When the national awards were announced, art director Santhosh Raman was on the sets of his new project in Lucknow. He won the Best Production Design award for his work in Take Off after winning the state award for the Best Art Director.
How do you feel about the award? “I feel more responsible now,” he says over the phone. “I am happy that a movie like Take Off has got the recognition. A lot of effort has been put into this project. Thanks to the director, cameraman, producer and my team for their creative support,” adds Santhosh, who recreated a war-torn Iraq for the movie. “It was set in Kochi and Hyderabad,” he says. “We surfed google and watched Iraqi films for references.”
Santhosh had only limited time for the project as it came to him unexpectedly. “I wasn’t the first choice. They did the pre-production, but it wasn’t moving as expected. The producer contacted me, gave me the script and asked if I could work on it. So, I had little time to work on it,” he recalls. And he didn’t expect an award while doing it.
It is Santhosh’s first national award. What makes the victory sweeter for him is the fact that it is after a long gap a Malayali wins the national award for Production Design. “My friends told me that,” he says. “It was Sabu Cyril who brought it home last time for Kalapani in 1995,” says Santhosh who ventured into cinema in 2005 with the movie Akale, directed by Shyamaprasad. “I was the assistant of Raja Unnithan in Akale. Then, I started doing independent projects. Aanachantham was next project. Jayaraj ettan (director Jayaraj) has played a crucial role in moulding me as an independent art director. I am happy that he shares the stage with me.”
There were struggles, but Santhosh stuck to cinema as it has always been his passion. So far, around 45 projects are there in his credit. Ask him about his working style, he says, “For me, each project is my first work. I want it to be error-free,” he says.
He believes in the doctrine of learning cinema from watching it. “We don’t touch and feel it. We watch and feel it,” says Santhosh, whose Ennalum Sarath and Abrahaminte Santhathikal will soon hit theatres.
