“I like to get into the skin of story”: Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary

Currently worked for Drishyam2!

Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, one of the ace cinematographers, and director of photography is well known for his creative play with lenses. He has worked for several movies Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru, Pyaar Ka Punchnaama, AkaashVani, Kaanchi, Pyaar Ka Punchnaama 2, Guest in London, Sonu Ke Titu ki Sweety, De De Pyaar De, Section 375, Ujda Chaman, Sangeen, Blurr and has currently worked for Drishyam 2.

Times Magazine India had an Interaction with the renowned cinematographer, it was questioned:

What is cinematography for you and what makes you go unique! 

Replying to the question he said: To start with, cinematography is an extension of Photography. Photographing a motion is the cinematography. We are capturing light in different hues, different landscapes, and different moods just like photography. What we as cinematographers add to it is motion. 

What makes one cinematographer unique is his ability to see things differently. It can be something as basic as camera height, or a choice between putting the camera on a Steadicam or keeping it handheld. Strangely this decision of his must add to the narration of the story seamlessly to be unique.

To me, lighting is what I concentrate the most on. What kind of light, and from where? Soft, direct, harsh, small, big, or no light at all. This choice keeps me motivated on a film shoot the most. If it falls in place right, your work is unique, if it's shabby and not thought about it's ordinary. Uniqueness is basically in these little nuances, these little decisions.

As we all know there’s a lot of effort and story behind capturing, can you please elaborate about your journey so far?

Elaborating about his journey an ace cinematographer said: I am from Delhi. Very early in my life, I was sent to a boarding school in Dehradun, where I saw a camera for the first time. The fascination for photography probably started there, though it was much later in life at a family wedding that I got to click with a rangefinder camera of a friend.

I waited anxiously for the negative to be processed, to see the result of that picture. It took me by surprise when the people I clicked were half out of the frame. That’s when I started looking for answers and bought some books on photography. After graduating I told my father about my desire of being a cinematographer.

He had never heard what it was and was a bit skeptical about it. He asked me what I knew about the way forward, and I was all prepared with my research. He was very quick to give me a go-ahead. Very soon I ended up at the MGR Film and TV Institute of Tamil Nadu and passed out with a gold medal in Motion Picture Photography.

Somewhere I feel I was very lucky that right after the institute I had the opportunity to assist Late Mr. Ashok Mehta. He was one of the most respected cinematographers of his time. He was known for his work on films like Bandit Queen, 36 Chowringhee Lane, Trikaal, Utsav, and Moksha.

When I approached him, he had no room for more assistants, so I begged him till he relented to allow me a place as a personal light boy. I worked on No Entry and Kisna with him until he decided to call me and tell me to start on my own.

Ashok Ji was like a father figure, and he had the biggest influence on my work. He changed my outlook towards cinema, and my outlook towards life in general. I feel I had gained more knowledge from the daily chats with him over lunches than I would have gained working for hours and hours on film sets. He taught me to be patient, observant, and never give up.

Three years after starting on my own and working on small corporate films, documentaries, and television commercials, I got my first break as a cinematographer for a Tamil feature called ‘Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru’.

The cinematography was going through this shift from analog to digital in those days. Our film was to be one of the earliest films to be shot on the RED Digital Camera. The film was being produced by Real Image Media Technologies Pvt. Ltd…

They were pioneers in digital cinema mastering and were people of immense knowledge. I had the opportunity to work with them for months to know the camera well before starting to film.

I was also skeptical that after all the training on film stocks I was choosing to start my career with a digital camera, but the constant guidance and support from the team at Real Image kept me motivated.

In 2009 we released the film. I received a lot of appreciation for my work on it and more offers followed.

It was questioned – what came into your mind, to begin with, cinematography? Also, knowing was this an in-built talent or you have learned it? 

Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary sir replies stating: Love for Cinema happens to you without you realizing it. There was something I was liking about cinema I wasn’t aware of. Was it the actors? No. The song and dance? No. Was it the grand sets and costumes? No. 

It was while watching Subhash Ghai’s, Saudagar that a movement of the camera over the lush green rice fields gave me goosebumps. I lived with that shot for days. I wanted to be that someone, who was responsible for that shot. Much later in life I went to that shot again and figured out who was responsible for it. It was a cinematographer. Saudagar was shot by Ashok Mehta, and I went on to experience a lot more of his work during film Institute days. It was my destiny to assist the same cinematographer who inspired me to be one. It’s like a discovery. It reveals itself one layer at a time. If one has a passion for it, they can always find ways to train themselves. 

What is creativity for you? 

