Sunder Ramu isn’t working. Or at least that’s what he thinks.
But, the Chennai-based photographer-actor already has a chock-a-block calendar, with even his weekends blocked for the next few months. He’s travelling for workshops across Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai — to conduct smartphone photography classes.
It’s an idea he came up with about five months ago. “Are you sure it’ll work?” an organiser had asked Ramu then. He was; and the attendance at the workshops, ranging from interior designers who wanted to shoot their own space, to people who wanted to shoot profiles of themselves, was testimony to his conviction.
That stemmed from what Ramu was observing around him in the last year or so, when the cellphone was becoming, as he puts it, “a camera that can make calls”. It was also around the same time that he noticed the challenges due to the increase in the number of DSLR-wielding photographers. “It’s interesting, but in the last three years, despite this boom, I’m more in demand than before,” he says smugly.
It might be because of his nature to adapt to the times — something that he’s been doing for a long time in his career as a lensman. When the world went digital, Ramu was among the earliest in the city to make the transition, and that paid rich dividends.
“There was a time when I was doing cover shoots for a dozen magazines in the city, all at the same time,” he recalls. It was also a golden opportunity to connect with the who’s who of tinsel town, some of whom are still dear friends. Ramu got a few movie offers too; he acted in Dhanush’s Mayakkam Enna and 3.
But he wanted to look beyond. He cut down on his magazine shoots because they were getting repetitive, and travelled a lot. All this while, he came up with a unique concept that would earn him the sobriquet ‘King of Dating’.
With that initiative, he created a buzz when he went out on a date every day. He has three cardinal rules for these ‘dates’ — he doesn’t pick the place, he doesn’t choose the meal and he doesn’t pay for the meal! “It’s been such a learning phase,” admits Ramu, who has completed 306 dates till now, a routine that was interrupted when the floods hit Chennai, “I’ve even had husbands who wanted me to take out their wives.” Ramu’s list of dates is impressive... it includes a garbage cleaner, a big politician’s wife and a 107-year-old lady.
“I’d rather proudly say that it has broken the perception of what a ‘date’ actually is and how it can be much more than just about romance.” The charity angle was compelling too — Ramu donates the money he saves on those dates to a charitable cause.
The cellphone was a constant companion during all these dates, and he realised how much power it wielded. “It’s easy to carry and the people I date don’t get flustered about the photographs, since it is just a cellphone,” he says. It led Ramu to dream of achieving bigger things with the phone and his photography skills.
At his workshops, he teaches the need to understand the phone and applications better. “If you know the what, the how becomes easy,” he says. Ramu takes his participants out sometimes and gives them simple photography exercises through which they can improve on their cellphone-clicking skills.
“In three years from now, there will be a massive dip in DSLR sales,” he predicts, “Professional photography on the mobile phone will become a big possibility soon.”
And Ramu, who is currently starring in Balaji Mohan’s web-series As I’m Suffering from Kadhal, is ready for that with his beloved iPhone 7 Plus. As he says, “The best camera in the world is the one you’ve got.”