Cinematographer R Rathnavelu has shot various culturally significant films across languages, including Gautham Vasudev Menon's searing coming-of-age romance drama Vaaranam Aayiram (2008), Shankar's robot spectacle Enthiran (2010), and Sukumar's moving action drama Rangasthalam (2018). But the modern master still looks at unlearning as a key part of his profession. This stands true even in his most recent work in Ram Charan's upcoming Telugu action film Peddi, directed by Buchi Babu Sana.
The director-of-photography talks to The Hollywood Reporter India about finding inspiration through films like The Brutalist and Oppenheimer to tell a heartfelt commercial story. Excerpts from an interview:
What attracted you to 'Peddi'?
Be it in Hollywood or India, strong commercial cinema is missing. This film will satisfy the audience from that perspective. I thought it was a very strong sports emotional drama. It's not just about sports in terms of winning or losing. Peddi is fighting for a very strong cause, and that attracted me. The moment Charan heard the script, in the 10th minute, he told [the director] that he wanted me to handle the cinematography.
The global filmmaking style is changing; it's not about grandeur anymore. You need to tell a story through cinematography, and that's the idea when you watch films like Oppenheimer and One Battle After Another. The cinematography is much more immersive in these films, which is what I tried to do in this movie. I learnt and unlearnt other things and started doing something new for Peddi.
Can you explain how you had to unlearn things and apply inspiration from these films?
The movie takes place in the 1980s-90s period of Vijayanagara village in rural Andhra Pradesh. I wanted to transport audiences to this era. Like Rangasthalam, I didn't go monotone for the film. There are four phases in the protagonist's life: first, as a cricketer, for which I went for a different texture and colour palette; then he gets into a more disciplined wrestler phase, and then he goes on a lean phase, for which I shot completely in film negative. I'm shooting on film negative after 16 years. I want more Indian cinematographers to go with this; it's more immersive. The modern digital cameras and digital lenses are much sharper and clinical. I wanted to give a little more edge.
I used an ARRI LF camera with a vintage lens. Generally, cinematographers are scared to use vintage lens, because the follow-up is very rapid and the sides go a little blurry, and when a hot light hits the thing, the flare is something more pronounced. I wanted a sort of imperfect image. At the end of the day, it's a commercial film, but even for the hero elevation scenes, we didn't do the regular extreme high speed and boring visuals. Post-COVID, the dynamics are changing completely around the world. When you watch films like The Brutalist, you feel you're there. That's what I tried with this film.
Can you talk to us about how you approached the film's aesthetics? Sports drama is one of our cinema's most beloved genres.
I wanted to give a more textured image, right from the colour pattern to the grains. I wanted to give a film grain texture to this movie. I shot only a few portions in film negative, as around 90% of the movie was shot with a digital camera. But I tried to bring in film characteristics into digital while filming, and my colourist helped me achieve this in post-production.
A lot of the younger people are bored watching larger-than-life films. A lot of youngsters know that I shot Robot, but don't know I shot Vaaranaam Aayiram, which subtly captures emotions. The point of cinematography isn't to create beautiful images, but to tell a story. We put our life experiences to tell a story.
Can you talk to us about your friendship with Ram Charan?
This is probably our 5th collaboration. He wanted me for his father's comeback movie, Khaidi No 150, and that's how our relationship started. And then we did Rangasthalam, which worked really well. The film showed him in a very different light in a lungi and a beard. Tamil heroes have done this before, but for Telugu cinema, which is a lot more glossy, this was relatively new. But we struck a great equation. Sukumar and I connected really well because I don't really go over the board and look at telling a story differently.
Peddi is also set in a mountainous area where the hero belongs to a tribal clan. The pain depicted in the sugar factory is shown in a different light. There's an interesting cricket match I did. Originally, it was supposed to be a day match, but I told Buchi Babu and Ram Charan to change it to night so the emotions would run very high. It's not like shooting a hero in 1,000 frames or 500 frames to make it larger than life. It is about light interactions, a little dappled light falling on the face, and the extreme tight shots where his anger is shown through a beedi light.
What are your expectations from the film?
The story will remain in your mind and heart long after you watch the film. The film might be an inspiration for younger kids from rural India who are interested in sports. The last 30 minutes are high on emotion. Even the younger kids might tear up watching this portion. Charan's performance will be spoken about. Whenever he sees a nice visual, he'd come up to me and say, "Sir, it's a superb shot." He'd do that after every shot every day (smiles).
I designed a 5-camera setup for the cricket scenes. But filming night cricket scenes was more challenging. We put a lot of flood lights, and I tried to create a flare pattern whenever there is anger or a burst of energy depicted on screen. We shot a few portions in Sri Lanka. The Araku Valley is a beautiful place, but many villages there are deprived of decent transport facilities. The film captures these elements, the agony and the beauty. The Delhi portions were shot on film negative. The Brutalist was shot on film negative, and you will see similar pain through these visuals.