to save space. The full list never gets published! Sometime back even the Oscar telecast people wanted to trim down the length of the Ceremony but dispensing away with the Technical Awards distribution visuals!

Resul with CAS Award

When Resul got the CAS Award, which is a honour given to the Sound Mixers for the their career achievement in Motion Pictures by The Cinema Audio Society consisting of over 550 Sound Mixers and Associates from the Film and Television Industries. The Society was founded to create a proper channel of communication between the related sound crafts and between those instrumental to the production and distribution of film and television soundtracks. The winner can add “CAS” after their names in the film screen credit. The previous achievers include multiple Oscar winners like Ray Dolby, Robert Altman, Jack Solomon, and Walter Murch etc.

This important news item was conveyed by the Audiographers union to all the Print and TV Media houses, but none of them bothered to publish even a line or mention it in their newscasts! Strangely after the Oscars, the very same people were seen running after Resul for a glimpse of him!

This Oscar Award had changed their mindset. It had opened their eyes and the spot light is turned upon the hard working technicians, the unsung heroes of the film Industry. I hope from the next year onward the TV Channels and others will include an Award for the Sound Recordist too !

THE THIRD ONE

2009-02-23T16:59:00.006+05:30

It had happened!

Resul had achieved the rare honour of bringing the THIRD OSCAR to India! His acceptance speech at the Oscar ceremony was truly great and bespoke his humility as well as his large heartedness!

All of us from the "BEYOND THE SOUL " team Congratulate him on this rarest of rare achievement!

Ajay ( Editor), R. Babu, Rajeev Anchal (Director) and Oscar Hero Resul

Meeting an Old Friend - G.S.Panikkar

2009-02-14T16:39:00.003+05:30

While I was in Ottapalam recently for the shooting of the film YUGAPURUSHAN, I rang up an old friend from my Institute days, my Senior, G.Sadasiva Panikkar ( G.S.Panikkar – 1970 – Direction Batch ). For the past few years he had been away from Trivandrum as he had settled at Cheruthruthy on the banks of the picturesque Bharathapuzha river, a popular location for many Malayalam films.

He had graciously come down to my hotel along with his son and we spent a few hours together reminiscing about our friends, films of the past and the present trends in the Film Industry.

I was the cinematographer for his maiden venture as Producer and Director of the Black and White Malayalam film AEKAKINI ( 1978) It was a tiny budgeted film made by a bunch of Film Institute graduates – Ravi Menon ( actor) , Suresh Babu and Raman Nair ( Editors), Panikkar and myself.

It was based on a short story by eminent Malayalam writer M.T.Vasudevan Nair. The film was well appreciated and acclaimed when it was released.

Myself and G.S.Panikkar

An OSCAR for the INSTITUTE ?

2009-02-14T15:01:00.010+05:30

The countdown has begun for the Oscar Awards and Millions of Indians are hopefully waiting for the final announcement for the sake of Two Indian Nominees A.R.Rahman and Resul Pookutty who are slated to win the coveted Award! Already they have won the BAFATA Awards - the British equivalant of the Oscar for Danny Boyle's film Slumdog Millionaire.

Our prayers and well wishes are for both of them and especially to Resul who is our own boy - an Institutewallah!

Though he was my junior we met for the first time during the filming of the English film "BEYOND THE SOUL" Directed by Rajeev Anchal. It seems that as Resul is also from the Anchal neighbourhood he was picked up for the job. Any how it was our first meeting and instantly we became friends. I was really amazed at his patience and dedication to his craft as he minutely analyzed the various sounds into its components and recorded them effectively. After a long time I was shooting a Sync sound on location film ( far from the confines of the Studio floors!) and it was really nice to know the intricacies of live recording in such a noisy atmosphere of our country. The trolleys, cranes, HMI ballasts, paper frames, gels, generators all create their own levels of noises.

The first thing he did was to order out the catering unit to a far off place. He had an assortment of sound proofing rugs carpets etc to dampen the noises at source. He used various types of mikes placed at strategic places and also had an expert boom man to follow the actors. After the shot was taken it was his turn to call for silence on the sets and to record the ambience sounds both in mono and stereo. Altogether we had a nice time working at Trivandrum for that film.

We still keep in touch with each other through e-mails and I just missed meeting him last month while he was in Trivandrum for a felicitation function as I was away on a location shooting.

Listening Resul's Recordings at "BEYOND THE SOUL" Location !

I, along with Millions of Indians wish him and Rahman
Good Luck at The OSCARS!

