Issue 2, 2010 Volume 7 - Kodak

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Do you get the equipment and stock you
want?
We suffer a lot. Availability of good lenses to a
good quality camera harangues us always.
The lens is the eye of the camera, the lens is
prime. What we get here is for me a third
hand camera, not even second hand!
Supposing we could get Panavision cameras,
it would have been great. Some Arri 4s have
come into the market, but the lenses are still
old. Getting a good lab is also a problem. The
standard of Kodak Image Lab out there in
Mumbai is a dream for us, we cannot afford to
do our processing there due to stiff budgetary
constraints. Bengali films suffer due to budget
as the market is only regional and hence
limited. If you have a good director with
excellent technical concepts, the results are
bound to be good. But that is, a bit rare, I
might say. Here mostly the production
manager takes up all the responsibilities, and
force us to work not exactly up to the mark.
Supposing you have a three-storey house, the
light cannot be thrown up to the second
storey even. Equipments are a major problem
for me. Once I asked for a 16 mm camera, but
it gave me soft focus. 16 mm is more difficult
than 35 mm, when blown up to 35 mm the
focus goes out. Photography is the platform,
cinematography is the look and eye of the
film.”
For me 100ASA-EXR or Extended Range is a
favourite, I use 5219 500T — very good
contrast film with excellent latitude, I can use
differing filters in this Kodak stock both for
indoors and outdoors. I use mostly Tungsten
films, I am yet to use Daylight stocks, they are
a bit risky for indoors, I must use a blue filter
which would decrease the speed, conversion
gets difficult.
“I insist on using
Kodak stock for its
rich, golden tone.
It brings out
magnificently the skin
tones of an actor,
I can freely play
with light and shade
with Kodak stock ”
Musolmanir Galpo
I insist on using Kodak stock for its rich, golden tone. It brings out magnificently the skin tones of an
actor, I can freely play with light and shade with Kodak stock. In one case, I was shooting using
cinemascope, which creates problems with lenses as it is. But since I was using Kodak stock I could
work very smoothly, that way Kodak has no parallel.
About Day for Night I am yet to use it — lot of lights would be needed which is a waste in our
shoestring budget here. Many mathematical problems would have to be worked out, the night sky
we see is deep, one has to look out for the exposure, the sky can have 8, the face of the actor 4,
then sky must be done one stop under.
Normally after 4 p.m. daylight keeps decreasing fast, reflected light decreases with it. I try to finish
within 4 p.m. Some directors draw the shooting after 4 or 5 p.m. even, no sky glare is there. I do not
like working in this kind of time. Artificial lights do not match with daylight and the mismatch can
be detected.
For me, mood lighting is all important, in Ratan Adhikary’s film there was a night-scene, I enquired
about the time, he said about 2 to 2.30 p.m. at night. Then inside the room may be only the night
lamp would remain as source, outside spill light from streetlights in a verandah outside. Many
directors discuss all this in detail with me.
In a film called Khannan there were white-washed walls to be shot. I made the art director Samir
Kundu make four different whites on the walls, on which I did the lighting, each using a different
pattern. Inside the room cross lighting is essential to avert reflected light coming from the white
walls. 5219 500T is my favourite stock.
Is Cube projection an answer to bad projection?
Cube loses all details in long-throw long shots or even panoramic views. Mid or close shot is okay.
Due to monetary problems my answer is analog which I prefer most. I can control the shot
compositions etc. all in the final print. Dilipranjan Mukherjee used to say it is better to be abused by
one inside the sets than be abused by lakhs on screen. He insisted on quality camerawork.
What about low-key shots?
For low-key, the negative thins out, I prefer mid-key.
And the actors' skin tones?
When I was working with make-up artistes like Debi Haldar, I used to tell them to give an orange
touch to fair skins, on blackish skin no make-up at all. I have seen artistes of the stature of Shashi
Kapoor and Jeetendra or Rakesh Roshan or Rajendra Kumar not using much make-up at all.
Where Black and White is concerned, I did only one documentary by Bibek Banerjee called
Kidnapped, it was very tough controlling the grey scales. People, after using Black and White once,
feel they have to learn lots more.
