He taught us to do our best when capturing frames: Sunny Joseph on Shaji N. Karun

I still remember the moment he asked me to handle his classic movie Pilawe. “The sun is shining, so you’re doing the camera, right.” He told me easily during the discussion. When he told me to do PilaweI hope he can ask me to shake the camera because he will focus more on direction. “Then, let’s start.” The moment I said yes. forward PilaweI made three movies, including Theertham,,,,, Eenam Maranna Kattuand Ore Thoval Pakshikal. I also assisted him in shooting including Chidambaram and Meenamasathile Sooryan To do this, he handled the camera.

I will never forget the first shot Pilawe. We set the camera aside with teaspoons. Senior actor Premji, who portrays the protagonist’s excellent performance, sits on a wooden log outside. When the tea shop’s planks open, we can see the role of Premji outside. Instead of using artificial rain in the movie, we wait for natural rain, which is new to me. We bought raincoats for the crew and carefully made sure the camera didn’t soak in the pouring rain. We don’t have lights or reflectors because we use two hot fill papers to reflect natural light.

Experienced photographers like him have instilled courage in people who follow them to take some risks and are getting further and further away in capturing the frame. The lessons learned from him in lighting and experiments with camera width have made people like me push me further along our creative journey. Pilawe It’s a milestone for both of us. I started receiving invitations from movies from other languages Pilawe. Even today, people praise me for my work in the movie. He is a man ahead of his time.

(Sunny Joseph, a highly acclaimed photographer who won the Piravi Award at the Kerala State Film Awards in 1988, he told G. Krishnakumar)