New Year Celebrations 1969

2009-01-01T09:48:00.001+05:30

On this New Year Day 2009, the Flash Back of the New Year Celebrations at the Film Institute runs through my mind once again as a fond memory!

It was really a night to remember- 40 years ago in the cool and misty atmosphere of Poona with all the singing and dancing in the auditorium - it was full of fun and joy.Though during my college days there were New Year Celebrations, it was a mild affair as being conducted under the strict supervision of Catholic Priests at the Madras Loyola college.

Amidst revellers boozed up with the local brew Tarra and other intoxicants I was with my friends abstaining from drinks and enjoying the fun taking place on the stage. Nearing Midnight the count down had started and at the count of Zero all lights were switched off and the arrival of the New year was welcomed with loud cheering. There was a big stampede towards the region where the girl students were standing ( they were only 4 or 5 and from Acting) but they were well protected by the Acting Boys who stood as bodyguards. Still a few managed to breakthrough the cordon and hugged and shook hands with some of the girls!

That was New Year Celebrations - Film Institute 1969

Wish You all A Very Happy and Peaceful 2009!

Film Institute Badge

2008-12-24T16:19:00.006+05:30

A specially designed Badge was issued on the occassion of the the Tenth Anniversary of the founding of the Film Institute. It was a very small one of about an inch in height, and of interesting design. Many might not have seen it or aware of such a thing. In the earlier days I used to pin it on to my cap while shooting. Even now, I still have it with me as a memento.

Film Institute Badge

(Actual Size)

TERROR STRIKES AT THE TAJ

2008-12-07T15:21:00.017+05:30

The terrorist attack at the Taj Hotel Mumbai was a great shock to all Indians who consider that heritage building as the symbol of our pride against the British racism. I bow my head in prayer for the souls of those who lost their lives during those black days of terror.

While I was in the second year of Motion Picture Photography one much needed instrument was an Exposure meter. Unfortunately in those days meters are not available in the market as freely as now. The highly regulated foreign exchange and the heavy customs duty and import restrictions have made it very difficult to obtain one for my use. You have to depend upon friends or relatives coming from abroad to procure one and I didn't have any such persons!

Fortunately I had a Pen friend, Mr.Henry G Salomon, who was much older to me and was living in New York and he was about to visit India. So I wrote to him and he had agreed to bring me a Sekonic L-28C Exposure meter. On the arranged date I had to meet him at the then Bombay and collect it. Since I was not much familiar with Bombay city, my classmate Surendra Sahu had agreed to accompany me there and also had arranged for our stay at his friend's place.

The day was some time in July - August 1969 and my friend Henry G Salomon and his wife Marilyn were staying at the Taj Mahal Hotel. At the appointed time we met each other - it was the first time that I was meeting them in person as I knew him only through letters. Sahu and myself accompanied them on their sight seeing around the Taj hotel. At last he gave me the Sekonic Exposure meter for which I was looking forward very eagerly. At that time the meter had cost about $30 ( around Rs.210 ) which was reimbursed by my father who met him at Madras later on. My father took them to my family home at Maduranthakam and treated them to lunch and a sight seeing tour of Mahabalipuram.

Marilyn with my parents and siblings

The Sekonic Exposure Meter is still with me in excellent condition and working with out any errors, in spite of the passage of 40 years!

My Sekonic L-28C Exposure Meter

We all had a nice dinner together at the Taj during which I had my first taste of delicious lichis. After bidding Goodbye we returned to Sahu's friend's place to stay for the night. I just could not sleep at all because of the stark contrast between the two places - the opulent luxury of the Taj and the dismal atmosphere of a small one room apartment in a chawl! I can never forget the experience of enjoying the cushy comfort of Taj and an hour later, lying on a smelly mat on the ground with mosquitoes for music.

Here is a photo taken at that time :

Myself, Marilyn and Surendra Sahu (1969)

Once again I had an opportunity to meet them and enjoy their hospitality at their New York Home. It was in 1978 and I was the Cinematographer for the Malayalam feature film "Ezham Kadalin Akkare" ( Tamil version "Ore vaanam Ore Bhoomi" ) which was being shot in New York and other places. At that time also I was badly in need of some Foreign exchange to buy a still camera and he had graciously lent me some dollars and helped me. All these memories are associated with the Bombay Taj Mahal Hotel.

Poor Taj, You have suffered a lot. I hope soon the renovations will restore back your Splendour and Glory .

