Cinematographer Santhana Krishnan Ravichandran talks Dhruva Natchathiram, NOTA, Baaghi 2 & more! Tamil Movie, Music Reviews and News

Cinematographer Santhana Krishnan Ravichandran talks Dhruva Natchathiram, NOTA, Baaghi 2 & more!

PUBLISHED DATE : 29/Mar/2018

Cinematographer Santhana Krishnan Ravichandran talks Dhruva Natchathiram, NOTA, Baaghi 2 & more!

He is the prodigal son of a one of India's famed cinematographers but that hasn't stopped 23 year old (He turns 24 on July 3rd this year) Santhana Krishnan from etching a name of his own in the movie business. From assisting the likes of Ravi Varman, who ironically was once an associate of Santhana Krishnan's dad Ravi K Chandran to bagging a film with Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, the young lad has had an interesting journey. A quick conversation with him about films, legacy and more is what follows:

"I was one of those bratty teenagers who was sent to Mumbai as a punishment, whenever I got into trouble. I was 14 or 15 when I knew I was good at photography, which later turned into a passion for cinematography. It was then that I started assisting Ravi Varman on all his Bollywood films and today I can proudly say that I come from the school of Ravi Varman. Yes, he is a task-master but he only corrects you when you've made a mistake more than once. And he is pretty strict with being punctual. I was once made to stand out the whole day because I turned up late to set (laughs)."

Santhana Krishnan debuted as an individual cinematographer in 2015 with the Malayalam film Two Countries. His name was briefly associated with Gautham Menon's Dhruva Natchathiram before he took over Baaghi 2 and the Tamil - Telugu bilingual NOTA. On that he says, "I had already committed to Baaghi 2 when the opportunity for Dhruva Natchathiram came along. I worked on Gautham Menon's film for 6 months but then Baaghi 2 was beginning so I had to move on." Incidentally, the young lad is also in the news for his tweet seconding the allegations levelled against director Gautham Vasudev Menon (read here).

He adds, "Baaghi 2 is a big film which is budgeted at Rs. 35 crore; so I had to give a test-shoot after which they took me on-board. I've never seen as person as energetic as Tiger (Shroff). He has crazy potential and is the epitome of perfection. Everyone knows him as a good dancer but he is even better with the action scenes. Disha (Pathani) is so full of life and fun to work with. The two share a great chemistry in the film which is an adaptation of a Telugu film."

"The director (Ahmed Khan) as you know is a big choreographer in Bollywood. I had once shot a music video with him; we gelled really well mainly because he has the heart of a 20 year old. Sajid (Nadiadwala, the producer) really knows his craft and the business and it was truly enlightening to work with people of such experience." About his debut in Tamil, the alumni of LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore adds, "Anand Shankar and I met when we were both assisting on the sets of Anjaana Anjaani. He had seen my ad-shoots and when Anand was about to begin NOTA with Vijay Deverakonda and Studio Green, he offered me the film. The movie will be shot in Tamil and dubbed in Telugu. We are planning to begin the film once the strike gets over."

Santhana Krishnan's first big release Baaghi 2 hits theatre screens tomorrow. Though the cinematographer is more comfortable working with young directors because of the similar wavelength, he wishes to to work on a Mani Ratnam film some day. We at MovieCrow wish Santhana Krishnan the very best for all his forthcoming endeavours.