Karthik Subbaraj's Dorothy might be shot on a tight budget, but that didn't stop the team from chasing mountains [quite literally]. The Tamil film, co-starring Rishikanth, Sananth and Keerthy Suresh, tackles, with audacity and flourish, themes of enduring friendships, masculinity, and identity through searing landscapes of mountain ranges, arid fields, lush meadows, and the occasional but visceral dust and blood.
Veteran Tamil cinema DOP S Thirunavukkarasu, who also goes by Tirru, says the visuals needed to prop the film up to a big scale.
In an interview with THR India, the cinematographer expands on hunting for "locations that inspire", leaning on spaces to evoke emotions, and the curious Hey Ram connection to the film.
What would your discussions with Karthik Subbaraj look like?
Karthik's vision was clear: it had to be rustic but still authentic to the villages from the 80s and 90s. His first draft was linear, and in the second draft he had brought in a lot of screenplay changes.
Even though the film spans a short time, we felt the need to keep different colour tones so audiences could easily differentiate between the two timelines. That would also give a good visual separation.
Were geographic locations a big part of the film? Because visually it adds so much texture to Karthi and Subbu's story, which culminates in a road trip.
We didn't want to desat [desaturate] it too much because we wanted to retain the origin colours of the earth. We wanted realistic locations. It was a small-budget film, but these were just points of view and terms we came up with. If we'd gone with exotic locations, we could have given the film a bigger scale.
We spent a lot of time on locations, as I knew that we could elevate the film by getting unique spots. I've already shot Chitradurga, and I really like the terrain. Their journey is from Madurai to Maharashtra. So, we started scouting places in Chitradurga, Hampi and Wai.
Madurai is very close to the Western Ghats, so we used a lot of exterior locations outside of Madurai to recreate the Madurai of the 80s. We used a lot of barren lands, fields and meadows, which are often Subbu and Karthi's third spaces; they hang out there outside of their homes.
If you go out of the small hamlet, you get a sense of loneliness. These spaces were haunting, and we started using these elements. We wanted to capture the harsh sun, people's skin and pores, the dust and the tan of the skin. We used sharp cameras such as the Raptor, and VistaVision gave us a lot of horizontal space.
Tell us about the visual separation a little more; the present is shot in monochrome and the past in colour.
We weren't sure audiences would get the tonal shifts between two timelines, so we were discussing what we could do. The film opens with Karthi, who is a lorry driver. But how does he get to this point? That's what the film goes back to say. Karthik Subbaraj suggested we keep the present in black-and-white and the past in colour.
I'd already done this experiment in Hey Ram, so we went ahead with this. It brought in a sense of tautness, which was perfect for a thriller.
The house is a haunting part of the film. What went into designing it?
It needed to show human existence... but shouldn't have life in it. The house isn't taken care of, and it's clear there are no women in the house. We wanted a house that showed their lethargy. Luckily, we got such a space. Even the compound wall in the yard was actually broken, and we used it as part of the story. Apart from very few props, we didn't construct anything for the film.
Nature plays a big part in Karthi and Subbu's relationship. We see this through a cloud of dust that pervades the screen after Karthi has done the deed, and through gorgeous cliff tops over which they have their reckoning. How important was geography to the script?
The boys are surrounded by the house, the politics between them and their village. Their journey is claustrophobic. But when Karthi gets out of the place and becomes a lorry driver, he starts exploring the world around him and opens up. We wanted to depict this opening up visually.
That's why there's also a dialogue on the mountain where Subbu tells him to feel the wind and the environs. When you put yourself in the middle of nature like that, you realise that your notions and prejudices are nothing. We utilised sprawling spaces like this to crash the ego.
You'll see certain characters speaking to each other in the leftmost corner, while a big mountain range is in focus on the right. This is to say, "You're nothing in the middle of all this; don't exaggerate your emotions."
The scene that perhaps moved a lot of viewers was on the mountain range, where the cliffs make it seem as though Subbu is taller than Karthi when he gives that powerful monologue. Was that intentional?
When we saw the mountain range while scouting, I was quite thrilled. I started thinking about Subbu's mindset and how to position him for the scene. Of course, we shot in a restricted amount of time and didn't even carry much light with me. We shot a lot with just hand lights.
Was your treatment of filming Karthi and Subbu different from Karthi and Dorothy in the climax? The transition from friendship to romance is quite seamless in terms of the visual and aural language.
Friendship is a form of love. The film's end shot also culminates in that. It is just an expression of love. Raaja sir surprises us when we inspire him. I think he saw some divinity in our visuals and the film. He made the entire film divine. For his age, he was far more forward-thinking than us and took the film to a divine space. He brought every audience to his tune and made them see the character's emotions without any questions.
We shot the entire sequence in a day, so we didn't have much time to talk. Even though we wanted to try many techniques, we finished it quickly.
The action scenes in the film were quite inventive, including the interval sequence where the two friends take down this behemoth of a man, as the camera watches on silently without cutting.
We wanted to show an abundant area. We knew that Karthi was going to kill him, but we wanted to first explore the turmoil in the space. Dinesh Subbarayan, the stunt master, suggested that we let the camera be. That inspired us to create some sort of magic and authenticity in the space.
What was it like filming Subbu's transition?
During Subbu's revelation, I wanted a little orangish hue on her, and that's why we see Subbu choose an orange sari. This is what brought in a little bit of the divinity angle. Until the climax, the frames are rustic, but the place is so naturally vibrant. The colours are a result of an emotional outburst and the pinnacle of that acceptance in the climax. We have achieved 20 per cent of what we thought we could, because of the time restrictions, but we wanted to play around with a lot more technique.
But even the 20 per cent has been so evocative, wouldn't you agree?
Indian filmmaking style and planning are able to leave room for just this much. In terms of making and exhibition, we still have a long way to go.
The home viewing experience has had a lot of innovation. But if you ask me if there's that kind of growth in cinema, I'd say it has just started. There's Dolby, HDR, and there's also EPIQ in our country. The euphoria of the dust, sweat and other details intended in the film should be delivered to audiences in theatres. Only then can we travel forward. Internationally, there's a standardisation, which is missing in India.
Low-quality projectors stop us from meeting DCI standards. Theatres need to give better experiences to people. Cinema needs to be recognised by our government through labour laws, so a lot of these gaps are consequential. Corporations abroad regularly inspect screens for luminance. Beyond entertainment, cinema is looked at as a product of consumption there.
You've worked with various senior filmmakers, including Shankar and Kamal Haasan. How different is it for you to work with young gen filmmakers such as Karthik?
Karthik is an open slate. Once he writes a scene, he openly communicates what he wants and takes all inputs from technicians so beautifully. He is clear about what he wants and doesn't. Senior filmmakers construct a lot of things themselves because of their experience, but here, there is a lot of collaboration.