Ramachandra Babu’s illustrious career as cinematographer spans through almost four decades with around 125 films to his credit. A veteran who is dear to both art house and commercial filmmakers has the credit of being the cameraman of the first 70 mm film in Malayalam. Ramachandra Babu’s association with almost all the land mark films in Malayalam is evident in his rich filmography. He won the award for best cinematographer in Kerala four times. The master technician who keeps abreast of the latest trends in cinematography speaks to K B VENU on his experiences as a cinematographer.
INTERVIEW/RAMACHANDRA BABU
By K B Venu
Was cinema your first love before joining the FTII?
I did my graduation in Chemistry from Loyola College, Chennai. I had studied basics of photography and related chemical processes as part of my course. Then I bought a still camera and some chemicals and started developing and printing the pictures I had taken. That was a process of self learning. Along with photography I had developed an interest in water colour painting. My aim was to join Santiniketan and learn painting. But they were offering a five year course. It was impossible for me to spend another five years there after graduation. So I decided to apply in the FTII. I never thought I will get an admission to the Institute because there were only 12 seats in the national level. But the interviewers asked questions on my paintings because I had my paintings with me. I scored well and got admitted without much difficulty. Before joining the Institute I used to watch a lot of English movies in Chennai. I became a great appreciator of Freddie Young who wielded camera for David Lean’s films Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and Ryan’s Daughter… He is a cinematographer I have drawn inspiration from. After joining the Institute I was fully immersed in the world of cinema. The campus itself was different. Hippie culture was a craze. Osho Rajneesh’s ashram was established in Pune at that time.
Have you also been carried away by those waves?
I was not related with any of those movements. But an editing student in the senior batch called Bhaskaran Unni joined Osho’s ashram after studies, became his disciple and went off to Germany. We haven’t heard of him after that.
How did you enter your professional life as a cinematographer?
My batch mate Azad used to bring veteran filmmakers like P N Menon, Ramu Kariat and M T Vasudevan Nair to the campus as visiting faculty. Azad had worked as assistant director in a film called Kuttyedathy directed by P N Menon and scripted by M T. Once when I went to Chennai during my final year, John Abraham was planning to direct a film to be written by Azad. They had fixed S Ramachandra, who was Azad’s room mate in the Institute hostel, as cameraman. They asked me to assist him in the project. But Ramachandra, being partially handicapped due to an attack of polio, couldn’t take up the assignment because John had planned a number of hand held shots in the film. After Ramachandra declined the offer John asked me whether I was confident of shooting the film. Incidentally, the Institute remained closed for a while due to a students strike. This period coincided with the shooting schedule of John’s film. And I became an independent cinematographer without working as assistant to anyone. That movie, Vidyarthikale Ithile Ithile, was the debut of John Abraham as director, Azad as screenwriter and me as cinematographer. The movie came out in 1972.
That was not a typical John Abraham type movie. Was it a commercial success too?
The film had good star cast including Madhu, Jayabharathi, Adoor Bhasi and Manorama; good songs composed by M B Sreenivasan and many other finer aspects. But the shooting got delayed owing to so many problems and the movie was not properly promoted. Finally it became a commercial failure.
Then how did you come to the mainstream of Malayalam cinema?
The industry began to recognize me after I did K G George’s directorial debut Swapnadanam and M T Vasudevan Nair’s debut, Nirmalyam. Both these films received many accolades in State and national levels. I also did Ekakini by G S Panicker, another product of the Film Institute, during that period. All these films were shot in black and white. The first film I shot in colour was Dweep, directed by the legendary Ramu Kariat. The film, shot in Eastman Colour, brought me the Kerala State award for best cinematography in colour in the year 1976.
The late Seventies was a transition period in Malayalam cinema as far as cinematography is concerned. More and more movies were made in colour. How do you evaluate that experience of transition?
Colour films available at that time were slower. We had to shoot with 125 ASA films which made it difficult to shoot night scenes because extra lights and other facilities were needed. And we had to wait till the yellowish light of the morning to disappear. Again the shooting had to be stopped at mid day when there was top light. After five in the evening, again there will be yellowish tint in sunlight. The variation in colour temperature used to be registered prominently in films available those days. Artificial lights also had to be used carefully, because the bulbs had varying colour temperatures. Colour correction was a tiresome activity. Lilies had to be made first. Lilies were made by joining two frames of each shot. Prints of the lilies will be corrected first. Then one reel will be printed and corrected. That way, post production, especially printing, known as subtractive printing, was a laborious process. Now we have additive printing, using a colour analyzer.
