Taking pictures Rajinikanth: ‘Jailer’ cinematographer Vijay Kartik Kannan on the approach behind the fanfare

Rajinikanth with Vijay Kartik Kannan and a nonetheless from ‘Jailer’
| Photograph Credit score: Particular Association

Proper from his show image with Rajinikanth on all his social media profiles to his interviews on YouTube, it’s fairly obvious that cinematographer Vijay Kartik Kannan is ecstatic on the reception of his work in Nelson’s Jailer. The movie marks his second collaboration with Nelson and his group of technicians after Physician. As we sit down for an interview, he explains how he eagerly awaited the movie’s launch earlier than signing his subsequent undertaking.

Excerpts from a dialog:

What had been your inputs within the pre-production stage for a movie of this magnitude?

Nelson and I’ve a great rapport; so it begins with the scripting first the place we talk about what we like and what we don’t. From there, we head to fixing the color palette and the lighting scheme, adopted by staging. I additionally spoke to my good friend, cinematographer Vetri sir (who shot Rajini’s Annaatthe). Nelson was eager on exhibiting the outskirts of Chennai the place the first characters’ home is supposedly based mostly and we wished to decide on rarely-seen places for different scenes.

As Nelson, Kiran sir (artwork director) and I are additionally good buddies, we get to overtly talk about concepts with out the concern of being judged. This collaborative course of is one thing that commences with pre-production and continues until the movie’s launch.

Because the first half principally unfolds inside their home, I wished to recreate the homes now we have seen from the 90s that, throughout an influence outage, would have a tint of gold from the streetlight’s sodium vapour bulb illuminating the interiors.

Nelson’s movies, aesthetically, are identified for his or her use of broad lenses, ample headspace and symmetrical photographs. What had been his contributions to the appear and feel of ‘Jailer’?

We determined beforehand to shoot symmetrically and give attention to centre framing. Each of us desire broad lenses and even a number of the close-ups had been shot with it. Ramya Krishnan even joked about how she has completed so many movies and none of them concerned such tight close-ups.

We additionally meticulously made positive to not have many eye-level photographs; they’re all both above or beneath the attention degree. We imagine broad close-ups, just like the interval sequence that includes Rajini sir, create the impression required by exhibiting the environment, whereas having our consideration centered on him. I really feel there’s a disconnect whereas utilizing a tele lens for close-ups as broad lens give the impression of us watching it in first particular person and the shallow depth provides to the cinematic impact. However regardless of utilizing a large lens, there are solely a handful of broad photographs. Although we shot them, Nelson and Nirmal (editor) took the decision of opting predominantly for close-ups.

Be it Rajinikanth or the cameos that includes Mohanlal and Shivarajkumar, proper from costumes to lighting, they’re all proven in a novel method…

Sure, that was deliberately deliberate. For Lal sir, we opted for a retro look. He’s alleged to be an underworld don who settled in Mumbai 20-30 years in the past, whereas Shivarajkumar sir is a don from the interiors of Karnataka with a backstory. So, with such tales, the selection of colors, the fashion of dressing, their workplace interiors and using lights… all of them change. For Shivarajkumar sir, we caught to pure lighting. For Mohanlal sir, we took inspiration from South Mumbai’s Victorian-style buildings from the 50s. In these locations, the wall fittings are the place the lights are mounted. So these components herald a distinction.

ALSO READ: This Japanese couple travelled from Japan to Chennai to look at Rajinikanth’s ‘Jailer’

We heard that you just had been eager on capturing the movie majorly with a one-camera setup. Wouldn’t a number of cameras give extra choices for the editor to select from?

We had two cameras on set, however we might roll solely on one digital camera and the opposite could be on standby for the subsequent shot, most likely within the subsequent room, in order to save lots of time. One digital camera could be on a gimbal whereas the opposite was on the dolly. Each Nelson and I don’t desire two cameras rolling concurrently; each shot has just one candy spot and we wished the frames to imitate images. Motion sequences may have extra cameras as we can’t recreate a few of them once more, however the one digital camera set-up suits dramatic scenes properly.

Inform us concerning the concept behind choosing pastel-shaded costumes?

Rajini sir appears to be like tremendous fashionable in costumes with darker shades. To tone that down, we opted for khaki trousers which additionally complimented his jailer occupation. We caught to pastel shades for the shirts as a result of we’ve seldom seen him in gentle colors. In a single scene alone, the place he will get dangerous information delivered to him, we gave him a checked shirt to make him extra relatable. Contrastingly, to go along with the adventurous theme of the latter a part of the movie, we went with darker colors within the second half.

Whereas a big-budget movie means having access to no matter you require, does that additionally include restrictions like retaining a tab on retakes and sticking to deadlines?

We didn’t have any such points on this movie with Rajini sir or any of the opposite stars. All of them are director’s actors who would go for as many retakes as obligatory. We shot Rajini sir’s parts first, and for the primary ten days, I used to be fairly nervous about filming the Famous person. However after that, he made us really feel snug sufficient to have the freedom to ask him no matter we wished. Lal sir and Shivarajkumar sir had been extraordinarily skilled which got here in very useful once we wanted retakes.

You talked about earlier that you just’re a Rajini fan. How does it really feel to tick off an enormous field in your guidelines?

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime expertise! I don’t know if I can name this luck or a blessing, however I’m completely satisfied it has come out properly. Be it on social media or members of his fan golf equipment who name me to say that Rajini sir appears to be like nice on display screen, it actually feels good and I make it some extent to share that I’m additionally a Thalaivar fan!

Jailer is at the moment working in theatres