Musolmanir Galpo
“ The
DOP should be
Amal Neerad was preparing for the shoot
of his third feature, Anwar,
when K B Venu met him at Kochi.
like a meek wife ”
Amal Neerad carved his niche as a stylish cinematographer and filmmaker, armed with his excellent academic background as an alumnus of
the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and an unflinching commitment to mainstream cinema. Amal’s diploma film won the national
award for best cinematographer in the short feature section. Later he stayed in Berlin for two years as part of an exchange programme and
made a short film called Fourth World. Before starting his career as a filmmaker Amal had his stint as cinematographer with the Varma Corpora-
tion. Both the Malayalam feature films he directed were commercial hits and had attracted the young audience in the State.
How did your passion for films begin
sprouting?
Right from high school days my dream was to
join for direction course at the FTII. The year I
graduated from Maharaja’s College,
Ernakulam, was a zero admission year at FTII.
So I started doing my post graduation. Again,
the next year also was a zero year in the
Institute. At that time, the Satyajit Ray Film
and Television Institute had started
functioning in Kolkata and I joined its first
batch as a student of cinematography.
W h y d i d y o u j o i n a s a s t u d e n t o f
cinematography?
I had in fact applied for the direction course.
At that time, the film institutes in the country
had insisted that students of cinematography
and editing should possess a degree in
science. History was my subject for
graduation. But a science degree was optional
according to the SRFTI rules. I had a stint as a
still photographer during my college days and
won several accolades in youth festivals for
photography. I had some stills with me when I
appeared for the interview. The board,
comprising of stalwarts of the Satyajit Ray era
were impressed by those stills. They advised
me to opt for cinematography and I agreed.
Perhaps I am the first ever cinematography
student in the country without a science
degree, to study in a national film institute. I
had won a National Award for best
cinematographer for my diploma film, Meena
Jha, in the short feature section. At that time,
there was a German exchange programme
going on. As part of the programme, I went to
Berlin along with a direction student in the
SRFTI. We spent two years there and did a
short film called Fourth World. I wrote the
script and wielded camera for the film. It was
shot in 35 mm format and was shown in
several film festivals across the country.
Why did you go to Bollywood before entering
the Malayalam industry?
My decision was to work in Malayalam films.
In fact I was determined not to migrate to
Bollywood. Most of the students passing out
from national film institutes chose to work in
other languages, especially Hindi. They went
to Mumbai either from Pune or from Kolkata. I
had some regional spirits when I passed out
from the Institute. I spent two years in Kerala,
waiting for chances to work in Malayalam
films. Though I had two short films to my
credit, one a National Award winner and the
other made in Berlin, nobody showed any
interest in me. Many directors appreciated my
showreel but there was no space for me in
their films. They said the producers were not
interested in experimenting with a new
cinematographer. But since I was active in
making advertisement films, I had no financial
problems. By October 2003, I got a call from a
director belonging to the Varma Corporation
who had watched my diploma film. I sent him
the showreel. Since Ram Gopal Varma was
the producer of the film, the next day itself I
got the flight ticket. I went to Mumbai and did
the film James with them. Then came the
Malayalam film Black, directed by Ranjith. I
came to Kerala almost like a cinematographer
belonging to the Bollywood, did the film and
went back. I worked two more films for Varma
Corporation—Darna Zaroori Hain and Shiva.
Then came your directorial debut, Big B…
It was because of Mammootty who was doing
the lead role in Black that I could do my first
film. While I was shooting for Black, I was not
aware of the norms of the Malayalam film
industry and was not very close to the hero.
However, after this film, it was Mammootty
himself who expressed willingness to listen to
a script if I had one to narrate. At that time
Varma Corporation had asked me to direct a
film for them. But I chose to work this project
with Mammootty because I wanted to do my
debut film in that kind of a space. Mammootty
is the only star in Malayalam who provides a
comfortable working space for a debutant
director. The entire crew comprise fresh
hands — the director, scriptwriter,
cinematographer, editor, costume designer,
poster designer… almost everyone in the
technical crew were debutants. We all got this
opportunity because Mammootty was willing
to work with such a team.
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