EXCLUSIVE: The inspiration for Vanthiyathevan and Nandini's secret meeting scene in PS: 1, cinematographer Ravi Varman reveals

Celebrated cinematographer Ravi Varman received great appreciation for his visual paintings in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan films. Moreover, with the release of the sequel, Ponniyin Selvan 2, Ravi Varman has maintained a similar standard of cinematography equivalent to international films. However, in a recent Galatta Plus interview with Baradwaj Rangan, Ravi Varman gave a detailed explanation of how certain scenes were staged and filmed. He also let out the inspirations behind the making of the top angle shot of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Karthi's secret meeting inside a palace in Ponniyin Selvan: 1. 

Speaking about the scene where Vanthiyathevan meets Nandini in Ponniyin Selvan: 1, Ravi Varman says, "The color, lighting, placement, the falling of the light, the smoke, the black… they’re very important. The color is the shot’s strength. Once I placed the shot, many of Rembrandt’s paintings came to mind. Because, any painter, be it Picasso, Rembrandt, or Michelangelo, can appreciate it even if they’ve painted a dead body. Even if blood is seeping out a knife wound, you’d appreciate the painting and feel a certain happiness. Only a painter can do that. I cannot make a film without Rembrandt’s influence in some way or the other. There’s a shot in Ram Leela that’s connected with the shot of Aishwarya Rai. It is similar to Dhankor Baa (Supriya Pathak) sitting in front of a mirror with light coming from the top… It mimics Rembrandt’s painting in terms of the source of light… Once I set it up, the shot’s image faded and I was reminded of Rembrandt’s painting."

Ravi Varman also states instances of his inspiration from Rembrandt's works. He added "I never take inspiration just from a single painting. One can’t do that either. You can take inspiration from 5 or 6 works. If you see Rembrandt’s paintings of his wife, they’re colorful and aesthetically pleasing. They’re beautiful. I’ve sometimes taken color textures from his paintings." He further adds, "After that shot with Aishwarya Rai, there’s a low-angle shot of her speaking to Vanthiyathevan. You have to light such spots properly. Usually, those shots are used to capture heroes and sometimes they might not be appropriate for a woman. Here, she is the hero; her beauty should come through too. As I mentioned before, Sergey Urusevsky’s film would have a lot of direct light. Actors would be lit directly. The black-and-white feel. I mounted a camera with a light at 60 degrees…the plus is that Aishwarya Rai is patient until you set up the lights. She won’t even speak to anyone and would just be looking at the light… I kept diffusing the light. It was the first shot we shot on the set. I lit this shot first as if the source was sunlight. We maintained it throughout the film too. Sunlight would be leaking somewhere or the other. Even when someone sits, there’d be sunlight. The shot where she sits, she’d be very beautiful. When we beautify her, we should beautify the other character too. So, I beautified Vandhiyathevan in those scenes. Vanthiyathevan’s character is very raw, and not very pleasing in its own way though. So, I wanted to beautify Vandhiyathevan too. Since I started to light like that, I kept including sunlight in every shot if it was daytime. Something should lead you and that top-angle shot lead me."

Watch Ravi Varman in conversation with Baradwaj Rangan in the video below: