In Focus

When cinematographer VK Murthy won the Dada Saheb Phalke Award,the first time that Indias highest film honour has gone to a technician,he was not fulfilling a childhood dream. As a child,I dreamt of being an actor in Hindi films.

When cinematographer VK Murthy won the Dada Saheb Phalke Award,the first time that Indias highest film honour has gone to a technician,he was not fulfilling a childhood dream. As a child,I dreamt of being an actor in Hindi films. But,I didnt know Hindi and my looks were so average that I soon dropped the idea and turned cinematographer. I guess I am reaping the benefits now, he says with a smile.

I would not like to take away from the achievements of the past awardees but efforts of a cinematographer are just a small part of a film, he says modestly. Dressed in a grey suit and tie,Murthy relaxes backstage in Vigyan Bhavan after the National Film Awards ceremony,and thinks back In the late 1940s,a 16-year-old boy from a middle-class Kannada family in Mysore,packed his bags during his school vacations and set off to Bombay in search of anacting assignment. Though he didnt get an acting break,the camera did beckon him. He decided to settle for the next best thing in cinema,handling a camera. It was only later that I realised that the next best thing was actually direction, he laughs.

An active participant in the Quit India Movement during his high school,he now took up the cause of films.

After a three-month course in cinematography,I visited Mumbai again. This time I found work, he says. I was an admirer of Fali Mistry and was on the sets when he was shooting for Amrapali. Next day,I received a call from his cameraman telling me that Mistry wanted to see me, says Murthy. This was Murthys big break in Bollywood in the following years,Mistry and he would work together in five films,though Murthy would later be identified with another filmmaker,Guru Dutt

He met Dutt on the sets of Baazi (1951). Dutt was planning a song in which Murthy was the assistant cameraman. I suggested a change of frame and Dutt asked me to shoot the song,and liked the result.

Over the decades,Murthys deft camera handling gave Indian cinema several memorable frames the play of light and shade in the song Waqt ne kiya kya hasein sitam from Kagaz Ke Phool (1959),where sunlight streams in through the roof,or the softly focussed head shots of Waheeda Rehman in CID (1956) and Pyaasa. I was sharp enough to understand the directors vision. If I didnt make the actresses look pretty,I would have lost my job, he adds.

Dutt normally didnt take anybodys advice. But I would rearrange the furniture or tweak an actors dialogue and he would accommodate my inputs, adds Murthy,who won the IIFA Lifetime Achievement award in 2005,as well as two Filmfare awards. Murthy has also worked with directors like Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani.

Story continues below this ad

It was a passion for music and foreign cinema that developed Murthys sense of vision. I pictured scenes like musical notes and arranged the dance between light and shades like a musical raga, explains Murthy,who trained as a violinist in Carnatic music. Murthy retired in 1998 and lives in Bengaluru,where he conducts workshops at film institutes. In the evenings,the violin still gives him company.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

In Focus

When cinematographer VK Murthy won the Dada Saheb Phalke Award,the first time that Indias highest film honour has gone to a technician,he was not fulfilling a childhood dream. As a child,I dreamt of being an actor in Hindi films.

When cinematographer VK Murthy won the Dada Saheb Phalke Award,the first time that Indias highest film honour has gone to a technician,he was not fulfilling a childhood dream. As a child,I dreamt of being an actor in Hindi films.