Thrill of viewing your work

2008-11-02T11:39:00.002+05:30

The Saturday screenings at the Main theatre is something we all look forward. Before the day’s general screening of the Film, rushes of the previous week’s practical work is screened, It is something unique as all the students get to see the previous week’s rushes both in 16 mm as well as in 35 mm along with their peers. Of course there will be shouts like focus or Arc whenever the projector operator does some mistakes. But how a can a projectionist correct an out of focus shot which had happened in the camera?

Seeing my work along with my classmates in 16mm Black and white was really an exciting thing to watch. As the images come on the screen your mind races to the time when the shoot took place and in your brain images run parallel to the ones on the screen. One is about the reality and the other the result. You think about the situation and how the shot was taken, how you had intended it to be and how it had turned out and finally how it can be improved upon. Mostly you keep on looking for minor errors like an un-necessary shadow or a burning highlight, a jerky movement of the camera, a panning or tilting error, a slightly off framing or a slight off focus etc. It is a learning process which continues till the rest of your life.

When it comes to viewing the Rush print of your work, it is always a thrilling and exhilarating experience altogether. You are anxious how it had turned out and there are other people in the theatre who are also viewing the rushes who will pass on judgement on your craftsmanship and ability. You are on tenterhooks during the time when the theatre lights are switched off and the start of the projection of the reel. Even though the process may take only a few seconds the short interval feels like minutes. Even now, in spite of shooting for many years, I still get butterflies in my stomach while I wait in the theatre to view the rushes.

But all these feelings and experiences are lost and gone forever in the present day digital scenario. The Cinematographer had lost the privilege of being the only one on the set to see the frame of the shot being taken. There is no more magic as video monitors are quite common on the sets and Directors, Actors, crew and even bystanders instantly see a crude version of your work and comment upon! For editing purposes a low resolution Tele-cine transfer is made in place of rushes which is seen by all and sundry except yourself as representing your work.

Many a time the Cinematographer and sometimes the Director too doesn’t get to see the transferred material. Many Directors see a rough cut version and that too while the dubbing of the film takes place. Only when the final release print is made the Cinematographer gets to see his work on Film in full glory! Even that too gets marred when digital transfer is made without consultation with the Cinematographer for releasing in Digital theatres! And the poor quality image with improper colour corrections remains the lasting representation of your work as it gets telecast on the TV channels and gets burned on to DVDs for posterity –Credit to the Advancement of Technology !

Classes in the Second Year

2008-10-21T10:11:00.024+05:30

Apart from Professor C.V.Gopal , Assistant Professor Lall Jaswaney, Instructors Shri. K.P.Rajagopalan Nair (K.P.R Nair) and Shri.K.Ramanathan were in charge of the Second year classes. Shri. K.P.R. Nair used to take classes on special effects cinematography.

We started with 16 mm cameras and we had at that time Bell& Howell Filmo, Bolex, Arri S and Arri16 BL cameras. We have to learn the loading and threading of the film in the respective cameras first. Then mounting of the various lenses and fixing the camera on the tripod, Panning, Tilting, Zooming practices etc formed the beginning part of our training.

Bell& Howell H70 16 mm Camera

The Bell& Howell Filmo H70 camera had even an anamorphic converter which can be fixed in front of the normal lenses so that you can even shoot in Cinemascope format! Remember it was forty years back and Cinemascope was a rarity in Indian Films.

With Arri 16BL Camera

The Arri16 BL camera was quite a brand new one which had come into the Market a few years earlier and with its silent running and the 12-120 Zoom was really the star of the equipments. In those days the Institute used to acquire the latest equipments much before the Film Industry gets them. We had Nagra Recorders and Steenbeck editing machines when not many in Chennai film industry had heard about them.

In the 35 mm we had a whole variety of Cameras from Debrie, Eyemo, Sinclair, Bell & Howell, Arri 2A & 2B, Mitchell NC to Mitchell BNC.

In the Debrie camera there is no view finder and the frame was viewed through the film as in those days there was no anti-halation backing for the film negative and it was fairly transparent. The cameraman had to put a black cloth over his head to ensure a dark environment and also to prevent ant leak light reaching the film from the viewing eyepiece.

Eyemo Camera is very popular for news reel coverage as it can even be take to very remote location where electric power supply is not available. It has a spring wound motor which can run about 18 -20 feet per winding . So no worries about drained batteries and recharging. Film is normally loaded in 100 feet daylight spools. It has a three lens turret and electric motors can be fitted to run the attached 400 feet magazine too.

Later on while I was in Chennai I happened to come across an advertisement offering for sale some used equipments and I purchased an old Eyemo camera which I am holding in the picture given above!

