Playing with lights

Thats what Sejal Shah says he did as cinematographer in Action Replayy and Ramaa: The Saviour.

Thats what Sejal Shah says he did as cinematographer in Action Replayy and Ramaa: The Saviour.

In the Indian film industry,being politically correct is an unwritten rule everybody follows scrupulously. I am a part of two flop films and Its dumb to use bright lights all the time are lines that you can expect from an insider only if hes considerably drunk or has been caught off-guard or both. No wonder then, that cinematographer Sejal Shah comes across as a breath of fresh air. Shahs work on two films that released back-to-back have earned him a lot of appreciation,but he concedes that having a hit in Action Replayy and/or Ramaa: The Saviour would have been sweeter. Its unfortunate that Action Replayy didnt do well,although I still believe that Vipul Shahs London Dreams on which I worked earlier was his best film. Audiences seemed indecisive on the day of its release and then they all went to see Golmaal 3,he says and adds after a pause,Maybe were a dumb society if we patronise films like Golmaal 3. Dont get me wrong,that audience includes me as well.

Talking about his style,Shah says that the very idea of unlighting a scene is paramount to him. I try not to get influenced by images. I am heavily into lenses. I also believe in realistic cinema and getting as close to the time as possible, he says.

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For Action Replayy,which takes audiences back to the 70s era,Shah says that he depended a lot on minimal lighting. He directly compares the movies with Amitabh Bachchans iconic angry young phase game-changer to justify its bare lighting. Films were not glamorous back then. Sholay had just released around that time. Emotions were the strongpoint in films. I had to deglossify the shots in Action Replayy. The lights werent as electrifying as are now. Cinema was evolving with Bachchans angry-young-man avatar, Shah said. To achieve the desired result,the team used no more than 500 tubelights and 1000 bulbs throughout the film. Shah credits director Vipul Shah with giving him complete freedom while choosing shots. The director is the captain of the ship and I am his wife and keep. Vipul was kind and supportive of my ideas. He wasnt expecting much initially but the effects convinced him to give low lighting a shot.

The lead star cast of Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also seemed apprehensive of Shahs de-glossified lighting. Akshay is fantastic and Aishwarya is a superstar. They overcame their inhibitions quickly. You know an actor tends to lose focus when there are a lot of lights around. Not overtly stylising the set made their jobs easier as well, Shah explains.

Ramaa: The Saviour also helped Shah expand his horizons. The film starring Khali and Tanushree Dutta may have bombed at the B-O,but Shah enjoyed shooting in the wild locales of Thailand. We shot for the film about a couple of years ago. We encountered cobras,bats and other wild creatures. Everybody was on their toes. But the children in the film showed great confidence. They were jumping off branches and getting into the water with ease, Shah recalls.

He also says the jungle setting helped him as a cinematographer as the team could not use artificial lights without spoiling the natural setting. It was a fantastic experience for me. Weve used only natural lighting for all the shots, Shah says.

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He also revealed that Khalis entry in the film was not finalised a few days until after the shooting had begun. We had to recalibrate shots keeping Khalis frame in mind. Scenes had to be rewritten and rephrased after he came on board.

Shah,who wound his way from doing projects for MTV and Channel [V,got his first break while working on the movie One Missed Call,following which Vipul hired him for London Dreams. The cinematographer says he has a couple of projects lined up for the future but does not divulge details.