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Natarajan Subramanian, better known as Natty or Natraj, is an Indian Cinematographer who has worked on Hindi,Tamil and Telugu films. He has also worked as an actor in Tamil films and achieved recognition through his performance as a conman in ‘Sathuranga Vettai’ (2014).
Natarajan Subramaniam is from Paramakudi, Tamil Nadu, India
Natarajan pursued an interest in photography and quit school at 18, choosing to take up a series of odd jobs to fund his interest rather than going through college. He worked as a still photographer at weddings, and then performed as a videographer at ceremonies. He briefly assisted Cinematographer Vijayalakshmi but was unable to get a break in the film industry, so chose to work on documentaries instead, before venturing into work on commercials and music videos. He shot videos of the music band Euphoria’s first album, and his work was well received.
He became acquainted with director Ram Gopal Varma and the pair discussed a film project which did not materialise, before he was recommended by Varma to Anurag Kashyap, whom he worked with for three Hindi projects – ‘Last Train to Mahakali’ (1999), ‘Paanch’ (2003), and ‘Black Friday’ (2004). In between he had also worked for Tamil romanctic-comedy ‘Youth’ (2002) starring Vijay, and had briefly agreed to be a part of AR Murugadoss’s Ramanaa (2001), which he later opted out from.[1] Despite being active in Tamil films, he has chosen to prioritise work as a cinematographer in Hindi films, working on successful films including ‘Jab We Met’ (2007), ‘Golmaal Returns’ (2008) and ‘Raanjhanaa’ (2013).
Away from cinematography in big-budget Hindi films, Natarajan has embarked on an alternate career as an actor in small-budget Tamil films. He initially appeared in two films by his friend Uday Mahesh, ‘Naalai’ (2006) and ‘Chakkara Viyugam’ (2008), both of which went unnoticed at the box office but won positive acclaim for Natarajan’s performances as an actor. He starred in two further action-masala films aimed at the village and town audiences, ‘Milaga’ (2010) and ‘Muthukku Muthaaga’ (2011), which received similar lukewarm responses. In 2014, Natarajan featured in the Tamil caper film, ‘Sathuranga Vettai’ directed by newcomer Vinoth and produced by Manobala. The film opened to positive reviews and became a surprise success at the box office, with a critic noting Natarajan “is brilliant as Gandhi Babu. He does his part with relish using his brains more than brawn with expressive body and eye language”.