Newman Sinclair camera was quite an interesting one, light weight and easy to handle. The threading is all done in the magazine itself like the Eclair camera. You just snap it on and you are ready to shoot as magazine change takes only seconds. It is a reflex camera and had an assortment of lenses. My favourite was the 40 mm and 90 mm Macro lenses which were very sharp and focuses up to 6 inches or so. It also had a 203 mm Tele lens which gave good results.

The Bell and Howell we had at the Institute was a special camera which can run up to 200 frames per second and it had ball bearings in its guide rollers! It was mostly used for special effect shots for miniature photography etc.

With Arri 2A or 2B Camera

Arri 2 Cameras had served our Film Industry for so many years and are still being used even today, stands as testimony to its sturdiness and fail safe durability. At the Institute we also had a Blimp for the Arri 2 with an electric motor for sync sound shooting purposes. For many years I had used that camera for my feature films including the First Malayalam 70 mm Feature film PADAYOTTAM . It is very much suited for hand held work and I had found it to be very handy before the advent of Steadicam.

In the helicopter with Arri 2C camera with 50 mm Anamorphic Kowa lens

During the shooting of PADAYOTTAM ( Malayalam - 70 mm) 1983

With Mitchell NC Camera

For many years Mitchell NC was the preferred camera for Studio filming even though it made little noise, it was muffled by some kind of home made blimps. Though the camera does not have a reflex viewfinder, the big viewfinder on the side (like the present day handi-cam LCD finder) gave a big picture. Only thing is the parallax had to corrected to that particular camera position and it is usually fixed for the final camera position. The beginning position is set by looking through the lens and once the frame is fixed the camera is racked

over before taking the shot. After "CUT" is announced the Cameraman will shout "HOLD" for the artistes to freeze their positions so that the cameraman racks over and looks through the lens to ascertain that the framing is proper and nothing is cut off and says "O.K!" Getting used to the Parallax comes after quite a lot of practice only and many a time people tend to forget to rack over before taking the shot.

Even today some of the NC Mitchell cameras are used for creating In-Camera special effects like Fades, Dissolves, Super imposition, Double roles, Masking shots etc.

Mitchell NC High Speed Camera

Pictured above is a High Speed version of the Mitchell NC Camera which could run upto 100 frames per second. In fact for quite sometime it was the only camera available at Madras (Chennai) in the 70's and 80's and was very much in demand for shooting slowmotion shots. The Camrea attendants used to demand First Class train tickets and used to get it too!

With Mitchell BNC Camera

The Mitchell BNC Camera we had at the Institute was one of the very few ones that was in India at that time. I hardly saw any one using it inChennai at least. May be in Mumbai there was one or two. This was a blimped camera and so was very silent. It had an auto parallax system with a set of cam plates for different lenses, so that as you focus the parallax is automatically set to the object focussed. It also had a feature that the length of the fade is preset and can be executed at the push of a button. There was also a facility for remote focussing through the use of a cable especially useful for crane shots etc.

Thus we had plenty of equipments to use and learn with, which was quite useful in our later career.

SECOND YEAR AT THE INSTITUTE

2008-10-12T08:03:00.007+05:30

We all eagerly awaited the start of the second year as we will be handling the movie cameras for the sake of which only we have enrolled in the Motion Picture Photography course at the Institute. Meanwhile I got hostel accommodation and my room mate was none other than my batch mate K.R.Murthy. I was happy to be living among the friends in the same building and that too inside the campus.

Hostel Building

In my Room

The start of the new academic year means, new comers and the right time to take your revenge for the Ragging undergone by you during the last year! Any how it was not very serious, just mild fun in the hostel. Some of the newcomers who became friends afterwards are Peer Mohammed. P, G.R. Menon ( Direction), A S. Kanal , Narayana J. Kondra, Sudhir Choudhary, Satish Aima ( M.P.P) Vijay Arora, Raza Murad, Manju Bansal and Jameela Malik from Kerala ( Acting)

With Peer Mohammed

Peer Mohammed after graduation joined Doordarshan, Chennai and later on became the Director of Doordarshan Kendra, Trivandrum. But he was suspended on some graft charges and I do not know about his present whereabouts.

Kanal always keeps in touch with me over e-mail and I used to meet him while in Pune or in Mumbai. Recently he had sent me his excellent and very useful book – The Cinematographer’s Hand book, Film and Video 2^nd Edition for which I had also contributed an article on Miniature Photography. Kondra had assisted me in Mumbai, during the shooting of my Hindi feature Film PATITA (1980) in which Mithun Chakraborty did the leading role.

