Brevity is the soul of frames

Like moments in life, the films Prasanth Krishna works with do not have retakes. In this cinematographer’s own words, the most challenging part of wielding a camera is this. All four movies he had canned in his four years in Malayalam cinema were of limited days, not more than 30. If he completed shooting his latest, Bobby, in 26 days, another project, the yet-to-be-released Viswavikhyatharaya Payyanmar, got over in just 16 days!

“Most of these are not big budget movies with a star cast to boast of. At the start of the project, the makers would have hinted about the nature of work. We can’t hope for too many takes to perfect a shot. Two to three takes is the most to expect. I do some homework prior to such movies. It has been a trend in recent times. As there won’t be much clash of dates of the actors, the best option is to wind up the schedule at the earliest and take the movie to the audience,” says Prasanth.

Prasanth’s tryst with the big screen started with his first independent project Annum Innum Ennum in 2013, followed by Bunty Chor the same year. He operated the second camera for Lakshyam (2017) and also worked for Karinkunnam 6’s.

“Lakshyam is a movie where I got time to work. Otherwise, every day we arrive on the sets with a planner. Technical arrangements such as light settings would be well-planned. The acting crew would be so cooperative. They arrive on time. On such occasions, we start the day by 6 am. Only when a scene is shot, we’d think of taking a break or having food,” he says.

In the years without movies, Prasanth concentrated on working on short films and adverts. One of his noteworthy short films was the widely-appreciated Thorth, which released in 2013. He has been associating with musician Balabhasker for long.

“I love doing fiction. With ad-films and short films, I get the liberty to do so. About my feature films, humour is one thing in common. It’s cool to capture comedy movies in a short time. In the end the feel shouldn’t be like ‘Oh! A second chance would have made it better’,” he says.

This is his second movie with Bobby director Shebi Chowghat. Prasanth is the DOP for Shebi’s Kollywood film Moondru Rasigargal as well. He is making plans for his fifth in Malayalam, a film starring Niranj, the male lead in Bobby.