Passion for films and drama has turned Reghu Shanker, an IT professional, into an award winning film maker. After making a mark in the international film industry, the city youth has forayed into Malayalam film industry and is also doing a documentary film which exposes the NGO-Industry nexus in Bangladesh. Love for films has made him switch career after working for five years in Infosys.
During an onsite stint, he applied for film courses offered by Columbia College to pursue direction and did Cinematography from Chapman University. He received fellowships from both ivy-league universities but opted to go to Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts since it is considered the top school for film studies in USA. A generous fellowship amount of $18,000 per year for the three year course helped him pursue his dreams. “At Chapman I was mentored by Hollywood greats Bill Dill ASC and Johnny Jensen ASC,” says Reghu.
(ASC stands for the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers.) Ace cinematographer Santhosh Sivan, also from the city, is only Asian member of ASC.
During his film studies his shot film called ‘Onkar’, which deals with the racism in US, won him the Sikh Lens Award. After graduating he worked in Los Angeles. This year in Los Angeles, he associated with Oscar winning short film, Rocket. “I was the chief lighting technician for my junior’s thesis film which won the students’ Oscars,” says Reghu.
Awards and recognition came Reghu’s way right from his school days. He was a regular at the drama and mime competitions since his school and college days. Later he began making corporate videos for Infosys, Thiruvanathapuram campus and won internal awards. Reghu, 31, has spent most of his student days in Thiruvananthapuram. The Mannanthala native studied at Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering after schooling at St Thomas School in Mukkolakkal.
Reghu has a mixture of work from both international and Malayalam film industries in his kitty. He has been associated with many Malayalam films and is now scripting a story for a movie, the details of which are yet to be revealed.
He has completed the first schedule of a feature ‘Curse of the Kohnioor’, an international project for which he is the cinematographer. Reghu is also associated with Replay Collective, a US-based video production agency, in starting its Indian branch. A major TV channel has approached him to helm the camera for their big budget epic series. Talks are underway.