EVOLUTION OF CINEMATOGRAPHY - IN SOUTH INDIAN KOLLYWOOD CINEMA

INTRODUCTION

We know that, the fact of filmmaking lies under the control between story telling and the visual techniques. When we consider the part of creating a new narrative, the understanding of key narrative factors plays an important role. While taking the south Indian Kollywood (Tamil) cinema as a plot, the evolution and revolution happened in the cinematography through the process of understanding different kind of genres that benefits different level of cinematographers to absorb an all-round knowledge in the process of framing new narratives.

A study by Grant (1977 cited McConnell 1975, pg.09) said, “The idea of genre, as commonly used by film and literary critics, is of course an inheritance from the renaissance, from the rediscovery of the logic of categories during the enlightenment, and from the wedding, during the romantic era, of that logic with the myth of the poet as prophet, of art as individual negotiation between mind and universe” and so we can otherwise said that a genre plays as a bridge between creator and the product he created. It is a creative form of art in which the creator rearranges or deconstructs the rules according to the path he selected. This always acts as the principle logic for portraying a visual form for the narrative derived by the creator.

GENRE AND NARRATIVE

Genre, when comes to visual platform, mainly enhances the calibre of presentation to the spectator’s eyes. Often, visual framing is denoted as a stage where the entire narrative should be played with a genre in the form of motion picture, which is elucidated by Wordsworth,

‘All this mighty world

Of eye and ear, both what we half create

And what perceive’

We use to admire a lot of stories, places and colours in this world and when it comes to cinema or film, the entire narrative structure is converted into the form of visual through a clear understanding of genre and shown in different varsities. A Cinematographer does this wonderful job. According to Briggs & Burke (2002), centuries apart until today, the camera serves as a key tool for an artist which in turn determines cinema’s popularity. A cinematographer has the responsibility of providing an appealing look to the entire scene or location by showing actors as actors and actress as actress and a normal location into a very good admirable location. The importance of a cinematographer is proved when the beauty of a film flows through the spectator’s eyes results in essence making the spectator get lost in the visual surroundings that he watches.

As Gokulsing and Dissanayake (2004, p.01) said, “The moving image is the medium of mass culture and the most important and universal art form of the twentieth century. More than any other art form, it has the power to entertain, to educate, to reflect and to shape our sense of who we are and our understanding of the world in which we live”. In similar, film noir (genre), after a vast establishment in western countries, they started becoming globalized. The globalism and localism are the two main reasons behind the emergence of moving art in India and other Asian countries.

MASALA GENRE

 

Actor - Amitabh Bachchan

 From Pendakur’s (2003) point of view, Indian cinema is known for weaving different genres (also known as Masala Padam) in the form of comedy, romance, drama, musical among few others into one film. Every kind of spectator has something to watch with most of the Indian films. As India's famous star Amitabh Bachchan(2005) said, “it is not we changed, it is the people who are looking at us who have. It could be at Deauville in France or at Marrakech in Morocco, or anywhere else for that matter, the world has decided to take our movies to heart”.

Gokulsing and Dissanayake (2004 cited Hardgrave 1975, p.65) described that, “Although Bombay (Mumbai) is usually considered the capital of the Indian film world, the film industry in the south, centred in Madras (Chennai), is the largest in India in terms of the number of studios, capital investment, gross income, and in the number of people engaged in the industry”. In regard to Hardgrave’s words, during those days, even though cinema was considered to be the biggest industry until the late 1970's, for more than 40 years, there were only selected genres which were tried and tested in Tamil films and most of the films will be in a linear narrative style.

KOLLYWOOD

According to Joshi (2002), as ‘Bollywood’ refers to Hindi cinema industry in India, similarly ‘Kollywood’ or 'Kodambakkam', refers to Tamil cinema industry, which acts as a hub of film production in south India. It has a wide range of audiences since 1931 through the film Kalidas (1931), which was the first Tamil film released in south India. Even though they followed the traditional narrative structure, there are only some improvements that happened in the process of delivering the narrative form through visuals until 1980.

