Lagaan (Anil Mehta, 2001)

To maintain the same energy, tone and feel over 225 minutes of celluloid is an incredible achievement and Anil Mehta did that in style for this Ashutosh Gowariker epic. Whether it’s a rain song or a hunting scene or a cricket match, Mehta brought alive the expanse and depth of the large canvas. Given first-time producer Aamir Khan’s penchance for perfection, every frame was meticulously set up and captured with a lot of care. It showed.

Dil chahta hai (Ravi K. Chandran, 2001)

Farhan Akhtar’s films look great. He doesn’t repeat his cinematographers and he has the uncanny knack of picking the right man for the job. For his debut film, it was Ravi K. Chandran who captured images locked in our heads forever. Come on, who has gone to Goa after 2001 and not tried to pose like the three friends?

Black (Ravi K. Chandran, 2005)

It may not rate high on the reality quotient but the wow factor just soared in Ravi Chandran’s interpretation of Bhansali’s almost monochromatic world. Minimal yes but also magnificent, Chandran sucked out all colours from the frames and gave the film a cold European feel that became the new benchmark for all things bleak and beautiful in Bollywood.

Don (Mohanan, 2006)

Another Farhan Akhtar film, this one with the added challenge of living up to, if not bettering, the super-stylish 1978 Chandra Barot original. Mohanan, who had only shot documentaries before this, made every frame look uber-cool and very unlike a Hindi film. Don was easily on a par with sleek international thrillers, with the hand-to-hand combat on the Petronas Towers bridge being the highlight.

Rang De Basanti (Binod Pradhan, 2006)

If you do a Google images search for Rang De Basanti, you will find hordes of pictures of people trying to reprise this moment from the film. That strong was the impact of RDB and its unforgettable frames. Binod Pradhan, who shot classics like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and Parinda, wove his magic and made the Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra film a rare visual treat.

Omkara (Tasadduq Hussain, 2006)

An American Film Institute graduate, Tasadduq landed in India with a showreel. Vishal Bhardwaj got to him first and asked him to shoot his Othello like a Sergio Leone film set in the UP heartland. Result: one of the most original visual spreads in Indian cinema.

Guru (Rajeev Menon, 2007)

Every Mani Ratnam film is a visual marvel, whether it’s shot by Santosh Sivan or P.C. Sreeram. But this one, shot by Sapnay director Rajeev Menon, was not poetry alone. It was period, too, and captured in wonderful warm tones. Guru was also the first time Mani went abroad and Menon shot Turkey with as much zing as he shot Mumbai and Gujarat.

Eklavya (Nataraja Subramanian, 2007)

The jury may still be out on whether this Vidhu Vinod Chopra movie was actually “a lost David Lean film”, but there’s no denying its visual opulence. The camel running sequence or the blindfolded bell scene, Nutty’s images were spellbinding.

Chak De! India (Sudeep Chatterjee, 2007)

Shooting a sports film is alien to Indian cinematographers. It needs perfect harmony among the sports choreographer, the actors and the DoP, besides the director. Having shot Iqbal, Sudeep knew a trick or two but shooting a fast hockey film was that much more difficult than shooting a slow cricket movie. And the man who shot Kaalpurush did a perfect job, bringing the game and the grind alive in every frame.

Dev D (Rajeev Ravi, 2009)

From seedy bylanes to picturesque valleys, from small towns to urban landscapes, Rajeev Ravi translated Anurag Kashyap’s vision of today’s Devdas with spunk, style and a splash of colour. And when we learnt that the film’s budget was all of Rs 6 crore, we admired the man and the movie that much more.

 

 

Their toppers

Amelie

Amélie (Bruno Delbonnel, 2001)

Children of Men (Emmanuel Lubezki, 2006)

Saving Private Ryan (Janusz Kaminski, 1998)

There Will Be Blood (Robert Elswit, 2008)

There Will Be Blood,The Dark Knight

No Country for Old Men (Roger Deakins, 2007)

Fight Club (Jeff Cronenweth, 1999)

The Dark Knight (Wally Pfister, 2008)

Road to Perdition (Conrad L. Hall, 2002)

American Beauty

City of God (César Charlone, 2003)

American Beauty (Conrad L. Hall, 2000)