K. V. Anand

Early life

Anand was born in Chennai, in the state of Tamil Nadu in India on 30 October 1966 to Karimanal Munuswamy Venkatesan and Anusuya Venkatesan. His childhood days were spent in Pulicat. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Physics from DG Vaishnav College in June 1986, followed by a master's degree in Visual Communications from Loyola College, Chennai. During his college days Anand participated in annual trekking expeditions in the Himalayas. His exploratory trips to various remote locations in India triggered his passion for photography. Anand participated in inter-collegiate, state and national level photography contests. His visual images earned him numerous photography awards.

Career

Photo journalist (1988–1992)

Anand worked as a freelance photo journalist for leading newspapers and magazines such as Kalki, India Today, Illustrated Weekly, Aside and other national publications. Within a short period of time, his photos were published in more than 200 magazine covers and had taken photos of 10 Chief Ministers in close quarters. Anand continued to freelance in industrial photography, advertisements and cover pages for fictional Tamil novels.

Cinematographer (1994–2007)

Anand met cinematographer P. C. Sreeram and expressed his interest to work for him as an assistant. He joined him, serving as an apprentice for Sreeram's film such as Gopura Vasalile, Amaran, Meera, Thevar Magan and Thiruda Thiruda. He had initially joined as the sixth assistant to Sreeram when Jeeva, another prominent figure in cinematography was the first assistant to Sreeram. When director Priyadarshan had approached P. C. Sreeram to work on his Malayalam film, Thenmavin Kombath (1994), he was unavailable and thus recommended Anand to be given the opportunity. Anand's first Tamil film was the romantic drama Kadhal Desam (1996), which also won critical acclaim for showcasing Chennai in a futuristic mould. He also then teamed up with director Shankar for the production of the political thriller Mudhalvan (1999), winning appreciation for his experimental camera ramping and the general grandeur.

Anand has wielded the camera for 14 films in languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. His final work as a cinematographer came with Sivaji (2007), the Rajinikanth-starrer directed by Shankar, the most expensive Tamil film ever made at the time of release.

Film director (2005–2019)

Anand turned a film director with Kana Kandaen (2005), a thriller film starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, Srikanth and Gopika. The film opened to favourable reviews from critics, with a reviewer from Rediff.com noting "Anand has succeeded in making an extremely watchable, highly thrilling film with a 'different' story". Despite the success of the film, Anand opted to return to cinematography to fulfil commitments for Rajinikanth's Sivaji (2007) directed by Shankar, which became the most expensive Tamil film ever made at the time.

Anand then collaborated with AVM Productions and Suriya in Ayan (2009), an action entertainer set on the backdrop of the Indo-African drug smuggling trade. In order to prepare the script, Anand did a lot of research and is said to have spoken to a lot of custom officers to understand the modus operandi of smuggling. The film opened in April 2009 to positive reviews, and became one of the year's highest-grossing Tamil language films. A critic from Rediff.com called the film a "must-watch" adding "what gets you by surprise is the thread of logic that laces practically every encounter, and the way Anand's screenplay covers all the angles". A reviewer from Sify.com stated "Anand pushes the commercial cinematic envelope and brings a savvy freshness in treatment and packaging hitherto unexplored in Ayan".

His third directorial venture, Ko (2011), narrated the tale of photojournalists caught up in a political corruption scandal. Starring Jiiva, Ajmal Ameer, Karthika Nair and Piaa Bajpai, the film also received a positive from film critics and the box office. A reviewer from The Hindu described the film as a "tale with a realistic twist" and mentioned that Anand "strikes gold with Ko". The critic added "blending the commercial with the realistic is a challenge, but Anand proves adept at it." Likewise, The Times of India noted "With Ko, director Anand gives notice of his immense talent once again, making a movie that is all set to lord over the box office this summer".

Anand worked with Suriya again in Maattrraan (2012), and was inspired to make the film after watching a documentary about the conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker. While preparing the script, he worked closely with a team of doctors to ensure the medical condition of open-heart transplant, as shown in the film, could be showcased as realistically as possible. He later made a mythical thriller film, Anegan (2015) starring Dhanush, and another political thriller film, Kavan (2017), with Vijay Sethupathi. His final film Kaappaan (2019), starring Mohanlal, Suriya and Arya told the tale of a Special Protection Group (SPG) officer who protects the Prime Minister.

