When cinematographer Venu was asked to speak about a favourite film of his during the interview for admission to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Swapnadanam came to his mind.
The black-and-white frames of K.G. George’s maiden film had made an impression on the aspiring cinematographer.
The man who shot Swapnadanam, and several other iconic Malayalam films, K. Ramachandra Babu, died of cardiac arrest here on Saturday.
“He was an exceptionally talented cinematographer, and someone who inspired me a lot,” Venu told The Hindu.
Best work
Venu rates Nirmalyam as Babu’s best work.
“He did splendid work in several films like Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, Yavanika, and Chaamaram, but I feel Nirmalyam was his masterpiece,” he said.
“His camera did full justice to M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s great script. The way he used the camera subjectively was way ahead of the time. So were some of the shots at the temple ”
He said Babu’s contribution to Malayalam cinema was enormous.
“He was the one who brought the film institute culture to cinematography in Malayalam cinema,” he said.
“His writings on cinema were very educative. And he was a good conversationalist too. I remember him talking about the break the crew of Yavanika was forced to take because of certain issues with the new camera. Whatever he had shot was unusable; the frames were shaky. The few days’ break, however, helped George rewrite the script and that is how Yavanika became such a classic.”
Venu feels Babu was not probably celebrated as much as he deserved.
