Philosophy

The terrorists who executed this deadly plan lied, cheated, murdered and judged all others who did not subscribe to their twisted perversion of faith and morality.

This is a very difficult time to be positive, but the future of our children and rights of a free democracy depends on everyone continuing to protect the choice to pursue what is important and right for every individual.

The marketplace is in a total state of flux. Everyone in our business is scrambling to firm up existing clients and struggling to keep what they have. Add the challenge of preparing for HDTV and the plethora of format choices to the equation and you've got a difficult situation.

Climbing to the higher planes of the industry was not overnight. A native of Lucknow and a graduate of University of Lucknow and Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts (Bhartendu Natya Academy/ Bhartendu Natak Akademi), My career has taken me over the years from Lucknow, to Mumbai / Bombay in pursuit of my dreams. And the companies have ranged from organizations, TV stations to ad agencies and Features. Despite all my accomplishments and obviously varied skills, I remain very true to my first love, and that is the love for cinematography.

I believe that the DOP has one primary job: to serve the director s vision of the story. Some DOP seem bent on making a different movie than the one the director is making - such behavior is completely unprofessional, even silly. I strive to maintain a fully professional attitude whether we are shooting 16/ 35mm film, High Def 24P or Video. Shooting is shooting, I try to make every shot the best it can be.

One of the great pleasures of filmmaking is the collaboration. I take great pains and efforts to put in nothing but the best i can into each shot. I try to understand the vision that the director is striving to bring to the fore- front, presenting that vision in all its totality and making it as realistic as possible then becomes my sole purpose.

Some directors prefer to control every aspect of the image, and at the other extreme, some prefer to concentrate on directing the actors and pretty much leave the photography up to me. Most commonly, of course, majority of director s fit in somewhere the middle. I am completely comfortable working either ways.

The DOP has another job, of course, and that is to help the production to stay on schedule and within the prescribed budget. I take those responsibilities very seriously as well. Being a Director of Photography is much more than just being good at lighting and camerawork (although those are primary, of course); it is also very much a "management" job: you are in charge of a number of people, different departments, equipment, schedules etc. My experience on productions large and small; from very simple to very complex shoots gives me the experience to handle the various responsibilities and keep the balance.

I am as big a gear head as the next guy, but please!

The reality is that you had better know your client and be honest with yourself about which marketplace your doing most of your business in. The mistake a lot of people make is dreaming about what might be and not concentrating on what is.

For me, I have an eclectic mix of works. I continue to shoot Commercials, Feature Films and Music Videos.

I personally believe that you better enjoy what you are doing and have as much fun as you can while doing it. I have been very fortunate to hook up with a bunch of great people, both crew and production houses.

I have noticed that instinct is starting to rule my life. I no longer fret about the "what if s", I just do what feels right and amazingly it seems to work out. The old rule is true, if it sounds to good to be true.... Hard work is the only substitute for lack of natural luck, hell I do not even know how to spell luck. As a freelancer, you have got to make your luck, you have got to sit back and think about what type of work you want to do and then make the contacts, place the calls and pursue what it is you want.

There are a hundred ways to go wrong and only a few to go right. There is only one goal: Beautiful pictures that serve the story and flow together in the edit.

It has been a weird year (2007). I lost a number of commercials in Africa, Asia, Europe and Middle East due to the downturn in the economy, war and terrorist extremism.

And finally, this year (2008) I turned 43.

So, if you get a call from me one day, do not be too surprised.