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Vijay C Chakravarthy is an Indian Film Cinematographer, known for his works predominantly in the Telugu cinema. He has worked for blockbusters like Bommarillu, Parugu, and Mr. Perfect
I was born in South Tamil Nadu near Madurai. he wanted to become Cinematographer after seeing ‘Azhiayada Kalangal’ – the directorial debut of well-known cinematographer Balu Mahendra. It fired his imagination and decided to join the film industry. Four years later he watched PC Sreeram’s films directed by Mani Ratnam. he was fascinated by PC Sreeram’s work, and made up my mind to be a cinematographer. PC Sreeram is the first cinematographer who has a fan following that matches that of any leading man of Tamil Nadu.
his father wanted him to complete my graduation and join the government service. so he enrolled for graduation in economics and discontinued after six months. Then he joined a polytechnic and soon abandoned it. he convinced my father that he would get a job in Doordarshan (a central government job) if he lets me join the film institute.
when he met Ramesh Kumar for the first time. He asked him a question – “what kind of lighting and framing would you give if a widow were sitting at a dining table.” That is when Vijay realized that photography is not merely a combination of good lighting, framing, and equipment. It should come from the heart.
debut as cinematographer for a film titled ‘Diwan’ with Sarath Kumar as hero. However he was not satisfied with my work. I was so disappointed that I wanted to give up and return home.
Then I joined Arthur Wilson as assistant for ‘Anbe Sivam’ and ‘Panchatantram’. wherehe observed Kamal Haasan from close quarters and realized that he is forever trying to learn even after achieving so much. he learnt a lesson from this great actor. That learning is a lifelong continuous process.
Later on he worked for ‘Thakadhimita’ (directed by Sundar). Then I worked for Das produced by Editor Mohan with Jayam Ravi as hero. I learnt a lot about filmmaking from Editor Mohan.
Sometime later Vijay got an opportunity to do clash work (clash work means doing cinematography for a film when the official cinematographer is unavailable for some reason). That is when I got to know the wonderful team of Dil Raju, Sukumar, Bhaskar, Devi Sri Prasad and others.
“when Dil Raju called me and offered Bommarillu. He asked me to quote my price. I said that money is immaterial, as I love working with this team. He smiled and paid me more than what I had expected.”
