It’s just another moment of happiness for M J Radhakrishnan who now holds the record for the maximum number of state awards for colour cinematography.
‘Akashathinte Niram’ has brought this unassuming man, the sixth state award in this category. Though Mankada Ravivarma had bagged seven state awards for cinematography, three of them were in black and white category.
“The location too helped me set up a good mood. The sky, the sea and the sand at the location Neil, one of the islands of Andaman and Nicobar were so good. The set also was in good sync with the nature. The bright sun provided good light which was a great help in having a natural mood for the film,” he told Express.
For Radhakrishnan, the award came for the second consecutive year as he had shared it with Shahnad Jalal last year.
It was for the movie ‘Veettilekkulla Vazhi’. Incidentally, both ‘Veettilekkulla Vazhi’ and ‘Akashathinte Niram’ are films directed by Dr Biju.
His first state award was for ‘Desadanam,’ directed by Jayaraj in 1996 and later Karunam (1999), Adayalangal(2007) and Bioscope(2008) continued the track. Despite winning these awards he has some disappointment for losing some laurels by a whisker. “I consider ‘Sammohanam’ as one of my best works and so is ‘Kaliyattam’. However, both did not get any award at the state level and lost the same at the national level by a narrow margin,” he said.
Though many of his films were screened at many international festivals, he considers ‘Maranasimhasanam’ by Murali Nair which was screened at Cannes as one with the maximum visibility.
Radhakrishnan who has captured various magnificent locales of Marayoor, Ladakh, Rajasthan and Andaman in his feature films has some unforgettable experiences while shooting for documentaries on forests in Kerala.
“Some interior parts of forests in Munnar are awesome locations. It is so incredibly exotic that it is difficult to imagine that they are in Kerala,” he says.
Though he started with some commercial flicks and many of his films are super hits, he is yet to be part of the commercial stream. “I have not been invited though I don’t have any problem in working with commercial ventures,” he said.