Through Denzin’s (1995) point of view, it needs to be stressed that, long delays in development had mainly occur due to the egoistic attitude of most of the creators during that time, mainly the technical people. This in turn reflects the amount of consequent predecessors (assistants), that need to be reduced. When it comes to the process of understanding the genre in a motion picture, most of the cinematographers have traditionally not allowed their assistants to learn from them and also the know how of technology available played its role, as only some knew how to use the equipments in those days. This kind of tendency created a bad impression among the youngsters over the modus operandi of the Tamil film industry.

Depending on varied level of understanding between the creators, the way and the purpose of using genre is mainly focused to mesmerise the spectators. The narrative medium here is mainly used as a tool to promote the political deeds rather than the entertainment into the spectator's minds. As every part of the mixed genre plays for its own political issues and promotions, there is not enough concentration provided to the part of framing visuals. Most of the cinematographers have used the normal style of aesthetics say, zooming in and out and panning from left to right and vice versa. Over-lighting and under-lighting a scene in an abrupt way is common, as their main target lies only on promoting the political heroism rather than visual reality and they always curtail the spectators expectations by not getting across of how the original narrative in cinema should exactly be. In a popular study argued that we have to teach good practices to the spectator’s, as the world of cinema is not only an industry, it is also denoted as the mental machinery which makes meanings and practices.

Stephen Neale (1980, p.19) states that, “The term machine refers less to a single englobing operation across the whole field of cinema or across the whole of the social formation in which it finds its historically varying place, than to the plurality of channels, demarcated spaces and orders of regularity that underpin signifying practices”.

EVOLUTION OF SOUTH INDIAN KOLLYWOOD CINEMATOGRAPHY

BALU MAHENDRA’S CONTRIBUTION

Cinematographer - Balu Mahendra

As stated above, Stephen Neale’s style of philosophy can be seen in the Tamil cinema industry during early 1980’s. Later on, as technology developed, the standard of genre and visuals also developed in Tamil industry through obtaining national and international standards during late 20^th and the beginning of 21^st century. Much credit goes to Balu Mahendra (Balanathan mahendran), a cinematographer, Director, Writer and Editor - a five times national award winner and a gold medallist cinematography graduate from film and television institute of India, Pune. He is the one who took Tamil film’s cinematography into its new transition during the 1980’s through the film Moondram Pirai (1982), which had won a National award for best cinematography by the Indian government. It is this period, which gave a different form for narrative in Kollywood rather from its old traditional styles. He is the one who implemented the usage of natural lights to portray the traditional narrative in Tamil cinema and often was termed as a trend setting Cinematographer in those times and even now.

In most of his movies, Balu Mahendra himself used to do the part of cinematography as well as writing and direction. As he is the director for his own visuals, there is no doubt that the narrative form created through the understanding of genre will definitely be fruitful visuals for the spectators. Often in his movies rather than the narrative the visual speaks. This is often referred to the term ‘uniqueness’ of a creator. He created a new trend in the Tamil industry and from then the narratives started getting several new forms. This especially increases in understanding the original form of the narrative easily when the same person acts as cinematographer and the narrator (writer).

P.C. SREERAM’S CONTRIBUTION

Cinematographer -

P. C. Sreeram

After Balu Mahendra, in the later 1990’s, cinematographer P. C. Sreeram took Tamil cinema into its new highs through Kurruthipunal (1995), as India's official entry to Oscars through his cinematography. Also in 1988, for the film Nayagan, he had won a national award for best cinematography, where those periods are apparently mentioned as a total transformation of portraying narrative through natural style of framing visuals in Tamil cinema.

Later on in the decade, a lot of cinematic young aspirants came into the Tamil cinema industry as mainly the egoistic gap had reduced and again due to technological demands, people started learning the new techniques at the beginning of 21^st century. People like Balu Mahendra and P. C. Sreeram, had taught their techniques to most of the young people and they created most of the cinematographers by training them as their assistants. This kind of attitude had brought a lot of change in the Tamil cinema industry, which in turn reflects in the out coming of penned narrative structures depending on the traditional and cultural background of the people. Most of the young creators in 21^st century started discovering different kind of narratives by understanding the new form of traditional mixed genre through stunning visuals in the frame.

