They Name Him OG, director Sujeeth’s Telugu motion drama led by Pawan Kalyan, is holding fort in theatres in its second week, and its director of images Ravi K Chandran is happy with the reception to the movie and his work. His cinematography, together with AS Prakash’s manufacturing design, Darshan Jalan and Neelanchal Kumar Ghosh’s costume design, gave OG a retro-themed aesthetic.
Presently in Hyderabad filming director Sudha Kongara and actor Sivakarthikeyan’s Tamil movie Parasakthi, Ravi Ok Chandran is but to expertise the OG frenzy in theatres. When he settles down for an interview, he discloses that he watched the movie together with actors Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan at a personal screening.
Nevertheless, he acquired a style of the fan frenzy through the pre-release occasion. “I feel Pawan Kalyan is the primary largest industrial celebrity I’ve labored with,” he says. His profession spanning practically 4 a long time has memorable movies corresponding to Viraasat, Black, Dil Chahta Hai, Ghajini, Fanaa, My Name is Khan, Rab de Bana di Jodi, Paheli and 4 Mani Ratnam movies, together with the current Kamal Haasan-starrer Thug Life. Gauging my bewildered response, the cinematographer provides, “The mania that industrial superstars within the South corresponding to Rajinikanth, Vijay, or Pawan Kalyan generate is totally different from the celebrities of Hindi cinema. Pawan Kalyan’s political presence additional amplifies the frenzy.”
Chandran first collaborated with Pawan Kalyan for Bheemla Nayak, the Telugu adaptation of the Malayalam movie Ayyappanum Koshiyum. Kalyan’s introduction shot, as he emerges from a darkly-lit zone, elicited cheers within the theatres. The retro theme of OG gave Chandran additional scope to experiment. “Initially some have been sceptical if the darker palette would enchantment to the audiences. Sujeeth and I have been assured. Not simply visually, you’ll not discover Kalyan’s signature mannerisms right here.”
References from the Nineteen Eighties
For the reason that story is ready within the Bombay of the Nineties, with flashbacks taking the narrative additional again at common intervals, Chandran and Sujeeth selected a Nineteen Eighties-inspired retro search for the movie. Kalyan sports activities shirts with giant collars, and excessive waist trousers. The retro quotient is pronounced within the styling of characters performed by Emraan Hashmi and others.
Ravi Ok Chandran with director Sujeeth
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OG was a three-year journey that commenced in August 2022. “I favored Sujeeth’s imaginative and prescient,” says Chandran, who strives to make his movies stand the check of time. “The trouble is at all times to try to make every movie memorable. Sujeeth’s earlier movie Saaho was additionally visually good (by R Madhi). So when he approached me, I needed to make it worthwhile.”
When Chandran teamed up with Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Black, he leveraged the story’s potential to maneuver away from the colorful, opulent palette of Bhansali’s movies corresponding to Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas. When he first collaborated with Mani Ratnam for Kannathil Muthamittal, he was acutely aware that the director had earlier labored with legendary cinematographers corresponding to PC Sreeram and Santhosh Sivan. Chandran was decided to do one thing new.
He reminisces, “For Black, we filmed the scene wherein Rani Mukherji goes to the church on the primary day. There was no snow. The manufacturing group labored late into the night time , and all of us reached the placement at 3am. We started filming as the primary rays of the solar got here out. For the primary 13 days, we filmed at daybreak and at sundown through the magic hour. Bhansali joked that I drew him out of indoor units and made him embrace a Mani Ratnam aesthetic.”
Signature photographs
For OG, a few of the signature photographs have been filmed within the first few days. “Pawan Kalyan rising from smoke and the the other way up shot close to the Gateway of India have been among the many first to be filmed. Seeing the outcomes, we knew we have been heading in the right direction,” says Chandran.
He mentions how Pawan Kalyan was sport to experiment. “He arrived earlier than 5am, as requested, and we filmed. Equally, for the sequence wherein he teaches Aikido to the youngsters, initially he had allotted half a day. On location, he was impressed by the body that he noticed by the digicam, and stayed on for 3 days in Panchgani. He’s intuitive, understands the play of sunshine and acts accordingly.”
The ‘Suvvi Suvvi’ tune was shot within the morning hours, and the crew waited a day for the clouds to clear up. “We might have used lights to imitate the dawn hour or achieved one thing in publish manufacturing, however I needed to make use of pure mild,” says Chandran.
