From www.indianexpress.com 

The man behind Rang De Basanti’s stunning visuals likes to keep it simple, says Harneet Singh

IT’S one of those sidelights that never got published. When Rakeysh Mehra, director of Rang De Basanti (RDB), saw the song More Piya in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas, he called up the film’s cinematographer Binod Pradhan and asked, ‘‘Did you put a bulb inside Aishwarya Rai’s face? She was glowing so much!’’

Mehra’s compliment kind of makes up for the flak Bhansali and Pradhan got for their overindulgent techniques in Devdas. ‘‘I put glitter on the trees to achieve the effect of fireflies. When the sun shines after rain, water drops on leaves glow. I wanted to capture that effect for the song,’’ reminisces the 40-something.

 For Pradhan special effects like those have nothing to do with Computer Generated Imagery. Remember the painted backdrop of the song Kuch Na Kaho in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 1942-A Love Story? Or the sensuous lighting in the love-making sequence in Chopra’s Parinda?

Pradhan’s camera work in RDB is comparatively subtle. He’s got the grammar of his craft—right from the hues, palette, lighting, camera speed and movement—down pat. But the most defining visual aspect of RDB is the way he shot sequences of the freedom movement. ‘‘Most people would’ve shot it in sepia tones. I visualised the scenes as if they were old black and white photographs that have turned yellow with time,’’ he explains.

Relaxed after wrapping up the shooting schedule for a semi-experimental film being directed by his former assistant, Pradhan says RDB is his best work till date. Aamir Khan was so impressed with the way the film looked that he almost drove down to Karjat, on the outskirts of Mumbai, at two in the morning to congratulate Pradhan. The cinematographer was working at art director Nitin Desai’s studio. ‘‘Aamir saw the film pretty late. Rakeysh stopped him from driving all the way, so he just messaged, ‘Good work yaar!’ The way the message sounded, I knew I had surprised him,’’ he laughs.

While growing up in Kalimpong, West Bengal, Pradhan never harboured any ambition of becoming a cinematographer. His father had a photo studio and he wanted to become a still photographer. The film camera first fascinated him at Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). That’s also where he met Chopra. Their long association resulted in trademark Chopra-Pradhan frames in Khamosh, Parinda, 1942-A Love Story and Mission Kashmir. ‘‘Vinod is a visually conscious director and when we work, our suggestions just merge,’’ he says.

Pradhan rues missing out on Chopra’s forthcoming Eklavya. His involvement with RBD meant he couldn’t focus on yet another epic, and so it’s the first time Chopra is working without Pradhan’s lens. ‘‘I sincerely hope he misses me,’’ Pradhan chuckles.

Having worked with ‘‘visually stimulating’’ directors like Chopra, Bhansali and Mehra, the picture will be complete if he works with Mani Ratnam. ‘‘He’s never asked me. He’s the only maker I want to really work with,’’ he says, sipping his black tea.

Curiously enough, since Pradhan graduated from FTII in 1975, he has shot only 20 films. After RDB, he has signed two films: Nanhe Jaisalmer and Siddharth Raj Anand’s next with Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji. ‘‘I’m the kind who likes to think before I decide,’’ he says.

Zoom In
Pradhan picks out
his favourites
• Paather Panchali: The shots were so natural, they didn’t seem framed for cinema
• The Godfather series: Powerfully lit
• Lady Hawke: Innovative camera movements
• City of God: A visual treat
• 36 Chowringhee Lane: A very different look
of Calcutta

Quite as simplistic is his approach to cinematography. Pradhan doesn’t treat his work as rocket science and wants to keep it as simple as possible. His professional mantra: ‘‘Actors should move, rather than the camera. Lighting and composition should take centre stage to create mood and drama.’’

He says he’s partial to indoor shoots and his favourite aspect in the filming process is lighting, ‘‘the most stressful bit’’.

One can only imagine the stress on the sets of Devdas, where lights were brighter than the Milky Way. He still has no idea how many lights he used to shoot Madhuri Dixit’s kothi in the film. ‘‘I don’t know that, but I know we used 40 generators of 75 KW each,’’ he recalls. But the cinematographer knows how to defend his OTT stance in the film—‘‘You can’t decide where to stop. There’s no Lakshman rekha in lighting. Sometimes you go beyond the normal and then come back,’’ he shoots.

He did come back in RDB. No wonder Mehra believes, ‘‘We should freeze Binod’s DNA.’