RATHNAVELU’S CONTRIBUTION

Cinematographer - Rathnavelu

One among them is, Cinematographer Rathinavelu, who worked as an assistant with Rajiv Menon for 2 years and joined as assistant cameraman for the film Bombay (Directed by Mani Rathnam) and some commercial advertisements. He started his career as Cinematographer with his debut film ‘Aravindhan’ in 1997. Later on he got to work on wonderful scripts like ‘Sethu (1999)’ with director Bala. In that particular movie he planned to take the cinematography into its (traditional) romantic emotional Genre rather than commercial Indian cinematography. He planned to shoot the entire movie in its natural style with no artificial lighting, which is a remarkable feat, considering the attitude towards cinematography that prevailed during those days. As Stephen Nale (1980, p. 34)

Stressed, “The Film is then, something that lets itself be seen without presenting itself to be seen, which has gone out of the room before leaving only its trace visible there”.

Tamil Movie - Sethu(1999)

SETHU (1999)

Rathnavelu had discussed in a recent interview given to JAYA TV Network about the process of understanding the narrative in the movie ‘Sethu (1999)’. According to that, the main hero’s journey had shown more dynamic in the first half of the genre and entirely opposite to that in the second half. According to a particular scene in ‘Pandi Madam' (a place in south India where the mentally challenged people reside) – a scene from the film ‘Sethu’, the hero depicts the character of a mentally retarded person and accordingly the entire scene is painted with a whole green tone to bring out the real emotions. This especially shows how a cinematographer had understood the genre to portray the main narrative of the film. Through these kinds of visuals, a cinematographer could deliver sensitive and emotional feel to the spectators transcending them into a different world. In fact these particular visuals were appreciated by most of the leading DOP’s in Indian Film industry. Here it needs to be suggested that rather than the narrative or character’s role, the visuals defines the characteristic of a film genre. In fact, a cinematographer creates the entire look for genre.

NANDHA(2001)

Tamil Movie - Nandha(2001)

In Rathnavelu’s next movie named ‘Nandha (2001)’ again with the same director Bala, a script with intense (realistic) genre was created in regarding less number of dialogues for the main character (hero). As Virdi (2003) suggests, the responsibility of painting the narrative lies over the hands of cinematographers. The cinematographers are the one’s who create the look for genre. This had made rathnavelu to frame the hero especially in a performer kind of view throughout this film. Rathnavelu had bagged lot of Filmfare and state awards for his visuals in this movie. He also named it as path breaking visuals. During that particular period most of the DOP’s in India had used telephoto lenses in common but Rathnavelu particularly experimented and used wide-angle lenses in that period.

In terms of wide-angle lenses, it will be used for a romantic genre scene or an action genre scene in Indian movies but he used the same lens throughout the movie in ‘Nandha’. In particular, he used this to establish more properties in the background of naturalistic and beautiful frame. This kind of approach had won him accolades. According to Vasudevan (2000), the spectator’s develop a close relationship with the camera visuals while traveling through the narrative. In the same way according to the genre used, Rathinavelu had portrayed very intense lighting in most of the scenes, as the physical expression of hero will not be in both the extremes say happy and sad. Mostly, the narrative in this film is framed through visuals accordingly, as hero’s eyes will delivers all kind of reactions and feelings. For example: The main character Surya as 'Nanda’ is framed to a guy who went to jail by killing his own dad during his childhood and then transcends back into the future. Most of the shots will either be long or a tight close as the narration is planned to deliver through the hero’s eyes. Especially throughout the movie he carried the genre with natural visuals by not using any artificial lights in the fight sequences, as he wanted to avoid using the traditional cinematic styles. He worked out psychologically with the genre to produce a new kind of narrative in this movie.

Tamil Movie - Thirumalai(2003)

THIRUMALAI (2003)

At one particular time, he decided to be an all-rounder in playing with different kind of genres. As previously he had worked with very good intense scripts, at this moment he planned to do a commercial (masala genre) movie ‘Thirumalai (2003)’ with director Ramana in Tamil. As according to Pendakur’s (2003) point of view, the term commercial in Indian film refers to mixed genres; say the viewers can experience action, romance, horror and musical in the same movie. According to Vasudevan (2000), when it comes to comparison about commercial cinema and art cinema in Tamil, in commercial, the mixed genre allows the cinematographers to take a bit more advantage in having some flexibilities with the lighting by adding some colours to the frame and the characters. On the other hand, As Neale (1980, p.07) states that, “Genres may be defined as patterns/forms/styles/structures which transcend individual films, and which supervise both their construction by the filmmaker and their reading by an audience” and so we can able to watch artistic movies portrayed naturally when it comes to visual, enjoy and at the same time we will believe and travel throughout the storyline.