The latest process is DI or digital intermediate. The entire film will be scanned and digitized first. Then we can select any part and manipulate colours or effects. In short, cinematography has become easier now. Even special effects were done in camera during the olden days. Shooting double roles, for example, was quite time consuming. Sometimes problems will be detected after taking the print and entire scenes had to be shot again. Now special effects are created by the graphics department.
Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, for which you got the State Award for best cinematography in 1989, was a period film that demanded a different colour scheme. How far could you make use of advanced technology in that movie?
That film was shot in cinemascope. In fact cinemascope was not profusely used in Malayalam at that time. The first ever Malayalam film shot in cinemascope was Alavudinum Albhuthavilakkum, released in 1979.
I thought it was a movie called Thacholi Ambu…
That movie was released first. But the first Malayalam movie in cinemascope is Alavudinym Albhuthavilakkum. We planned it as a multi language film, both in Malayalam and Tamil, with superstars Kamal Hassan and Rajani Kanth in the lead roles. Then, naturally the production schedule was delayed and Thacholi Ambu got released first.
You have the credit of being the cinematographer of Padayottam, the first 70 mm movie in Malayalam, too.
Yes. Usually 70 mm movies were shot using 65 mm camera and 65 mm negative. Then it will be printed in 70 mm. 65 mm camera was not available in India. Sholay, the first 70 mm movie in India, was shot in cinemascope and the negative was taken to London to be blown up. Padayottam also was shot in cinemascope. But it was processed in Prasad Laboratory, Chennai. So Padayottam is the first 70 mm movie processed in India. Several aspects had to be taken care of while processing that movie. When we blow up the negative shot in cinemascope, there is a probability of losing sharpness. So even while shooting the movie, clarity and sharpness must be ensured. Padayottam had six track stereophonic sound. Recording of effects itself took a whole month. All the six tracks had to be mixed properly to ensure quality of sound in theatres. The test print was screened in a 70 mm theatre in Chennai to make sure that it is perfect. The same print was screened in all the four releasing centres in Kerala in the presence of the director, cinematographer, sound engineer and lab technicians. Projection and sound system were corrected in all the centres before the release of the movie. In Thiruvananthapuram they had to replace the existing screen because it was not big enough.
We were talking about Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha…
That movie was also shot in cinemascope. Technologically we had some limitations at that time. We didn’t have the desired range of wide angle lenses. The camera was brought from Mumbai. The movie demanded a particular pattern of lighting since its background was an ancient period in Kerala history. We needed the yellowish tint of oil lamps in night sequences and interior scenes. This tint can be created either at the time of printing or by using filters at the time of shooting. But I used dimmers profusely to control lights and created the desired atmosphere.
Which was the most challenging movie in your career?
Each movie poses a new challenge to me. I never want to repeat myself. I try to be innovative in each movie. Some movies demand innovation because the subject will be unique. There will be more opportunities for experimentation. Day for Night shooting is a challenging experience, for example. Night scenes covering a vast panoramic area should be shot in day light and make the spectators feel that it’s night time. This is called Day for Night shoot. The spectators expect more details in night scenes. If a night scene is portrayed exactly like we see things during night, practically nothing will be there on the screen. Cinematographers usually try out two methods for shooting night scenes. One method is to shoot the scene during dusk time. At that time there will be faint light and necessary details for the scene. But the problem is that this ambience and light is short lived. Only half an hour or so will be available for shooting. The crew will be under pressure to finish shooting within this ‘magic hour.’ If the scene is lengthy, it will take four or five days for finishing the shooting. The second method is to shoot the scene in bright sunlight and create a feeling that it is shot during night time. In this method sky should be avoided because it always remains bright and white. Dark background should be selected. Front lights should be minimized. In the movie Padayottam there is a chess dance sequence on board of a boat during the night. There were around thirty dancers in the scene apart from the crowd. The sky, river, the nearby hill and other details should be visible. There is a palace on the hill and that also had to be lit up for the scene. We planned to shoot all the long shots during the ‘magic hour.’ But the work had to begin by afternoon. And we could take only one or two shots a day. So we used an additional camera and finished the long shots. But the result is visible in the movie.
Your latest work, Yugapurushan is a period piece essaying the life of Sri Narayana Guru. How was the experience?
Historic events that took place a century back have been portrayed in this movie. We shot extensively in Kerala and other states. But the places associated with the life of Sri Naryana Guru have undergone tremendous transformations. There are electric posts and mobile towers everywhere. Many shrines have been renovated with concrete structures. So we made huge sets and resorted to digital intermediate to a great extent.
You have the distinction of having worked with all the prominent filmmakers of the seventies and eighties. How was the director-cinematographer relationship those days?