Priyanka Arul Mohan and Ravi Ok Chandran
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The preliminary shoot concerned actual places, earlier than the crew moved to the units. The lour palette was stored earthy to keep up uniformity.
For the reason that movie seemed darker than different Pawan Kalyan movies, Chandran was eager to gauge the response from Gen Z audiences. After the movie’s launch, when Kalyan’s son Akira known as to thank Chandran, he knew they’d made the precise name.
Arthouse meets mainstream
Chandran’s inventive visuals in a massy Pawan Kalyan movie just isn’t one thing one would have anticipated a number of years in the past. The cinematographer factors out how sudden collaborations have spelt magic in Hollywood. Citing the instance of Skyfall, he says, “That was the one Bond movie in 50 years to get an Academy Award nomination for cinematography. When an arthouse cinematographer like Roger Deakins and director Sam Mendes teamed up, it resulted in gorgeous visuals. Skyfall additionally turned the best grosser amongst Bond movies on the time.”
Reverting to debate OG, Chandran says because the filming was paused intermittently owing to Pawan Kalyan’s political profession, he additionally took up Thug Life, Mani Ratnam’s gangster movie, however was acutely aware to make each movies look totally different. For a short interval when his dates overlapped together with his different tasks or when he confronted a well being setback, cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa stepped in.
Having begun his profession with the 1991 Malayalam movie Kilukkampetti, after spending a number of years as assistant cinematographer, Chandran says the Malayalam movie business, which works with decrease budgets, encourages experiments. He notes how stalwarts like PC Sreeram additionally started with Malayalam cinema, and provides, “My son (Santhana Krishnan) started in Malayalam earlier than taking over Hindi movies like Baaghi 2, Kabir Singh, Baaghi 3 and Param Sundari.”
Science-backed ideas
At 60, Chandran credit the success of his work to striving to remain abreast with expertise. Within the pre-digital period, taking pictures on movie known as for self-discipline, since one couldn’t afford the margin of error. Now, as crews use AI for pre-visualisation, he says it’s necessary to study the science: “I’m at all times taking over some on-line course, to know what errors we’re committing unknowingly. For instance, I learnt how one can keep away from burnout when daylight streams by a big glass panel. As a substitute of utilizing white curtain, the trick is to make use of a shade of gray that may seem white when captured on a digital digicam. Movie cameras, quite the opposite, would retain the unique color.”
Chandran affords one other science-backed tip: “Utilizing barely harsh mild for light-eyed actors like Hrithik Roshan or Aishwarya Rai will make them squint and seize the true eye color. If softer mild is used, their pupils will dilate and the black will dominate the sunshine eye color.”
For OG, he carried out check shoots for some parts. Think about the motion episode filmed from high angle, the place the brutality is obvious by the streaks of blood splashed on the gunny sac-like cowl. “We did a check shoot with a stunt double, made corrections after which filmed with Pawan Kalyan. The brown cowl, quite than white, helped keep away from a gory look. In a number of sequences, hearth was a component. Editor Navin Nooli did a superb job in making the pre-interval sequences seem cohesive, as hearth rages on in Nashik, and on the Mumbai port.”
Occasional use of purple tones have been to concur with the Japanese flag proven within the preliminary parts. The metaphorical Yin and Yang, with a spot of darkness offsetting lighter tones, and white sometimes offsetting darker tones, was additionally a acutely aware selection.
Chandran displays, “Mani Ratnam and PC Sreeram revolutionised Indian cinema once they experimented with darker tones. At each step, there have been visionaries. Bharathiraja took Tamil cinema to the agricultural background, Mani Ratnam modified the visible language when he entered, then Shankar introduced in scale and ambition, and finally Rajamouli gave scale and emotional storytelling a distinct spin.” Chandran additionally mentions the noteworthy work achieved by cinematographers corresponding to Ashok Kumar, Tirru, KV Anand, Jeeva, Ravi Varman, and Manikandan, amongst others.
Chandran doesn’t work with the identical director incessantly, to keep away from the consolation zone. “I break free from the signature lighting and visible type of a director, and in addition select numerous genres. How a movie performs on the field workplace just isn’t in our arms, however I’ve noticed how some movies develop on the viewers with time. Iruvar, Kandukondain Kandukondain, and Kannathil Muthamittal are a number of examples. Even Thalapathy and Dil Chahta Hai had respectable runs on the field workplace, however weren’t blockbusters. However individuals keep in mind and rewatch these movies until date. My effort is to make my movies additionally stand out visually, whereas not taking the eye away from the storytelling.”