Mention cinematographer K V Guhan and the Mahesh Babu-Trisha starrer Athadu flashes on our mind. Guhan also been associated with Dhookudu, Seetamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, Jalsa, Baadshah, among others . He made his debut as a cameraman in 2003 and took a plunge as director in 2008 with Prakash Raj-produced Inidhu Inidhu, the Tamil remake of Telugu hit Happy Days. After that, he went behind the camera again. Sharing why he didn’t continue directing, he recalls, “ Inidhu... wasn’t a great success like its Telugu version, it just did reasonably well. I realised that the soft story wasn’t a genre I liked. I like investigative thrillers and action stuff. Anyway, I became a cinematographer by accident, I randomly took a decision to get into the field just because my brother Saran became a director. I got into the craft and learnt that I am best suited to direct a film. I always considered myself as an associate director, not a cinematographer. I would work on the scripts and suddenly some movie offer would come up and I would leave that work and handle the camera. First time, post-Jawaan, I resolved to take a break and work on a script.”
K.V Guhan and Kalyan Ram
Guhan is cinematographer P C Sreeram’s protégé and had worked with him for seven years. He owes a lot of his craft to his guru. He reminisces that after a point of time in the shoot, PC Sreeram gives the responsibility to the younger lot. He has immense confidence in them and ensures that anyone who comes to himeventually emerges as a confident, accomplished technician. “When I was working with him, I found out that this particular craft has no rules. I didn’t want to be stuck in one area, was averse to being in any shelf or category. I wanted to be different. Even now I don’t function with fixed thoughts. I watch and observe with an open mind.”
Guhan has a diploma in mechanical engineering and at that time wasn’t aware there were institutes offering film studies. His family was not too inclined to send him abroad. He says this generation is luck as everything — from whipping up a meal to making a short film — is available on YouTube. After Jawaan’s release, he wrote a story based on his personal experience and labelled the mostly-fictional story as 118. About the gist, he reveals, “Imagine you were on a train in the middle of the night and a girl alights and someone stalks her. Either you worry about her and continue the journey or get down and follow her. My story is based on one of this train of thought… pursuing the truth which is finding what happened to the girl. It is a thriller with an emotional twist. I was doing patchwork for Na Nuvve and was chatting with Kalyan Ram over a cup of coffee. I discussed this concept and over the next few days narrated a two and a half hour story. Things moved swiftly and now the film is slated for a March 1 release.”
Guhan is confident the audience will relate to the story. Nivetha Thomas plays the girl who is stalked and Shalini Pandey plays the fiancé. Kalyan Ram is an investigative reporter. The film has been shot in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. He wants to explore different genres and not do template subjects. He concludes, “No one can judge a film, we can see if we like it or not, that is it.”
On a final note he says, “I haven’t worked with my brother so far, so I am hoping to associate with him for the next project. I am going to direct films henceforth.”