Many years after the incident packed Strike of the Seventies, I worked with Raza Murad in the Hindi TV serial – Bible in which he did the role of Noah. ( I will come to that when I write about the Final Year!)

Jameela Malik

Jameela Malik’s first film in a leading role was RAGGING ( Malayalam – 1973) for which I was the Cinematographer. She later on did some insignificant roles in various other films and just faded out from the limelight.

Seniors during my First year (1968-69)

2008-09-03T06:42:00.010+05:30

I should not leave out other non- Malayalee senior students whom I came in to contact during my first year. There was Vikas Desai with his impressive stature and the ever active Student’s Union President Gurucharan Singh, both from 1969 Direction batch. Guru as he is fondly called had been a regular fixture at the Institute as he had earlier done his Editing Course in 1965 and then joined Direction course. So being Super senior he knew all the in and out of the Institute and took control over the students, staff and faculty with ease.He was the Students Union President as well. From the 1970 Direction batch, I remember lively Ashoke Aggrwal, soft spoken Vishnu Mathur, brooding Madan Gopal Bawaria and a quiet Amar Kumar Bhattacharya.

From the Motion Picture Photography (1969) U.M.N. Sheriff, S.R. Krishnamurthy, Naresh Bedi, Barun.K. Mukherji, Bala Mahendran, A K Bir, Sona Ram Talwar, Mohd. Sidiq Aminzai, J.P.Gautam, F.R. Khan and Daulatram.R. Kulmi were there. I remember Naresh Bedi showing Shri.Kulkarni, the photographs of cobras that he had taken during the Nag Panchami festival. Some of the photos were later published in the National Geographic magazine. He used specialise in wild life photography andhis home in Delhi was a mini zoo itself!

I used to meet U.M.N. Sheriff whenever he dropped down to Thiruvananthapuram for the International film Festival of Kerala. Many years back I had occasion to interact with S.R. Krishnamurthy in Mumbai while I was doing a Hindi Film “PATITA” and he did some sequences which were re-shot by the Producer Promod Chakraborty in conflict with its Director I.V.Sasi.

Bala Mahendran was from Ceylon ( Sri Lanka) mostly moving around with foreign student community and not the type of person who will mix with people. In contrast was Lai Teck Kwong from Singapore ( 1970 – MPP ) who was always laughing and friendly with all the fellow students. From the same batch, Vinod Gandhi, Kamal Kumar Nayak, Jaya Krishna Patra and Biman Chandra Sinha were all friendly and helpful. Arun Kumar Nigam was noticeable by his pushy and jovial nature.

S.Ramachandra deserves special mention, as he was the room mate of Azad and like Azad he used to call me “Thampy" (younger brother) and was a friendly, affectionate mentor to me. We still keep in touch with each other.

Meeting of FTII graduates from Kerala

2008-06-07T20:17:00.008+05:30

Myself, K.R.Mohanan, Kabeer Rawther & Muralidharan

IFFK 2007

During December 2007 while the International Film Festival of Kerala was taking place at Thiruvananthapuram my senior, C. Muralidharan ( Sound engineer (1970 Batch ) who is based in Mumbai sounded the idea of organizing a get together of FTII graduates during the Festival period. Kabeer Rawther and K.R.Mohanan ( Kerala Chalachitra Academy - Chairman) were also supported the idea. It so happens that many FTII graduates from many other states attend the Film Festival in large numbers. But there are no means of knowing either their presence nor there are enough opportunities to meet them. We were wondering whether to organize a get together in connection with the IFFK.

Recently, on the initiative from Leenus L.K. ( 1993 - Film Direction ) , Rasi ( Art Direction - 1999) and Fr. Benny Benedict (1994 Editing ) a meeting of FTII graduates from Kerala was convened on 27 th May at Thiruvananthapuram. About 25 FTII graduates attended ranging from the earliest to the recent ones, which included John Sankaramangalam, Adoor Gopalakrishnan( 1965), Kabeer Rawther, K.G.George, K.R. Mohananan, V.R. Gopinath, Sunny Joseph, Ajith Kumar, etc.

Since the First Video festival of Kerala was also happening at Thiruvananthapuram during our get together, we had the honour of having Ms Chandita Mukherjee and Mr.Ramani as our guests.

Mr.John Sankaramangalam dwelt at length regarding the First GAFTII association which was formed many years back at Pune. Ms.Chandita explained the details about the formation a new entity called Graftii Foundation at Mumbai.

Finally it was decided to form a core committee for establishing an Alumni association in Kerala and proceed with the required formalities.

