Cinematographer-director Shamdat owes his friend and cinematographer Sanu Verghese for his chance to work on Vishwaroopam 2. For this Kamal Haasan fan who grew up with pin up posters of the star and got beaten at home for bunking class to watch his movies, to be sitting down with his idol and discussing scenes for Vishwaroopam 2 decades later, it clearly went beyond his dreams.
“Should I meet him like a fan? Or do I talk to him like a cinematographer?” These questions nagged Shamdat before meeting Haasan. His professional side took over and he showed Haasan his work from an earlier Arabic film. Shamdat could not believe his ears when Haasan said, “Welcome to Rajkamal Productions”.
The fan’s adoration only grew with his close association with his idol on the sets of Vishwaroopam 2. Shamdat admires Haasan’s unbeatable energy.
“Sir used to be up at 6.30 in the morning when I will be arranging the frames and lights,” he remembers. “You can never find him sitting down but always doing something, right from pushing cranes and tracks and every odd job on the sets. If he is not writing lyrics, then he will be immersed in writing another story. He told me that he had four scripts running parallely. Such is his energy.”
At 63, Haasan also performed all the stunts for the action movie himself. Look out for an underwater action sequence. “It’s highly technical where we used special cameras and lights. After it was shot, I learnt that he had injured his knee badly and was swollen. But he did not let anyone know and continued with the sequence enduring the pain, keeping in mind, his co-actor’s schedule and the production costs.”
DOP Sanu Verghese
Verghese who has worked in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu cinema was the DOP for Haasan’s Vishwaroopam and Thoonga Vaanam, but due to date clashes could not work on Vishwaroopam 2.
However, around 40 per cent of what he filmed for Vishwaroopam has been used in Vishwaroopam 2. Verghese describes his experience with Haasan akin to being in a film school.
‘Sir sees every movement from a choreographer’s perspective and that opened my eyes to seeing things in movements. During my one and a half years of work with him, every single day had something new and exciting to offer — from understanding different nuances of acting to altering the pace of a scene.”
The film releases in the UAE on August 10.
