Star Interviews
Chit Chat : Manoj Paramahamsa
By Sri
Mar 10, 2010 - 3:08:41 PM

Gautam Menon and Manoj paramahamsa on the sets of Yem Maya Chesavo

Cameraman Manoj Paramahamsa shot to fame with the recent Gowtham Menon's film Ye Maaya Chesave. The film was made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil (as Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya. The film got good reviews and everyone praised the excellent camerawork in the film. I called Gowtham Menon to find out more about the cinematographer, got his number from Gowtham, and I called Manoj to set an appointment for the interview. We agreed to talk the next day and excerpts of our telephonic conversation are presented here as an exclusive chitchat for TC.Com readers.

Sri: Your name is different...
Manoj: (Laughs) My father is an ardent fan of hero Manoj Kumar of Hindi films and also likes Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's preachings. You now understand...

Sri: Tell me about your background.
Manoj: I was born and brought up in Chennai but we belong to Andhra Pradesh. My father was born in Kandukuru and studied there. He came to Madras upon completing his studies with the help of film director Gopala Krishna of Veera Pooja. Gopala Krishna gaaru joined him in the Film Institute and later as an assistant to Mr. V.N. Reddy gaaru. My father later worked under directors like Bheem Singh and a few others as an assistant and later turned a director himself. As a director, my father made six films in all, in Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam.

Sri: It's interesting to know that your dad was a director too. What was his name? What films did he direct?
Manoj: U.V. Babu is the name. He directed the film Pagadala Padava (1980) with the now-popular director S.V. Krishna Reddy as hero (with screen name "Kalyan") and Pallavi as the herione. The film had a limited release and was a flop; it was also the debut film for ace cameraman Kannan (who was a permanent cameraman for veteran director Bharati Raja). My dad then made a film titled Santhi Nivasam with Chiranjeevi and Madhavi in the lead. Th film completed all shooting except for two songs, the audio was released too, but the exposed film rolls were misplaced at Sharada Studios before going to the censor - the studio was shifting its location and thus there was commotion all over - we never found the reels until now and thus that film never saw light! He later did a film called Swatantraaniki Oopiri Poyandi (1987) with Chandramohan and Silk Smitha in the lead. This film was appreciated by critics and was an average fare at the box-office. He then made Vasudha (1992) in Malayalam, starring Saikumar, Maniyanpilla Raju, Rajan P. Dev, Ravi, Charu Hasan, Rekha, Kanaka, Smitha and others. He later made a film called Bandaru Picchodu with yesteryears' handsome hero Haranath's cousin Subbaraju and Krishnaveni, which also ended up as an average flick. He later made some documentaries and telefilms too. That way, I was connected to films even before I was born (laughs). I used to attend shootings even when I was a kid. After school, I used to go directly to studios and see how films were made. Also my paternal uncle is also a cameraman, and he works in Doordarshan now.

Sri: So, did you also pursue any course in the Film Institute like your father ?
Manoj: Indeed, I completed cinematography course in Madras Film Institute. Arivazhagan Venkatachalam, who made the Tamil film Eeram (starring Raviraja Pinisetti's son Aadi and Chandamama fame Sindhu Menon in the lead), was my classmate in the Institute.

Manoj Paramahamsa

Sri: Did you work as assistant with someone before your worked for Eeram?
Manoj: I was an assistant to Saravanan sir. My first film as an assistant was Kamal Hasan-Simran starrer Pammal K. Sambandham (Brahmachari in Telugu). I also worked as an assistant for more Tamil films such as Arasatchi, Priyamana Thozhi (remake of Telugu film Priyamaina Neeku), Madhurey, Thirupacchi (remade as Annavaram in Telugu) and Tirupathi; I also worked for Vishnu and Bhadradri Ramudu in Telugu.

Sri: Tell me about the film Eeram.
Manoj: Eeram is a thriller and directed by my classmate and friend Arivazhagan. Shankar sir saw my work and asked me to join the team when my friend was doing the film. It was like a dream come true to work for Shankar's banner! A lot of graphics and special effects work was used in the film. We finalized almost 10-15 locations to suit the scenes in the film; all indoor scenes were shot in one set. As the film was a supernatural thriller, we chose to take water as an element so that it'd be easy to create graphics with water as an element. We used HDRI (High Dimension Resolution Images) for the first time in India to create the necessary imagery. Though we were not really familiar with that at first, we read a lot of books and experimented with a lot of things before we started to shoot, and the efforts finally paid off.

Sri: How did you join Gowtham?
Manoj: After seeing Eeram, Gowtham sir called and offered me Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikalam film...

Sri: But that was much before Vettaiyadu-Vilayadu (Raghavan in Telugu) happened...
Manoj: No, Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikalam was called off at that time. This was after Vaaranam Aayiram (Surya S/o Krishnan in Telugu). Later, he changed the idea and we did Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya now. When the film was half-complete, we started the Telugu version Yem Maaya Chesave in Telugu.

Sri: What different things did you try in this film?
Manoj: Usually, love stories have colorful background, but Gowtham sir asked me to make it more white and wide for this flick, which is something novel. As the heroine's character in the film is from Chirstian community, white color was used a lot - for the heroine's house, the church, etc. - since white is seen to represent Christianity.

Sri: What are the differences between the Tamil and Telugu versions?
Manoj: We shot two songs in Italy for Tamil version, but we didn't have time to do that for the Telugu version and so we shot them in India and the USA instead. Rest of the film is all pretty much the same.

Sri: What are your next plans and projects?
Manoj: I worked for Suresh Gopi's film in Malayalam recently. I am right now working for Gowtham Menon's film with Tabu, Sameera Reddy, and two new girls, and this film would be ready by April. His next film is already in the pipeline...

I wished him all the best and concluded the conversation.

Interview: Sri Atluri
Edited by: NaChaKi

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