‘Energy’ is a word Gavemic uses in most of his sentences. He uses it to describe the one main thing he looks for in a script before he signs it. He uses it again to talk about the energy he needs to share with directors before he works with them. And most fascinatingly, he talks about the inherent energy on the sets of a film and how it influences his visuals.
He realises how often he’s been using the word during our hour-long chat and admits that it’s perhaps his Buddhist way of life. Born and raised in Puducherry, the actor converted to Bhuddism when he was 16 after completing two years of service in Dharamshala, after he dropped out of school at 13.
“It’s all about developing one’s good karma,” Gavemic pauses, before he explains. “When you see a person with an expensive car, your first instinct could be to think that he’s cheated someone to buy it. But with practice, you begin to see his hard work and appreciate his journey. Similarly, my efforts are to keep my thoughts pure and to apply that to my images. My visuals need to be a result of good thoughts... even if it’s that of a dreaded gangster. That’s the energy audiences connect to.”
He wants his shots to have a soothing affect on the viewers with an ability to relax them. “On the surface, a jarring dialogue or bad acting can disturb the viewer. But on a sub-consious level, it’s the visuals that really irritate them. If your eyes start hurting, then you’re completely removed from the film.”
It’s in search of this energy that he calls his job on the sets ‘vedikka pakkal’ or that of an onlooker’s. “I barely touch the camera,” he says. “All the planning is done during pre-production and my assistants execute what we’ve planned. When I’m there, I’m observing the places and my actors. I’m looking for that energy in them that I can borrow for my later shots.”
He explains this using actor Pankaj Tripathi as an example, who he has worked with in Nil Battey Sannata and Bareilly Ki Barfi. “You can’t be using a monitor when you’re working with great actors. You need to be able to capture everything when he’s in his zone. That’s why I curse myself if we have to go for second take because of a mistake I’ve made. Good actors give their best during the first take... you shouldn’t miss that.”
His insistence on the ideal has given him the tag of being choosy. At 40, he’s only worked on five films and says he’s rejected at least 25 offers so far. “I end up doing just one film a year,” he says, adding, “I need two months with a script before I say yes to it. I read it religiously and by the time I go for the recce, I know it thoroughly. I read Jigarthanda’s script 25 times before I went to Madurai for the first time. I didn’t study that much even in school!”
This connection with the script and team, he feels, is important because it’s not just about making beautiful-looking films. “I’d feel heartbroken if someone were to tell me that they loved my work but hated the movie. Films aren’t about parading my skillset.”
He has signed director KV Anand’s next with Suriya for this year and says he will begin pre-production work for it soon. Having signed his first film after 15 years as an assistant, Gavemic says he’s in no hurry. “Plants take time to grow... I’m not a hybrid to grow quickly,” he jokes.
An ex-assistant to cinematographer Santosh Sivan, it’s the lessons from his guru that govern his every move, even now. “Santosh sir used to compare cinematographers with warriors. Once the arrow leaves the bow, there’s nothing he can do about it. It’s the same for us as well. Once a shot ends up in a film, we can’t take it back. It becomes a part of history. It’s for us to decide if we’re a loser or a winner in those pages.”