I think it is a timely and welcome beginning of friendship and fellowship among the GraFtiians of Kerala!

Ramachandra Babu, Leenus, Fr.Benny & Rasi

(R to L ) Chandita with Sunny & Leenus

John Sankaramangalam, Sunny & K.G.George

Ramani, Jain Joseph, Leenus & Sunny

John Sankaramangalam addressing

the gathering

Myself, Leenus, Rasi, Sunny & Fr.Benny

V.R.Gopinath, K.G.George, Adoor & John

(R to L) Kabeer Rawther, Myself & John

Farewell to Seniors from Kerala

2008-05-26T21:15:00.009+05:30

At the time the Institute was teeming with lot of Malayalis –John Abraham, Devassy (Direction – 1969) P.Bhaskaran Unny, G. Sadasiva Panickkar and A. Kabeer Rawther (Direction – 1970) K.G.George (Direction – 1971) M.Azad ( Screenplay writing – 1970) C. Murlidharan (Sound recording – 1970) and C. Ravindranath Menon ( Ravi Menon) ( Acting – 1970)

Though I, George and Ravi Menon were in the first year we had good rapport with our seniors from Kerala. Azad and Kabeer Rawther were always willing to act as our Godfathers and filled us with their worldly wisdom. One most unassuming person whom I met at the Institute was Raman Nair, who at that time was working at the Film processing laboratories. He was a very mild and soft spoken person who was always ready to help you with his worldy wisdom. He was such a low profile person, I was surprised to learn much later that he was the younger brother of Film Archives P.K.Nair and had passed out from the Institute in the Editing 1966 Batch! Years later while we both settled in Thiruvananthapuram we had opportunity to work together and meet occassionaly. Unfortunately he is no more as he had died a few years back unsung and to me it is still a mystery as to why he worked in the film processing after doing the Editing course?

The most notable person at that time was none other than John Abraham. Many of my encounters with John always ended with my parting with some money for his daily need of “Tarra” the local brew. Most of the time he will be high and with his long hair and beard and unwashed clothes he was a real Hippie! Out of fear, I always avoided crossing his path. But I had to face him on the day when we juniors gave our seniors a farewell party.

Azad and John Abraham

To beard the lion in his den, I thought that I should also have a few drinks at the party so that I will be on par with John! But I was just a novice when it comes to consuming hard liquor. Earlier, I had never taken more than a peg and that too just to feel the taste of it. In the party I gulped two or three pegs of rum and joined the fun. But I soon passed out resulting in a hangover and severe head ache next morning!

Myself and Kabir Raother - 40 years later in 2008

The above photo was taken recently at the get together of FTII Graduates in Thiruvananthapuram. ( Note the change in the spelling of Kabir's name)

More Lifetime Achievement Awards

2008-05-26T20:53:00.009+05:30

Balu Mahendra receiving the Life Time Achivement award from
Producer R.B. Chowdhary

On 1, May 2008, the South Indian Cinematographers Association (SICA) in a colourful function at Chennai presented Life Time Achievement Awards to eminent personalities of the South Indian Film Industry. Amongst those who received the Awards were two of the Alumni from the Film Institute, Pune. They were Balu Mahendra and Myself!

Ramachandra Babu receiving the Life Time Achivement award from
Producer R.B. Chowdhary

Jayadev Award for Surendra Sahu

2008-03-31T07:05:00.004+05:30

I am happy to know that Surendra Kumar Sahu, my classmate had been Awarded the JAYADEV AWARD by the Govt. of Orissa for his LIFE TIME CONTRIBUTION to the growth of Oriya Cinema on 28 Feb. 2008. My congratulations for the ever smiling and hard working Sahu, who had done a lot for the cause of Oriya Cinema. Jaiswal gave me the news and also his phone number and I was able to call him up and convey my happiness and best wishes. Often Sahu used to come to Chennai for the processing of his films and many a times, we used to meet in the corridors of the Laboratory. When Prasad opened their Colour Laboratories at Bhuvaneshwar his visits to Chennai ended. I missed meeting him as I too don’t go Chennai often as Prasad had established a Lab in Thiruvananthapuram too.

Another good friend of mine, who was my senior, S.Ramachandra (1970 – M.P.P. Batch) had also been conferred with a Life Time Achievement Award by the Karnataka Government for his contribution to Kannada Cinema in 2006. Around that time I happened to be at Bangalore in connection with the International Film Festival and I was able to meet and personally congratulate him for this honour.