Since there were no camera monitors the director had to take his cameraman much into confidence. The director had to depend on the cinematographer for a number of technical matters. There is a fight in the climax sequence of I V Sasi’s film Itha Ividevare. It had to be shot in rain, in a lake. The scene was shot in a pond behind the studio with artificial rain using a motor pump. I was dissatisfied with the very first shot. I opined that the climax scene lacked the desired effect. The rain and wind should be more powerful. Besides we won’t be able to take long shots in this set up. To make the scene effective a fire engine and propeller should be used. The propeller, made using an aircraft engine, had to be brought from AVM Studio in Chennai. It needs a special lorry for transportation and there will be people accompanying it. Arc brute light must be used. This light is operated in direct current and has a special generator. The light itself is huge and needs at least four people to lift it up. These lights also had to be brought from Chennai. The director said we compromise on these technical aspects and shoot the climax. But the producer suggested that the climax be shot in Chennai where all these facilities were available and the director agreed.
Finally your craving for perfection succeeded.
There are many such experiences in my professional life. Another climax sequence, that of Bharathan’s film Rathinirvedam, was in fact shot again in Chennai upon my insistence. Nelliyampathi in Kerala was the main location and the entire movie was shot there. But when we watched the movie after editing there was a feeling that the climax scene lacked punch. We moved to Chennai’s Arunachalam Studio. There was a tree almost akin to the one in the movie’s climax scene. We recreated the same atmosphere there and shot the scene once again with rain and wind.
One of your most memorable works in the eighties was Yavanika.
I am a very intimate friend of K G George, who directed Yavanika. He was my batch mate in the Institute. We had stayed together in Chennai for some time immediately after our studies. I was the cameraman of his debut work Swapnadanam. We continued that director-cinematographer relationship for many more films. I used to be with almost all his projects from the very beginning. We have developed a perfect way of communication both personally and professionally. I can understand George’s creative thoughts even if he doesn’t utter a single word. Yavanika is a movie about the murder of a tabla player performing for a professional drama troupe. There are a number of scenes in the film where parts of the play are staged. The lighting had to be very carefully orchestrated in such occasions. When the play is staged there are in fact different lights--the artificial lights used by the drama troupe, the light just behind the stage, the light falling on the audience and the natural light outside. The artistes wore different attire and make up when they appeared in real life and on the stage as actors. Their faces looked oily just after removing the make up. There were a lot of variations in lighting, appearance of actors and ambience. Most of the scenes were night sequences. Yavanika was altogether a wonderful experience.
Do you feel the young generation of filmmakers lack the gravity of thought that their predecessors possessed?
The subjects chosen for films were interesting and serious those days. Filmmakers of the new generation select superficial subjects. Though they are well advanced in visual technology, they are losing individuality. I mean, because they tend to create clean and sophisticate frames all the time, we can’t identify and point out individual talents. Almost all works look the same. Visual manipulation using graphics and digital intermediate makes it difficult to find out who the original author of a shot is. This becomes all the more difficult when movies are considered for awards. It is no more a level playing field.
Is celluloid losing its supremacy?
Celluloid has a distinct quality because it is an analogue medium. This quality is lacking in digital medium. For example, listen to a violin performance both in analogue and digital media. The real harmony will be lost in digital medium. Film or celluloid has continuity. In digital medium the pixel to pixel blanks remain unfilled. We are missing something there. Celluloid has archival quality. It can be watched again and again. We are still watching movies made hundred years back. Any movie shot in celluloid in any year can be screened with aid of a light and lens. But digital media keep on changing its formats. We will have to comply with the necessary format to view digital movies. When digital movies are copied to another format, there will be loss of quality.
You started your career in the black and white era. What is the difference you find in the quality of stock now?
I did my first colour film, Dweep, in Kodak. In fact all my award winning films were shot in Kodak. Kodak, thanks to its glorious tradition, is synonymous with photography. Their manufacturing history dates back to the days of Thomas Alva Edison. Cinematographers associate Kodak with its assured qualities. It gives the expected result. We usually shoot for 15 to 20 days and send negatives in bulk to the laboratory. In Hollywood the shot material is developed everyday and the next day’s shooting begins only after watching the rushes of the previous day. That’s why the rushes are called ‘dailies’ in Hollywood. We don’t have such facilities here. We shoot in a blind hope that everything will be fine and send the negatives to the processor. Trust and confidence are very important in this situation. Kodak has always imparted that kind of a confidence to me even in adverse situations.
You are simultaneously leading the life of a poet too. Two years back you came up with the Haiku version of cinema. What was the inspiration behind that?
Cineku is the name I gave to the Haiku version of cinema. Haiku conveys a subject in three lines. There will be seventeen syllables in it. Theoretically, there should be at least three shots in a cinema. I thought of making such films, the Cinekus, with just three shots. There was apprehension about expressing a subject with just three shots. But I could make six films in Cineku format.
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