Four years and 12 films—each remarkable for its high sense of aesthetics, solid technique and colours. Jomon T John, 33, is currently on the wish list of every director in Malayalam cinema. If his début, Chappa Kurishu (2011), had rough, earthy images, the same year he stunned us with the poetic picturisation of Beautiful and Thattathin Marayathu. John has also never shied away from experimenting, as he showed us with Thira and Picket 43. With his latest work, Nee-Naa, directed by Lal Jose, getting rave reviews, his date diary is booked until next February.
Meeting Up
I message him on a Saturday morning; he calls back the same afternoon. His morning has just started, can he call back after brewing a strong cup of coffee? Meanwhile, can I WhatsApp him the questions so he can get a hang of things? Save for an interview or two to regional magazines, he is not adept at the art of giving interviews. Fair enough.
John is rather self-effacing. Unusually so. The tag of being the most wanted man in the business sits lightly on him. “I am not really doing anything extraordinary,” the young cinematographer shrugs. He is also soft-spoken, his words unhurried. Maybe one of the reasons why these observations surprise me lies in the contradiction. Long hair, French beard, with boho styling, the man I have seen in media photographs wants me to believe that image. No such luck.
He is on a few days’ break after wrapping up a period film, a first for him—Ennu Nintey Moideen, starring Prithviraj. “It was exciting and challenging to film another era. It is based on a real life character. I am curious to know how the audience will take it,” he tells me. As a rule, he likes to work on one project at a time. Not that there is any dearth of offers; it is just that he would rather not multi-task. So how does he choose his films? “It just happens,” he says after a long pause. “Somehow only good films come to me. There have been instances when projects I’ve wanted to do, but could not allot dates to, have ended up doing badly. So it’s all God’s grace.”
Movies on a Platter
Films chose him and not the other way round, he tells me. After a three-year diploma course at the Government Film and Television Institute in Bengaluru (he dropped out of mechanical engineering to pursue his passion), director Samir Tahir spotted him. He assisted him for Big B, followed by Ashiq Abu’s Daddy Cool and Rajesh Pillai’s Traffic. Ads came later—he started off assisting cinematographer Madhu Neelakandan and then did national ads like Hero Honda CBZ and Kerala Tourism’s international campaign. He also worked under cinematographers KU Mohanan and Anil Mehta.
In 2011, when Tahir was making his directorial début with Chappa Kurishu, he wanted John to wield the camera. During those days, he was juggling various ads and was not really looking for a change. “It was a given that you get your first independent project only after assisting on half a dozen films. Besides, I was actually enjoying the process of assisting ads, but fate had other plans I guess,” he chuckles.
John does not recall having to struggle for work. All with God’s grace, he quickly adds.
Chappa Kurishu was a breeze, more for the “young, energetic, hands-on” team he worked with. They ate, brainstormed and slept in the same house for two months. He does not remember working so hard for the pre-production of any film. “Today, Fahad (Fazil) or I will arrive on the sets only on the day of the shoot, but back then it was different. At no point did I feel that it was my independent work. Besides, the strategy we used for that film was different from what was seen during that time. The vibe was palpable and the results were there for all to see.”
It was also the first film shot on a Canon 7D DSLR. “Initially, we came under a lot of criticism but within a year, everyone had opted for it.” In fact, intrigued by the medium, director VK Prakash had called him on board to film Beautiful. However, after reading the script, Jomon knew 7D would not work. He opted for RED, instead. “Advertising helps a lot in enhancing one’s visual sense,” he admits.
Working with Friends
Thattathin Marayathu, which came a year later, changed his fortunes in the industry. He spun magic with his frames, creating a romantic cast in soft blues and whites. It also gained him a lasting friend in Vineeth Sreenivasan. “There is an uncanny sync with him. We think alike, read each other’s minds,” he says
John says he has never been edgy during the making of any film. “While filming, I really don’t stress over how the audience is going to take it. It is very organic and more about being in the thick of things. Anything else will kill the joy of working,” he says. He is nervous only during the time of the film’s release. Until date, he religiously avoids first day first shows.
For him, the script is the decider for the most part. Once he signs a film, he sits for a detailed script discussion, followed by another one with the crew about the look. Like in Thira, he figured out that Shobana’s character needed a red and black sari to stand out against the blue tone of the frame. “Colours influence a lot in the background. It’s crucial that I get along with the art director’s sense of aesthetics or vice versa,” he says. John rues the lack of preproduction time allotted to our films in contrast to Hollywood. “We usually get the art director a few days before the shoot.”
Shooting Under Fire
Picket 43 was a revelation for the cinematographer. Until he travelled to the strife-ridden valleys of Kashmir, he had a romanticised image about life in the army. The wakeup call came a week later—gunfire, deaths and a shooting spot that was a virtual battlefield. “Suddenly there would be announcements about militants in Kashmiri clothing coming there. We travelled in bulletproof trucks and passed through militant prone villages,” he recalls. But John does not think a spurt in technology can make the process of filmmaking easier. “When you say things are easier and accessible, I would say that’s just a medium. At the end of the day, when you shoot a film, you need a proper script, director, technical crew and actors, and it is never easy. The medium will keep changing.
Going North
Though Bollywood offers are coming in, he hasn't taken the bait. “We (down South) are easy to deal with, technically sound, mild mannered and do our work neatly and quickly. With North Indians, they have issues with their temperament, budget and slow pace,” he says, perhaps refering to why technicians from down South are in demand. He also makes it a point to do ads when he gets time off.
Meanwhile, enjoying the positive feedback for Nee-Naa, in which his wife, Ann Augustine, plays one of the two heroines, he grins, “Her friends told her that she has never looked so beautiful on screen before.” Up next for him are the Hindi remake of Chennai 28, Ennu Nintey Moideen and Martin Prakkat’s untitled film with Dulquer Salmaan.
Home-grown Inspiration
Priyadarshan’s films fascinated him. “I never saw world cinema as a child. It was Chithram and Kilukkam that gave a new perceptive to my thinking. I was charmed by his visual sense,” says John, adding that the first spark was lit when he won the Malayala Manorama Victor George photography contest in college. He is also in awe of 66-year-old Roger Diekins, who shot the latest James Bond film.
Behind the Lens
Cinematography, he believes, is half theory and half aesthetics. You need both to make it effective. Jomon mostly uses the Ultra Prime and Master Prime lenses and the Arrie Alexa camera, sourced from Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai. He recently bought a light unit stocked with Arrie lights and the Max series.