My Batchmates and Other Friends

2008-01-28T06:34:00.000+05:30

First let me start with the local guys - the always jovial Debu Deodhar ( I always saw him with a permanent laughter on his face) and the quiet R.S Agarwal. They were from Poona and being day scholars we missed their company after study hours. There were two foreign students, Prem Upadhyay from Nepal and Naapo Gbande from Ghana. Prem was almost like an Indian spoke Hindi very well and mixed with all students. Behind the serious looking face of Naapo there was a friendly heart. Below is a photo with him and David Ankora, also from Ghana (Sound – 1971 Batch.)

David Ankora, myself and Naapo Gbande

Surendra Sahu from Orissa, was another fun person to be with and a great friend. Whenever he used to come to Madras, if I am in town we used to meet and exchange letters often. Then there are those Punjabi Trio Anil Dhanda, S.K.Jolly and Harish Gupta, who were boisterous with their Punjabi humour and down to earth nature. Once Anil Dhanda went to Nanded Gurudwara as part of a Documentary Student crew and had brought for me a Stainless steel Kada. Ever since then, I had been wearing that in my right hand and had not removed it even for a single day! I should not leave out dear Venugopal Thakkar though hailing from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, he was more of a North Indian speaking Hindi very well.

On the whole our batch mates were a very friendly and cohesive group of guys and definitely we had a great time of togetherness at the Institute which remains still green in my memories.

Of course there are others in various departments about whom I'll write later on as and when the time comes.

JAISWAL - My Friend

2008-01-23T05:39:00.001+05:30

Of the many friends at the Institute my classmate K.K. Jaiswal stands out as a special person for me. We all got instantly attracted by his sense of humour and rural innocence. He was always jovial, making fun of people and often finds himself being made fun of too. Coming from Allahabad, he was a typical Bhaiya from U.P. with rustic charm and sense of humour. He was always the Joker of the class. Dulal Roy, one of the Editing Students named him Jassu Lal Popatlal Pant. Even as of date, Debu calls him Jassu. Throughout the years, after passing from the Institute in 1971, he kept in contact with me and other friends and regularly sent New Year Greetings or letters keeping in touch with me. Often when I needed to contact any one from our batch, he used to provide me with their whereabouts. Whenever he came down south he used to call me up and I used to inform him about my visits to Bombay. At Bombay he will call up our common friends like Debu Deodhar and Venugopal Thakkar, so that we can have a reunion. Given below is one such reunion which took place at Cinematographers Combine's seminar at Mumbai a few years back.

Myself, Debu Deodhar and K.K.Jaiswal

While at the Institute he took his studies seriously and scored well in the examinations at the end of the First year. At that time ORWO film company was giving a Scholarship for the student who stood First in the class, which happened to be me. But I already was receiving a State Government Scholarship and I had the option of choosing any one of them. I chose the State Government Scholarship so that Jaiswal who was second in order could get the ORWO scholarship. During one of the vacations Jaiswal visited my home at Maduranthakam in Tamil Nadu and stayed there for a few days as my guest, and the picture below was taken during that visit.

Jaiswal (extreme Right) with my brothers, Parents and Grand Mother

He also visited Mahabalipuram and other places too and I hope to get those photos too. Years later during my Visits to Mumbai, whenever possible he used to take me home and I had stayed in his home and experienced the warmth of the hospitality of his parents.

The latest meeting we had was in 2005 when I visited the Institute to conduct a lighting workshop. It might sound odd, but the fact is I never visited my Alma Mater after I graduated from there until December 2005. That was thanks to Jaiswal who insisted that I should come there at any cost. It was a great opportunity to be back at the Institute and to meet some of the old friends like Surendar Chawdhary and other graduates. I also met once again my friend Virendra Saini who was there during my short visit.

Virendra Saini and Me

At present Jaiswal is working as an External Faculty at the Institute in the Cinematography Department

My room mate and friend - K.R. Murthy

2008-01-11T07:37:00.000+05:30

After living for some months in a lodge with some Assamese students of different college, I came to know that there was some vacancy in a room at some distance away from the Institute, Ramachandra Murthy, my class mate was staying in a garage converted room at one end of Prabhat Road with another student from the Institute (neither I nor Murthy could remember the name). Any how I found it better as I could stay with known people and communicate with each other. Moreover Murthy had an electric heater on which he some times cooked food too! The asbestos roofing was hot during day and was quite cold in the winter months and the only consolation was that it was situated at walking distance from the Institute. During that time I had my first encounter with the Winter in Poona, hailing from the warmer climate of southern part of India.

