Star Interviews
Cinematographer Andrew - Chitchat
By Sri
Aug 20, 2008 - 3:07:57 PM

Andrew

When the film Ullasamgaa Utsahamgaa.. was released, all the reviews that I read had one positive point in common - everyone seemed to have only one opinion about the photography of the film - that it was great! I thought of calling Mr. Andrew, the film's cinematographer, and wanted to congratulate him, but I waited until I saw the film. Once I saw the film, I was really bowled over by the camerawork, with each scene looking like a beautiful postcard-kind greeting or a poster! I called him and congratulated him right then, and we spoke some more. Here are the excerpts from the brief chitchat we had, exclusively presented at TeluguCinema.Com:

Sri: How did your interest in camera start?

Andrew: I am basically from Bangalore. My father used to work for Natural Wildlife. I was thus interested in wildlife since my childhood and I started taking photographs of the wildlife. Later, I started working for fashion photography and the money I thus earned was in turn spent on wildlife photography! I won around 100 National and 20 International awards between 1990 and 1997. I was the youngest wildlife photographer in India to have received the award, among more than 400 participants and 4000 entries!

Sri: Being successful in still photography, how did you choose to join films? How did you get a chance to work under P.C. Sriram?

Andrew: After winning a couple of awards, I was thinking what to do next, and cinema came to my mind immediately, as I was always a movie buff! I packed my luggage went and met my guru P.C. Sriram. After seeing a couple of my pictures, he liked them a lot and agreed to give me an opportunity to assist him. That's the most unforgettable day in my life, because I know how difficult it is to join him.

Sri: Tell me something about your guru Sri P.C. Sriram?

Andrew: He is one of the best human beings and the best guru! I learnt so many things from him - not just technical things but other things too. I assisted him for 5 years ...I worked for a couple of movies and a couple of commercials. I worked for movies like Alai Payuthey (2000) (dubbed as Sakhi in Telugu), Vaanam Vasappadum (2005) (directed by P.C. Sriram), Kadalar Dinam (Premikula Roju in Telugu, directed by Kathir) are some of the films which I worked for. Apart from feature films, I worked for many ad films along with him. We were used to getting involved in post-production and pre-production work tio, including costumes, art, etc. It's very difficult with others, but for me, I can say my guru is God's gift!

Sri: K.V. Anand, Late Jeeva, Thiru are some of the other noted cameramen from among P.C. Sriram disciples, I think...

Andrew: K.V. Anand sir and Late Jeeva are my seniors. Thiru was also my senior but we worked together, I can say..

Sri: Did you work on any other projects?

Andrew: I worked as an operative cameraman for two international projects. One of them was Shadow of the Cobra shot at Ramoji Film City. Another one was Bokshu - The Myth shot in the Himalayas and directed by renowned Malayalam film director Shyamprasad. The latter won many awards in film festivals...

Sneha Ullal and Yaso sagar in Ullasamga Utsahamgaa

Sri: Did you do any ad films on your own?

Andrew: I did a lot of ad commercials on my own. Some of them include Cadbury's chocolates, South Indian Bank, Ideal Cooker, Corporation Bank, Xtron Chian, Pullimoothil Silk, Matrubhoomi magazine, Preethi mixie, and Original Choice Soda.

Sri: How did you get to know Karunakaran?

Andrew: Karunakaran worked with Kathir for the film Kaadal Desam (Premadesam in Telugu). One of the film's associates was a common friend for both of us. When Karunakaran was looking for cameraman for his movie, our friend arranged a meeting between us and it worked out. Karunakaran is very sensible director and I'd love to work with him in future too. (Andrew will be working Karunakaran's next movie.)

Sri: Where was the movie shot mostly?

Andrew: Entire movie was shot in and around Hyderabad city and Kolkata, while two songs were canned in Malaysia.

Sri: What filters did you use to enrich the lush green look in the film? Or, was the enhancement done during Digital Intermediate (DI)?

Andrew: Throughout the film, I used "En-hancer" filter to add more richness to green and other colors. During DI, I didn't use any technical faculties for this purpose because my filter had already given me more colors! I didn't even shift any colors or add any colors during DI.

Andrew in Tamil film shooting

Sri: But, such a quality of film without DI is not usually possible. Was there a special film that you chose?

Andrew: I used Kodak 5201, 5205, 5218 stocks - not all cameramen would normally use this stock. We used wet effect to bring the monsoon feel through the entire film.

Sri: Which type of camera did you use for Ullasamgaa Utsahamgaa..?

Andrew: I used the Arri 435ES.

Sri: What are your future projects?

Andrew: In Telugu, I am working for Sumanth's film produced by Ramana Gogula under the direction of Mr. Raj Pippalla, who was also an ad film director in the past. The film is sixty percent complete. ...One of my Tamil films, titled Sakkarakatti, is getting released next month. It has music by A.R. Rahman... I am personally a big fan of Rahman! One of my Hindi films Mitti - Ek Prem Katha, which was sent to some film festivals is going to release soon too.

Interview: Sri Atluri
Edited by: NaChaKi

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