PERAZHAGAN (2004)

According to Gokulsing and Dissanayake (2004), most of the popular Indian films are of melodramas and musical romance. Accordingly cameras are often used for flashiness, and then obviously the cinematographers use lots of Close-ups to serve the strong attention for the spectators. Even though dance sequences are presented in the film, those are always non-attached to the main narrative when compared to music and songs.

Tamil Movie - Perazhagan(2004)

 While handling the genre of melodrama and musical romance, in a film called ‘Peerazhagan (2004)’ with director Sasi Shanker, Rathnavelu had said during his interview that, films like 'Perazhagan’ is a very tough deal for him as he needs to maintain the continuity of the main character throughout the movie. At this point it recalls us what Rathnavelu had said, ‘My eyes are like my camera lens’. For example, if we took a scene from the same movie, the main character (hero) is shown with hunchback and projected teeth. When it comes to an unusual physical structure (hunchbacked) to be portrayed, the character needs to be monitored keenly throughout the movie, as his level of bending and posture must not be changed from the first frame to last frame. As we know that camera eyes are different than human eyes, even a single mistake in a frame will lead to portray an artificial approach to the spectator’s vision. This gives clear evidence that, as a cinematographer, he took the entire responsibility in adjusting the hero accordingly at times when he changed his posture.

As Gokulsing and Dissanayake (2004, p.102) stressed that, “music and songs are used as tools of narration, and there are songs for every mood and emotion – romantic, sad, devotional, patriotic, cabaret, comical or simply lullabies”. In the same film ‘Perazhagan’, there is one particular song sequence called ‘Kaatru yenbadha, kaadal yenbadha, kavidhai yenbadha, sol’ (is that air, is that love, is that lyrics, tell), in this particular song Rathnavelu claims that, he had used three kinds of tone in lighting as he preferred the song to be more energetic and so he used green, warm and blue colours to give a very good visual impact.

Tamil Movie - Kuppi(2007)

KUPPI (2007)

According to Joshi, L.M. (2002), creating expectation of ‘what is next’ to the spectator is very important while framing a thriller narrative visually. Rathnavelu's next project ‘Kuppi [The Cyanide] (2007)’ with director A.M.K. Ramesh is an outright film based on the thriller genre. For example, the main character after finishing his assassination scene, escapes from one place to another, and the entire movie runs in between a period of 20 days before the police killed them. Rathnavelu had stressed in the 

interview that “In fact, I got an appreciation from five time national award winning Indian cinematographer Girish that, ‘This film's cinematography is a bridge between art and commercial cinema” and So as a cinematographer, in case of understanding the genre, rathnavelu needs to listen each and every dialogue and scene of the film to create the natural mood for that very intense narrative. Rathnavelu had proved by lighting this with only two lights for this movie in a cramp location to create that dark feel. For this movie, as Rathnavelu had created each and every frame with utmost care and detail, resulting in the spectator’s to be glued to the narrative by creating an expectation of what is going to happen next.

VAARANAM AAYIRAM (2008)

Rathnavelu had particularly quoted in the interview that, ‘The film Vaaranam 

Tamil Movie - Vaaranam Aayiram

(2008)

Aayiram (2008) with director Gautham Menon is considered to be a breakthrough in his career’. In this film ‘Vaaranam Aayiram (2008)’, main plot is based on the romantic emotional genre. As far as the emotional part is concerned, it is a relationship between a dad and his son. The emotional logic centres the whole play of the narrative. At one part of the movie when the Hero's dad dies, the hero's reaction forms the main part of the structure of this film. According to Barnouw et al (1980), the concept of self-realisation is much more important during the process of analyzing and understanding the genre to produce the whole narrative. In a similar context, cinematographer Rathnavelu had said in the interview that, during the process of understanding he had put himself in the hero’s position and recalled his dad’s death to bring out the real emotions, so that it can be portrayed well in the frame. As an evidence for this, according to Virdi, J. (2003), most of the director’s use to put themselves in the position of each and every character of the narrative in order to deliver the real emotions. In similar way it can be suggested that any kind of genre it may be, but when it comes to the matter of understanding, it will be the best when a cinematographer puts himself into a position so that he can recall or self realize his own life happenings to match with the original narrative in framing the mood exactly.

