Santhosh Rai Pathaje’s expertise in cinematography comes from making commercials, and it is only good scripts that drew this award-winning cinematographer and director to feature films. One such flick he lately picked up was director Suni’s Chamak. “Films takes months of my time, and so I am very careful in choosing my projects,” says cinematographer of the film starring Ganesh and Rashmika Mandanna.
“Capturing moments of a romantic drama is itself is an art,” says Santhosh, who shared with City Express the beautiful pictures, he captured for the film. “I prefer to associate with romance films because visuals get a lot of attention in these subjects. When it comes to romance, the backdrop becomes important to make it convincing,” he says.
“With a good production house, like Crystal Park Cinemas, venturing into films, and with director Suni sharing my same wavelength, I thought of being part of this project,” says Santhosh. While the cinematographer was allowed to use high-end equipments - camera Arri Alexa SXT, a first for a Kannada film, it was also interesting to know from Santhosh that an app helped him to explore new locations, especially in Italy.
“Being a gadget freak, I made sure to use the latest technology. Most of the aerial shots taken for varied songs were all otherwise unexplored, and we could find new locations through this app, but it also took us far off places and travelled for hours. Since Suni and I had gone on a recce, we knew the locations. Such risk will help us to capture new visuals. The whole sequences in Cinqueterre was captured through aerial shots using drones,” he says.