South Scope ~ Meet the Illuionist Senthil

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Aithe, Sye, Chatrapathi, Ashok, Yamadonga, Arundhati and now Magadheera.... all these hugely successful films have one thing in common: the credit line that reads `Cinematography ­ K K Senthil Kumar.' In a business where you are only as good as your last film, Senthil must be the biggest cinematographer in the industry.

However, success did not come easy to this talented technician whose rise to the top has been just as fascinating as some of the camera work in his films.

The Magic of Magadheera S S Rajamouli's Ram Charan-Kajalstarrer Magadheera has been the movie of the season so far, leaving people totally bamboozled with its stunning visual effects and cinematography as exemplary work in Telugu cinema. Senthil, though, does not seem to share the same penchant for adjectives. "It is too early to hail it as a milestone but I can say that it was the result of a monumental effort," he adds nonchalantly.

But the satisfaction is evident nonetheless. "It gives me great joy to see such an amazing response from the audience and the critics alike. We were very clear about what we wanted, and translated exactly that on the screen. The appreciation shows that the effort paid off," remarks Senthil, letting out a content smile. And this is clearly not a case of blowing one's own trumpet. One would be hard put to recollect a Telugu movie that offers as lush a visual experience as Magadheera. One of the long standing rues against Telugu cinema has been its obsession with the `hero.' The movie, it often seems, is only a vehicle for the hero with everything else having only incidental value. Senthil, however, begs to differ: "It is true that our films are largely dialogue and actingcentric. As a result, the visual element usually took a backseat. But that is not the case anymore. Cinema is a visual medium and the success of films like Arundhati and Magadheera has contributed to the change in perception."

It takes two Cinema is a collaborative art and often great films are the result of smart collaborations. The Rajamouli-Senthil association has been super successful so far. The duo first worked together in Sye. Since then, they have produced films like Chatrapati, Yamadonga and Magadheera, each one a super-hit.

We wonder what the secret behind the successful partnership is. "It is crucial for the director and the technical team to be on the same page. And that is exactly the case with us. I know precisely what he wants and we focus our energies on what really matters.

That way, we don't have to spend a lot of time over the less important things," he says.

But there must be some creative differences popping up now and again? So who has the final say in such situations? "Cinema is a director's medium and as a cinematographer my job is to do my best to help the director tell his story in the best possible way. In that sense, the director always has the final word. But we have worked together long enough to understand what we can and cannot accommodate. A conflict is out of question," he asserts.

Playing for the Team But not all directors are like Rajamouli. Everybody has their own style of functioning. Could differences arising from this sometimes land one with a shoddy final product?

"Ideally, I would like no interference.

But there are production constraints, technical issues and a host of creative disagreements. Cinema is teamwork, and the actors, director and technicians have to find a common ground to deliver the best product,"

he says.

For his part, a good cameraman must have the ability to relate to the story the director has in mind. "Every story comes with inbuilt visuals. I have to be sensitive to the visual pattern when the director is narrating the story. I used the day for night effect (shooting the film during the day but bringing the night effect) in Aithe because as the film is mostly set in the forests and the stark look adds to the flavour of film. Sye, on the other hand, was based on a sports theme and required a different feel.

Similarly, I used a lot of monotones in Chatrapati. Camerawork must be in sync with the mood of the film," he explains, adding "When people come out thinking that the movie was bad but the camerawork was good, then it would still imply a shoddy job. The cameraman should assist in narrating the film, but not dominate it."

A decade in showbiz Ten years is a long time in an industry where destinies change every Friday.

As a civil services aspirant Senthil was not thinking about a career in cinema when he applied for a course in FTII (Film and Television Institute of India).

"I just applied for the FTII entrance so that I got used to the grind of attending interviews. I needed a lot of practice for my civil services interviews," says Senthil. But little did he know that his life had already taken a 360-degree turn. "I had grown up watching commercial Telugu cinema but FTII opened up a fascinating new world.

For three years we ate, lived and breathed cinema. It was an incredible experience," he says.

He started off as an assistant to Sharat, the cameraman for the S V Krishna Reddy-directed Premaku Velayare.

The desire to become an independent cameraman was so great that he soon decided to go solo. The tag of being a student of one of the best film schools in the country was no guarantee for a red carpet welcome. And with work hard to come by, he reluctantly joined Chandrasekhar Eleti for his television serial Amritam. It was a huge success and soon Chandrasekhar signed him for his debut film Aithe in 2003. The film was a smashing hit and that sort of paved the way ahead for the rest of his projects. Ten years into it, Senthil now sets the benchmark for the industry.

But he is not satisfied yet, and dreams big. "I would like to direct a film one day." Now, that's a treat none of us would like to miss.