As Rathnavelu said in the interview, 'in general the cinematographer’s job is to set a mood to the visuals. Their view is always different from the regular viewer's point of view. They can show things, which are beautiful or ugly according to the genre. Especially cinematographer's eyes are their lenses'. 

While considering the triple role in this movie ‘vaaranam Aayiram’, it was a very tough deal for the cinematographer to shoot the same person in three different ages and periods. The narrative part starts from 1960’s to 2009. According to the character at first level he has to perform like a 15 year old boy, then the younger one over 20 and finally like a 50 year old dad. The role is a double role genre, as there is no need for all the three characters to act in the same frame. Now again it boils down to the part of frame continuity. For example, if the shooting sequence of this movie is taken into account, it's not like the normal double acting sequence, as the hero needs some month's time to change his physical structure according to that particular character. Like when rathnavelu had shoot the dad’s part first, then they took seven months break as the hero needs to be prepared physically to play as of a 15 year old character, so that they have maintained the camera report by marking the frame position, source of key lighting and fill lighting from the direction which they fall.

Tamil Movie - Enthiran(2010)

ENTHIRAN (2010)

As Mohan (2005, p.1) rightly states that, “In earlier times the story and the director were considered to be the most important in cinema production. Today, however, the onset of new technology has led to new advances in cinema such as animation, special sound effects, and quality of production with the arrival of computer technology. Today it is more challenging to produce a good film in a world of excellence, competence, and competition. Today, Chennai uses the best available technology” and so Rathnavelu had planned to give a huge transformation in cinematography, that he had ever done before in any of his past projects through the co-ordination of animation and special effects technology in his next movie ‘Enthiran (2010)’, a Romantic Science-Fiction genre with director Shankar.

Based on the article published in ‘THE TIMES OF INDIA – manigandan (2009)’, Tamil industry sources said, a film like 'Enthiran' is twice as difficult than a normal project because it has got a lot of CG (Computer-Graphics) part to be coincided with the normal frame and further it is India's first big budget sci-fi film. Rathnavelu had also said in the interview that during process of pre production he used to do a lot of descriptive work and hence it helped him to co-ordinate the entire project with CG technicians.

NDTV_News_Endhiran_Camera_Man_Randy_Rathnavelu_Interview

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/7715149/NDTV_News_Endhiran_Camera_Man_Randy_Rathnavelu_Interview

Rathnavelu had also said in an interview to 'BEHINDTHEWOODS.COM' that, doing a film like 'Enthiran' is his lifetime achievement. Based on the interview in news channel NDTV, India’s leading Director Shankar had said that “his biggest movie would not have been possible without one man in the crew” which is none other than 'Randy alias Rathnavelu', the cinematographer of Enthiran.

CONCLUSION

It can be seen that Rathnavelu had maintained his spontaneous flow throughout the process of visual painting. We can able to sense the power of consistency and reputation that he maintains with all of his projects. Success does not pave without hard work and intense planning. As we consider, the world of cinema lies under the relation between the imaginary world and the machine world. The key success of each and every cinematographer lies under the psychology behind their input over the understanding of genre involved in the process of creating a new narrative. Rathnavelu’s contribution in the evolution of south Indian cinematography plays a vital and an energetic role in ‘Framing Visualsx Ahead’ during this 21^st century. For me, the creativity and the responsibility in thinking ahead of creating visuals leaves a message that ‘Success is not so far’.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND FILMOGRAPHY

Bibliography:

Barnouw, Erik. and Krishnaswamy, S., 1980. Indian Film. 2^nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Briggs, A. and Burke, P., 2002. A social history of the media. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Brown, B., 2002. Cinematography: imagemaking for cinematographers, directors and videographers. USA: Focal Press.

Hart, J., 1992. Lighting for action. New York: AMPHOTO.

Chakravarty, S., 1993. National Identity in Indian Popular Cinema. Austin:University of Texas Press.

Cook, D.A., 1990. A History of Narrative film. 2^nd ed. New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Denzin, N.K., 1995. The cinematic society: The voyeur’s gaze. New Delhi: Sage Publication.

Gokulsing, K.M. and Dissanayake, W., 1998. Indian Popular Cinema. Staffordshire: Trentham Books Limited.

