Cinematography masterclass: Manoj Paramahamsa on ‘Leo’ and the gargantuan efforts behind the making of Vijay’s latest

Cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa talks about reuniting with actor Vijay, getting into the world of filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj, and how his arsenal of equipment and technology aided in making a film like ‘Leo’

Vijay’s Leo is finally out and is running to houseful shows worldwide. But cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa has no time to take in the feedback and celebrate. He’s currently stationed at Hyderabad, where he’s shooting Mahesh Babu’s Guntur Kaaramwhile also working on the streaming output for Leo. But that doesn’t stop him from getting on a call to spill the beans on the lengths they had to go to make the Lokesh Kanagaraj-directorial succeed.

Excerpts from a conversation:

Before the shoot, Lokesh suggested I watch Kaithi and Vikram. When we started, the story wasn’t based in Kashmir, but in a suburban place in the southern part of our state to stick to his pattern of films as far as lighting and night effects were concerned. But the priority in Leo was always Vijay sir’s performance, so we weren’t bound by location issues. Lokesh also prefers shooting live instead of using sets, and as the story was written keeping a hill base as the backdrop, we zeroed in on Kashmir. It also helped connect with the story, as it shows that he has gone so far from his past. We usually go to such terrains for song shoots, but to shoot the majority of a film — with a lot of action sequences — was quite challenging. Because of the mist and poor lighting, we were only able to shoot from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a two-hour break in between.

Power shortage is a common problem in such areas. Moreover, there was also static electricity from which we insulate ourselves with more clothing layers. Even a camera conked off because of the temperature; since all my shots are lengthy takes, cameras heat up quite a lot and the cold temperature outside can mess up with the mechanics as the lithium batteries expand. But I carried six to seven cameras, so we were well-equipped. With the experience of shooting Radhe Shyam in places like Italy and Switzerland, we anticipated the challenges and took precautionary measures. So the only other major concern was the logistics involving more than 300 of us, but the town folks and military supported us a lot.

We decided to shoot the majority of the film, except for action sequences, in a mise-en-scène style, in which the actors perform in a flow that won’t be interrupted and ibe captured in either single or multiple cameras. While this style might help us from taking multiple takes for other angles, we have to make sure the lighting works from all the camera angles, especially if the characters move. We predominantly had three cameras that were mobile all the time out of which one was the primary camera that picked up the important shot. As the artists won’t know this, the shots would turn out quite candid. Since we have remote-controlled equipment, it wouldn’t disturb the actors’ flow.

We did shoot extreme close-ups alone again, and for that, I used a 3-D macro lens that gives a lot of depth; if the eyes are focused, the ears would be out of focus! This enhances the performance, because, unlike other stories where location or situation tell a story, here it’s a person saying his story. I’d usually opt for deaging and soft lighting for such close-ups, but Lokesh likes it to be rugged and that’s why the gloss you saw in Beast won’t be present in Leo. One set of continuity lighting that can double as off-lighting and direct lighting made it look like a natural source, and that aided the rugged-ness.

An advantage for the editor is that he gets three time codes synced in his timeline and he has the option to choose visuals from any shot. For example, the cafe scene involving Vijay sir, Gautham sir and Trisha; despite it being a simple scene, it was shot from three angles and wherever we needed close-ups, we did that too. In the emotional 6-minute scene between Trisha and Vijay sir, we opted for a single shot as there were so many emotions flowing. It was challenging because I wanted the silhouette in the master shot, with very little off-lighting, Also, we needed to ensure that light did not fall on the shadow as well. It’s similar to how sitcoms are shot, but unlike them, we dynamically move through the scene to enrich the cinematic experience.