Thereres bit of an irony in how cinematographer Ravi Varman looks at his own craft. An MA in Literature and a part-time writer,Varman has slowly discovered the insignificance of language in cinematography,where words are redundant and images speak for themselves. And that prompted his return to Hindi films after a gap of seven years (his last Hindi film being Revathys Phir Milenge) with the upcoming Barfi!. During these years,hed gone to where he originally hails from the South,shooting with the best in the business from Kamal Haasan to Gautham Vasudev Menon. Id think knowing the language would help,but I soon realised that in the end its all about the images, he says. His return to Hindi cinema,he says,has been tremendously satisfying; getting to work with Anurag Basu in Barfi!,in whom he found a visual director whose sensibilities matched his own. He doesnt want his pictures to look unnecessarily glossy. He finds beauty in the ordinary, says Varman,who has shot 26 films in all. For a lensman who looks through his camera like a painter looks at his canvas,it helped that the films protagonist was hearing and speech impaired,which naturally increased the scope for visual storytelling. Rich details were packed into the frames,lending them great texture,and hence realism and credibility. And for that,Varman extracted a lot from Kolkatas atmosphere,where a large portion of the film was shot. The citys environs are close to the world that Federico Fellinis films used to create where,behind the foreground,you see a lot of activity,but in a very engaging way; like a rickshaw being pulled or a man sipping tea. These elements add great depth to the frames, explains Varman,who recently turned director with Tamil film Moscowin Kavery. Varman,however,belongs to the school of thought that believes that a cinematographer is much more than a technician. Despite being under the directors overriding vision,a cinematographer exercises his own creativity. There is a point beyond which the director cannot enter; its the cinematographers own private space where he has no control. Its called lighting, he says. Lighting has been his strong point,his gifted sense of controlling and manipulating natural light an area he endlessly cultivates his artistry over. Artificial lights are brought in when there is under and over exposure of natural light; I prefer sticking to natural light as I believe it brings in a certain kind of beauty, he says. Likewise,even Barfi!,which he calls a happy film with happy frames doesnt appear overtly sunny and bright; instead Varman has infused warm tones with a lot of light play,without taking away anything from the mood and temperature of the frames. However,as he explains these amid the idyllic greens of the Film City,Mumbai,he takes a break to attend a phone call from Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Director of his next film Ram Leela,and the director he once only dreamt of working with. There is no more exciting a prospect for a cinematographer than to work with Bhansali, he says.