Guy and Randor, 1997. Starlight, starbright – The Early Tamil Cinema. Chennai: AMARA.

Hardgrave, Jr R.L., 1975. When Stars Displace the gods: The folk culture of cinema in Tamil Nadu. In: Gokulsing, K.M. and Dissanayake, W., 1998. Indian Popular Cinema. Staffordshire: Trentham Books Limited.

Joshi, L.M., 2002. Bollywood: Popular Indian Cinema. London: Cassell.

Maltin, L., 1978. The art of the Cinematographer  Canada: General Publishing company Ltd.

Manigandan, K.R., 2009. I adore Rajinikanth: Rathnavelu Available from: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-12-06/news-interviews/28090825_1_endhiran-film-camera-arri [Accessed 26 December 2011].

Mascelli, J.V., 1965. The five C’s of Cinematography USA: SILMAN-JAMES PRESS.

McConnell, F.D., 1975. Leoparda and History: The problem of film Genre. In: Grant, B.K., Film Genre: Theory and Criticism. London: Scarecrow Press, Inc, 9.

Mishra, V., 2002. Bollywood cinema temples of Desire. London: Routledge.

Mohan, R., 2005. Tamil Nadu: Digital light processing cinema technology enters India. Available from: http://www.hinduunnet.com/2005/05/23/stories/20052301510600.htm [Accessed 23 December 2011].

Neale, S., 1980. Genre. England: Jason Press

Pendakur, M., 2003. Indian popular cinema: Industry, ideology and consciousness. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.

Rajadhyaksha, A. and Willemen, P., 1994. Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. London: BFI.

Sobchack, T., 1975. Genre Film: A Classical Experience. In: Grant, B.K., Film Genre: Theory and Criticism. London: Scarecrow Press, Inc, 39.

Sivathambhy, K., 1981. The Tamil Film as a Medium of Political Communication. Madras: Century Publishing House.

Vasudevan, R., 2000. Making Meaning in Indian Cinema. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

India Today, 2004. Amitabh Bachchan ‘People first’, India Today Special Issue, 5 January.

YouTube. 2010. Interview with Cinematographer Rathnavelu part 1. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu6o91wGyJw&feature=related [Accessed 20 December 2011].

YouTube. 2010. Interview with Cinematographer Rathnavelu part 1.0. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk8E1c2dUFk [Accessed 20 December 2011].

YouTube. 2010. Interview with Cinematographer Rathnavelu part 1.1. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG_cSYOvsw8&feature=related [Accessed 20 December 2011].

YouTube. 2010. Rathnavelu Interview part 1 video. BEHINDWOODS.COM: editvideo8’s Channel. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL28E89F799E67BA32&feature=player_embedded&v=uoSOdqMQO54 [Accessed 21 December 2011].

YouTube. 2010. Rathnavelu Interview part 2 video. BEHINDWOODS.COM: editvideo8’s Channel. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t2utED4adk&feature=related [Accessed 21 December 2011].

YouTube. 2010. Rathnavelu Interview part 3 video. BEHINDWOODS.COM: editvideo8’s Channel. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKFy-IvzpGQ&feature=related [Accessed 21 December 2011].

YouTube. 2010. Rathnavelu Interview part 4 video. BEHINDWOODS.COM: editvideo8’s Channel. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG7TLiqb0Sg&feature=related [Accessed 21 December 2011].

NDTV News. 2010. Endhiran camera Man Randy Rathnavelu Interview. Available from: http://www.myvideo.de/watch/7715149/NDTV_News_Endhiran_Camera_Man_Randy_Rathnavelu_Interview [Accessed 22 December 2011].

Filmography:

Sethu, 1999. Film. Directed by Bala. India: Sharmasha Productions.

Nandha, 2001. Film. Directed by Bala. India: Aparajeeth Films.

Thirumalai, 2003. Film. Directed by Ramana. India: kavithalayaa productions.

Perazhagan, 2004. Film. Directed by Sasi Shanker. India: AVM Productions.

kuppi, 2007. Film. Directed by A.M.R. Ramesh. India: Viswas Entertainments.

Vaaranam Aayiram, 2008. Film. Directed by Gautham Menon. India: AASCAR Film (P) LTD.

Enthiran, 2010. Film. Directed by Shankar. India: Sun Pictures.