Pulling Focus on Indian Kenyan Cinematographer Rajeev Jain ICS, WICA

July 4, 2010 - PRLog -- Pulling Focus on Indian Kenyan Cinematographer Rajeev Jain ICS, WICA

Rajiv Jain decided he wanted to be a cinematographer at the age of 20 when he got the job as trainee under Late K K Mahajan. A college course in drama in Bhartendu Natya Academy, Lucknow fuelled that passion and now established as one of India’s most influential filmmaking exports. I caught up with the Indian Kenyan Cinematographer to talk about the pitfalls of creative partnerships, cat-like cameras and shooting Kalpvriksh - The Wishing Tree.
Finishing his college course Rajiv left Lucknow following the realisation - that “people in Mumbai would pay me for making films which I had been doing for free in Lucknow”. His breakthrough came as a result of a partnership with Late Mukul S Anand with whom he made several commercials including feature ‘Trimurti’, which is one of Rajiv’s rare Indian–shot projects.
Currently preparing for his fourth collaboration with director Manika Sharma; Rhombus Films’ ‘Kalpvriksh - The Wish tree’, the pair’s most recent collaborative effort brought about ‘Ayyo Paji’ which received huge critical acclaim. The duo has also worked together previously on the shorts', Commercials and Music Videos. So what does Rajiv put the good partnership down to? “Friendship,” comes his reply. “If you get on with somebody and you both have common interests as far as visuals or storytelling are concerned then you tend to not want to look further a field because everything works for you both. Manika in particular is really loyal to the people she works with - as far as I know all of the HoDs she did ‘Kalpvriksh - The Wish tree’ with are still working with her today so she’s really into keeping people she respects and sort of trusts.”
That said Rajiv is aware of the possible downfalls of such loyalty in his business: “I’m sure Manika maybe would be keen to try another sort of Cinematographer to see how that would work out but sometimes it’s just pure comfort. I’m aware that loyalty is a dangerous thing in film making because you know you can sometimes get a little bit hurt if someone goes for somebody else - it’s very difficult for directors. And vice versa, it can be tricky in cases when I’m not available but would actually love to work with a certain director. It all comes down to the fact that there are fragile egos out there!”

The aforementioned ‘Kalpvriksh - The Wish tree’ belies Rajiv’s experimental, albeit naturalistic approach to cinematography. He strove to give the film a photo chemical look and shot the feature in 1:85:1. Unfortunately, very few people got to see that version as the film had to be reduced to 2.35:1, as Rajiv explains. “Most Indian Cinemas (Hindi Features) don’t project in 1:85:1 which is a pity because we really wanted that rectangular, almost television-like look. So basically we had to go through a digital process to reduce it to 2.35:1. It was funny because we ended up going through a whole digital process when all we wanted was to go the traditional way.”
This desire for a non-digital approach reflects a strong feeling for the time honoured method of shooting on film. When asked, rather rhetorically, if he prefers film or digital an expected reply issues forth, “Oh, I’m very much sort of a filmophile really. I’m struggling with the changeover to digital to be honest with you.” The reason? “I find it just a bit different - it’s not as satisfying to see the instant results from digital. You have to process it and really know your technology and I don’t have much interest, sort of knowledge, I guess.” A pause, “It seems we are all re-designing the wheel. I think Harris Savides put it very well in an interview after making ‘Zodiac’ - he was asked what it was like shooting on digital and he said it was like being one of the Wright Brothers and looking at your first plane flying and in the next field a jumbo jet landed and that was film because we are basically having to learn it all over again. There is no harm, I am a big fan of learning, but it’s just a bit of a shame that film is becoming a specialised medium, you know?”
Moving away from the theoretical side of things to the practical, what camera is he using at the moment? “I’ve come around to Panavision for when I’m shooting 35mm. It doesn’t really matter about the camera, I think, it’s more about the lens and Panavision lens are the best lens. They have cameras that are a little bit like an old American Chevy in that they are a bit big and are not the most ergonomic sort of cameras, but the lenses are fantastic and unbeatable in my opinion.” And when he’s not shooting 35mm? “16mm,” he tells us. “I see films and film and films ........ Panavision make beautiful cameras for operating whereas Panavision come from a studio system which isn’t totally geared towards operating. So for hand held operations Arri’s psychology is that their cameras are like having a cat on your shoulders, and that’s what they pride themselves on. They have come out with some very clever cameras and they’ve come up with the first camera that will be a 35mm camera and a digital camera at the same time.”
Alongside his preparation for ‘Kalpvriksh - The Wish tree’ Rajiv finished work on a "Carry on Pandu " feature in January. The project is based on a real story about a Mumbai cop who ends up as a servant but who ultimately escapes. The crew couldn’t get into build sets to shoot the feature so they had to shoot in Mumbai locations instead which added an additional challenge. The eclectic mix of projects is rounded off by the news that last month saw him shoot a new music video for Indian Singer. “It was a good craic,” Rajiv tells us, “he’s in an old people’s home and he turns it into a disco so it was quite enjoyable actually.”
As to the rapidly evolving art of cinematography? “It’s a huge revolution at the minute,” he says, “I’ve just done my first work with a Canon D7 - everybody is shooting on those now which is quite a scary future in a way. I mean, it’s good scary, but at the same time it’s such a small camera it’s like an SLR, a little digital SLR camera.”
Rajiv Jain is one of India's leading cinematographers. He shot his first feature Army in 1996 and his subsequent list of feature film credits include Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi, Badhaai Ho Badhaai, Kadachit, Meerabai Not Out, Aiyyo Paji, Rasstar, Kalp ...