Craft, style, and technical collaborations

Anand collaborated with composer Harris Jayaraj, editor Anthony and the writer duo Subha for several of his ventures, describing them as "constant fixtures". While noting he shared a good rapport with Harris, he stated that Anthony was like his "alter ego" and "his biggest critic", with the pair often working closely during the post-production stages of films. He met the writer duo Suresh and Bala of Subha, during his stint as a photojournalist with India Today. Actor Jagan appeared in most of his films. Despite being a cinematographer himself, Anand chose not to photograph his directorial ventures and actively tried to select different cinematographers for each of his projects, although Soundararajan and Abhinandhan Ramanujam each worked with him on more than one project.

During the script-writing process, Anand often finished up to six drafts, though he rarely "lock[ed]" his scripts as they were always open to changes for improvisations on the shooting spot. He often rephrased dialogues, and sometimes invented titles during the drafting process, being constantly on the lookout for short and crisp titles. His film titles were usually in chaste Tamil, such as Kana Kandaen, Ayan, Ko, Anegan and Kavan.

Frequent collaborators

Death

Anand died in Chennai in the early hours of 30 April 2021 following a cardiac arrest. At the time, he was tested positive for COVID-19.

Filmography

Source(s):

Awards

!Ref. |- !scope="row"| 1994 |Thenmavin Kombath |National Film Award for Best Cinematography | |- !scope="row"|1996 |Kadhal Desam |Screen Award for Best Cinematography | |- !scope="row"|2000 |Josh |Screen Award for Best Cinematography | |- !scope="row"|2002 |The Legend of Bhagat Singh |SICA Award for Best Cinematography | |- !scope="row"|2007 |Sivaji |Filmfare Award for Best Cinematographer – Tamil | |- !scope="row"|2009 |Ayan |Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil | |- !scope="row"|2011 |Ko |Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil | |- !scope="row"|2012 |Maattrraan |SIIMA Award for Best Director | |}

Legacy

Cinematographers, Writers, and Directors such as S. Soundararajan, Richard M. Nathan, P. Chelladurai, Vijay Ulaganath, Deekay, R. M. Muthu Ganesan had worked as assistant, associate directors and assistant cinematographers under Anand.

References

References

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2. (30 April 2021). "Director and Cinematographer KV Anand Passes Away at 54, Tollywood Pays Tribute".
3. (30 April 2021). "Veteran cinematographer and 'Ayan' director KV Anand passes away in Chennai". News minute.
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6. "K.V. Anand (The legend) - Movies, Biography, News, Age & Photos".
7. kavitha. (1 May 2021). "KV Anand: Kollywood's self-deprecating, down-to-earth director".
8. (2 January 2005). "தமிழ் நடிகர்கள் கேட்டு போய் விட்டார்கள்!".
9. "South holds sway".
10. (1995). "42nd National Film Festival - 1995". [[Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India).
11. (15 July 2014). "Man of the Moment: The KV Anand Interview". Silverscreen.in.
12. (27 July 2007). "Sivaji -- the Boss".
13. "Kana Kandein rocks!".
14. (20 May 2005). "Refreshing dream". The Hindu.
15. "K.V. Anand – The Director, Cinematographer – Sunday special Interview on Ayan Director – Tamil Movies".
16. Udhav Naig. (5 November 2014). "Balancing box office formula with substance". The Hindu.
17. S. Aishwarya. (12 August 2010). "Cinematographer's dream role". The Hindu.
18. (10 July 2009). "Suriya – Prince of Chennai Box Office".
19. "Ayan is a must-watch".
20. (3 April 2009). "Ayan".
21. (24 April 2011). "Tale with a realistic twist". [[The Hindu]].
22. (23 April 2011). "Ko". The Times of India.
23. Ramanujam, Srinivasa. (30 April 2021). "From 'Ayan' to 'Anegan': How KV Anand picked unique Tamil titles for his films". The Hindu.
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25. Adivi, Sashidhar. (14 September 2019). "Suriya, Mohanlal were picture perfect: K V Anand".
26. (2018-07-07). "Cinematographer's replacement galore: Zooming in on why lensmen opt out of films". [[The Times of India]].
27. (30 April 2021). "Director and cinematographer K.V. Anand no more". [[The Hindu]].
28. (30 April 2021). "KV Anand was Covid positive, mortal remains taken directly to crematorium".
29. (30 April 2021). "Gone too soon, KV Anand and his memorable films!".
30. (23 March 2021). "ஒரே வாரத்தில் மொத்த படமும் விற்க காரணமாக இருந்த போஸ்டர் - PRODUCER Thenappan CHAI WITH CHITHRA - 4". [[YouTube]].
31. (30 April 2021). "Goodbye KV Anand...Popular Tamil director KV Anand passes away in Chennai at 54!".
32. "K. V. Anand Awards: List of awards and nominations received by K. V. Anand {{!}} Times of India Entertainment". The Times of India.