Creativity is the ability to take something really simple, modify it or mend it to bring it out of the ordinary. And sometimes it’s the opposite.  

How is the life behind the lens? 

Life Behind the Lens is a very collaborative one. One has to work in sync with a crew. From Production Designers to Costume Designers, to makeup crew, to gaffers, to light boys, to every small crew member who might need your input or help to achieve what we all set out to achieve. Sometimes you have hectic days, sometimes bad days but what keeps a crew going is the result at the end of the day. 

Knowing which is your favorite movie work, also tell the efforts and reason behind it.

Responding to the question he says: I think Akaash Vani and Blurr are the two films that I have shot and very close to my heart. Both the films were films where I was trying to do something out of my comfort zone. We filmed Akaash Vani in Delhi and Manali in peak winters, under extreme cold. We had a lot of night exteriors. There were days when our focus puller would run inside between shots since his hand would shiver. It was physically demanding. The actors were performing with heaters around them. 

Blurr though was not physically challenging, but mentally exhausting. We shot the film in a way that there is a lack of vibrancy. There is a lack of color. It's dark. At times it’s dark to levels that while filming if the monitor is not caliberated well we would not see it. So, I was always cross-checking if such scenes are going to be visible on screen. It can surprise you in post sometimes.

That constant cross-checking with DIT (Digital Imaging Technician) after 16 hours of shooting each day was quite a stressful task. My colorist Makrand Surte at Red Chillies Color, was quite helpful with his consistent feedback on the quality of the image at the lab. We got together to create a LUT that would make things look dark on set but at a later stage, if I needed the image to be lifted a bit, we had enough room in the RAW files. The final output has been the most satisfying of all the films I have done. I can’t thank Red Chillies  Color and Makrand enough. 

Delivering a work for song in 3 minutes whereas a movie story in 3 hours, what is the difference between both of them, knowing about the efforts and techniques and pre-production life story for both the phases including the idea and creation.

He said: I have realized that if I don’t live with the project for long, I don’t enjoy my association with it much. I will still be aiming for the best quality of image but I like to get into the skin of story. The mood or the lack of it. The journey of the characters, the world. I like to invest my time to help create the world. I enjoy this process a lot. On smaller shoots like a song or a TVC the briefs are minimalist cos the purpose is different. It doesn’t root itself well. Other than that, the process is the same. 

I remember filming a song for a feature where the cinematographer was a friend. I guess my prep was around two days. A day with the choreographer, where we visited the location and I got a brief of what was being planned. It wasn’t necessary for me to know the backstory of the occasion of the song in the film. Second day I had a meeting on colors and palette, and references of the look and feel. On the contrary on features, we prep for months. You get to own the space, peep into the characters the world to finally give it your vision. It’s more fun.

Having fewer surroundings (shooting location/equipment) but showcasing with a grand result is the work of a cinematographer, share any extraordinary things you have done during the shoot.

A sequence in Akaash Vani with glow worms was something really exciting. There was grass all around, and I wanted to see glow worms with their breathing glow in those bushes around the camera. We had option of adding them in VFX but I preferred to have the ones sitting in the bushes to be achieved in camera, and the ones flying around to be added in post.

We got ourselves small, Mirchi lights, as we call them and spread them around after coloring them to match the color of the glow worms. When we see that sequence, it looks fabulous as you can see the glow reflecting on the flowing water of the canal and it just adds to the whole mood. I doubt we would have achieved it in VFX. We saved the VFX team a lot of time and the production saved a lot of money. I think it was quite extraordinary.

How do you handle overall things including directors, pre-production, on-the-shoot, and post-production? 

Film making is a very organized process. Once you get a script and you have read it, you start getting ideas, you start finding references on look and feel, lensing, and lighting. All this, works as a starting point during your initial discussions with the director and other technicians. It’s this constant back and forth bouncing of ideas that sets the ball rolling. We figure out what is working, and what’s not.

Sometimes one feels strong about an idea but the director is not convinced. So, I make an effort to convince him. If test shoots are to be done, we do it. Pre-production decisions go a long way during production. During post its mostly polishing and fixing what could not be done during production, or was planned for post. The process of handling it is very simple, communicate, convince or get convinced. The process becomes much more enjoyable and simpler during production if preproduction stage is one of good discussions and decisions.

Knowing about the upcoming plans of an ace cinematographer: Speaking of short-term plans, I just wrapped Drishyam 2, and looking to rest until a good script comes my way. On a long throw I would like to read up and probably think of graduating into a film director someday. 

Times Magazine India and the team wishes you Good luck!!