P. C. Sreeram

Early life and family

Sreeram was born on 26 January 1956 in Madras (now Chennai). Sreeram's aspiration towards films grew much during his childhood days. He was educated at the Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, Chennai. As a student he was not interested in studies. The "Samco" group, which included Kamal Haasan, C. Rudhraiya, Santhana Bharathi, Radharavi, R. C. Sakthi, Mani Ratnam, and a few others, used to meet at a hotel in Chennai and share their knowledge of cinema and future ambitions of making a perfect film.

His niece Preetha Jayaraman, a cinematographer in the Tamil film industry, was inspired to her calling largely by her uncle's work in the field. Sreeram's daughter died in November 2010, aged 23, after falling from the terrace of a friend's house.

Career

Sreeram received his diploma in motion picture photography from the Madras Film Institute in 1979, and made his cinematic debut in the early 1980s. One of his earlier works, Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai (1985), won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director in 1984. Following a few commercially unsuccessful releases, he worked with Mani Ratnam for the first time in Mouna Ragam (1986). The film gave a much-needed breakthrough for both of them. Following the film's success, the pair went on to work in Nayagan (1987). The film went on to win three National Film Awards at the 35th National Film Awards; Sreeram was awarded that year's National Film Award. He used new techniques in the camera for their next film Agni Natchathiram and was praised very much for his work. Sreeram shot all of Ratnam's films until Geethanjali (1989). The film was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful besides winning the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and seven Nandi Awardsincluding the Best Story and Best Cinematography awards for Ratnam and Sreeram, respectively.

During the early 1990s, Sreeram worked in Gopura Vasalile (1991) and Thevar Magan (1992). He made his directorial debut in 1992 with Meera, starring Vikram and Aishwarya . The film had a delayed release and was a poor grosser at the box-office. The following year, he renewed his association with Ratnam in the latter's Thiruda Thiruda.

Sreeram directed his second film Kuruthipunal (1995), a police story based on the Hindi film Drohkaal (1994). The film was India's official entry to the Oscars in 1996. In 2004, he directed Vaanam Vasappadum, the first Indian film to make use of high-definition digital technology. The film was screened at the Mumbai International Film Festival and the ninth International Film Festival of Kerala. Since then, Sreeram has shot all of Balki's filmsPaa (2009), Shamitabh (2015), Ki & Ka (2016) and Pad Man (2018).

Legacy

Sreeram is well known for his longtime association with Mani Ratnam, Moulee and Kamal Haasan. He received critical acclaim for his work in films such as Mouna Ragam, Nayakan, Geetaanjali, Thevar Magan, Thiruda Thiruda and Alai Payuthey. He has mentored some of the prominent cinematographers in the Indian film industry including Jeeva, M. S. Prabhu, Ramji, Chezhiyan, Fowzia Fathima, Mahesh Muthuswami, Dwaraganath, Arun Vincent, Preetha Jayaraman, K. V. Anand, Tirru, Balasubramaniem, K. V. Guhan, Nirav Shah, Sivakumar Vijayan, Tanveer Mir, Vivekanand Santhosham, Sathyan Sooryan, and Arvind Krishna. In January 2016, Sreeram was elected as the president of South Indian Film Cinematographers Association.

Filmography

As cinematographer

Awards and nominations

|- ! scope="row" | 1987 | Nayakan | National Film Award for Best Cinematography | | |- ! scope="row" | 1990 | Geethanjali | Nandi Award for Best Cinematographer | | |- ! scope="row" | 1992 | Thevar Magan | Cinema Express Award for Best Cameraman | | |- ! scope="row" | 1993 | Thiruda Thiruda | Cinema Express Award for Best Cameraman | | |- ! scope="row" | 1999 | Kadhalar Dhinam | Dinakaran Award for Best Cinematographer | | |- ! scope="row" | 2000 | Alai Payuthey | Filmfare Award for Best Cinematographer - South | | |- ! scope="row" | 2006 | Varalaru | Vijay Award for Best Cinematographer (Special Jury) | | |- ! scope="row" | 2012 | Ishq | CineMAA Award for Best Cinematographer | | |- ! scope="row" | 2012 | Ishq | CineMAA Award for Life Time Contribution | | |- ! scope"row" | 2012 | Ishq | SIIMA Award for Best Cinematographer (Telugu) | |

References

References

1. (15 May 2006). "Helping green Madras". [[The Hindu]].
2. Pain, Paromita. (28 February 2004). "Beyond the future". [[The Hindu]].
3. (June 2022}} he joined the [[Madras Film Institute]] to pursue a course in cinematography.{{cite web). "P. C. Sriram". cameraworking.raqsmediacollective.
4. (6 March 2008). "Snap, click, roll". India Today.
5. (8 November 2010). "Director PC Sreeram's daughter falls to death".
6. Bal, Mieke. (2004). "Narrative Theory: Interdisciplinarity". Taylor & Francis.
7. "35th National Film Awards". [[International Film Festival of India]].
8. "P C Sreeram – He can make pictures look real, pretty, stark.".
9. Rangarajan, Malathi. (30 July 2004). "Award, accolade and much more". [[The Hindu]].
10. Frederick, Prince. (11 February 2004). "Is the future DIGITAL?". [[The Hindu]].
11. MovieBuzz. "P.C.Sreeram's film at MIFF".
12. Ramnath, Nandini. "Sage – whispers Words of wisdom from PC Sreeram". Time Out Bangalore.
13. "Cheeni Kum – A sugar free romance". Eros International.
14. Rajitha. "My goal is to be different". [[Rediff]].
15. Manmadhan, Prema. (30 April 2011). "Zooming in on "trends of life"". [[The Hindu]].
16. Sangeeta. (6 July 2007). "Realistic frames". [[The Hindu]].
17. (15 September 2011). "Zen and the art of light". The Hindu.
18. (14 February 2011). "K. T. Balasubramaniem BIOGRAPHY (First look..)". Chennai Patrika.
19. M, Suganth. (12 January 2016). "PC Sreeram elected president of cinematographers association". [[The Times of India]].
20. R, Manoj Kumar. (20 February 2018). "Nithya Menen's Praana is a one-actor movie made in four languages". [[The Indian Express]].
21. V, Lakshmi. (3 September 2018). "Udhayanidhi turns 'psycho' for Mysskin". [[The Times of India]].
22. "Filmfare - Print Edition".
23. "Winners: Reliance Mobile Vijay Awards 2006". starboxoffice.com.
24. (16 June 2013). "CineMAA Awards 2013 Winners".