Veteran cinematographer-filmmaker Santosh Sivan, who was recently honoured at the Cannes Film Festival, spoke about dealing with creative differences on set, and highlighted the only time in his career that he has had a ‘confrontation’ with a director. He said that it happened during his collaboration with the legendary painter MF Husain, who briefly dabbled in filmmaking. Sivan was hired to shoot the film Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities, starring Tabu, Kunal Kapoor, and Raghubir Yadav.
In a masterclass session posted on YouTube by Angenieux Lenses, Sivan recalled that Husain wouldn’t show up on set, and his direction would often be limited to showing his crew drawings that represented what he wanted to capture on film. “Directors have a vision for their film, and as a cinematographer, it is your responsibility to understand the vision and translate it according to what the director wants. You can’t go and dictate what you want,” he said.
Also read – Remembering the life and art of M F Husain, one of India’s most influential painters
Sivan said that the goal of a cinematographer is to ‘help’ the director. “You don’t go to war, you go to make a film,” he said. But this triggered a memory for him, and he added, “I’ve not had any big confrontations, except with the painter MF Hussain. I shot Meenaxi with him. He was someone who would actually not even come on the shoots. He’d tell us the scenes in the morning, show us some sketches, and he’d say, ‘You can’t use these colours…'”
Sivan continued, “But he was a very interesting person. I once said, ‘These dialogues are too much to be told on the road’. Then he looked at me and said, ‘The dialogues are too much?’ He took the paper, tore it up, and said, ‘No dialogues in this scene’. You have all kinds of people you come across.”
Meenaxi was screened in the Marché du Film section of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. In a career spanning nearly four decades, Sivan has worked in both India and abroad. He is the recipient of numerous honours, including 12 National Film Awards, and has been conferred with the Padma Shri. He remains best known for his collaborations with director Mani Ratnam.
Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