Later in the second year we both got hostel accommodation in a double room and we continued to be room mates. In our final year also we found ourselves together in the same Unit and used to assist each other in film shootings.

Murthy assisting me during my Diploma Film

Murthy became a good friend of mine as he was calm and patient by nature, a vegetarian and had no vices. His endearing nature and perfectionist habits was liked by everybody. He had a lot of interest in things mechanical and soon became a disciple of Shri. Kulkarni, our Instructor. On his spare time he joined Kulkarni Saab and can be seen repairing cameras, lenses etc. Even when Kulkarni Saab came to Chennai after retirement, Murthy used to visit his camera maintenance workshop and repair things down there. Even some of us used to seek his help in fixing minor defects in exposure meters or still cameras.

I did my debut film while in my final year ( more of it later) and I asked Murthy whether he would like to assist me in my feature film work down in south. He agreed and was assisting me for the film being shot at Madras. During my film shooting Balu Mahendra happened to come to Madras and he met both of us there. When Balu's debut film commenced, he requested Murthy to assist him. That was the beginning of a long association with Balu which Murthy still retains. Balu wanted Murthy especially for his expertise in fixing up things. In those days at Madras, films were shot using Academy aperture (1:1.33) and Balu wanted to shoot in Widescreen (1:1.66). But Widescreen format Camera gates were not available at all. Murthy found a solution by masking the upper and bottom portions of the camera gate with very thin copper foil. But there was always a danger of the copper strips displaced especially when the magazine is allowed to run out. In that case it had to be re-fixed again. It was Murthy's job to see that the masking foil is always in proper place all the time. And Murthy became indispensable for Balu!

Murthy had also done several feature films independently as Director of Photography in Malayalam and Telugu. Some of his films are ATHITHI (Dir: K.P.Kumaran - Malayalam) SAPTHPATHI (Dir: K.Viswanath - Telugu)

He started growing a beard in the final year and keeps it up still!

He lives in Chennai and we meet occasionally whenever I visit there. Recently I met him on New Year's day 2008.

Murthy and me at SICA Conference 2007

Trip to Mahabaleshwar

2008-01-10T20:48:00.000+05:30

In the first year as part of our still photography practical we have to take candid, Advertisement, landscape photographs etc. We used to go out early in the mornings to photograph the misty street scenes. We roamed around in the city parks, markets, festivals to capture some candid moments.

A trip for all of us was organized to Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani for landscape photography. On reaching there we all enthusiastically joined in the fun and hired bicycles to travel around in the nearby villages. Unfortunately I did not have enough experience in riding a bicycle and was poor in keeping myself balanced. Still I took a ride bravely and managed it until I reached a downhill road and was picking up speed. A truck was coming up and I got frightened and became extra careful. Ultimately I ended up in a roadside ditch but fortunately there was no damage!

At a Scenic View Point

Portfolio making

2007-12-22T07:16:00.000+05:30

Acting students were more friendly with us Cinematography students for the simple reason that most of our practical classes were with them only. Also they required our help in getting themselves photographed and making their portfolios. When they pass out from the Institute they showed these portfolios to Producers to catch their attention. Instead of going to Professional Photographers who charge huge amounts, they can get it done for pea nuts. Just buy some film and printing paper, and your friendly cinematography student will get the job done for you.

An interesting thing was I never owned a camera during my entire period at the Institute. I used to borrow the cameras from K.R. Muthy ( Yashica 635 - which can be used with 120 as well as 35 mm film) Prem Upadhyay ( Asahi Pentax with 135 mm Tele lens) and K.K. Jaiswal ( Kodak Retina Range Finder Camera with 55 mm lens) .

I had taken the Portfolios of Tshring P (Danny) Denzongpa and Anil Dhawan, but I do not have the negatives of Danny with me.

Anil Dhawan ( 1970)

Asha Chandra was working as Part time Instructor in Acting at that time and on her request I also took some photographs of her for her portfolio.

Asha Chandra

Bhaskar Chandavarkar was the Assistant Professor of Music and he used to give Sitar recital programmes too. For a brochure for one of them he needed some photographs and I obliged him. Later on he did the Music Direction for K.G.George's Debut Malayalam Film SWAPNADANAM for which I did Cinematography. For the film SWAPNADANAM Chandavarkar got the Kerala State Award for Best Music Director (1975) and K.G.George for the Best film of 1975.

Bhaskar Chandavarkar

Being a Malayalee, though she was my junior, I had taken the photos of Jameela Malik (1971) too. Later on she had acted as the main lead in my Malayalam Film RAGGING ( 1973)

Jameela Malik (1971)