Cinematographer Ravi Varman on his film Moscowin Kaveri: What was impure then is pure now!

Chennai: One of India's top cinematographers Ravi Varman, has now penned a post on Instagram, recalling how the subject of 'Moscowin Kaveri', his first film as director, had turned relevant now almost a decade-and-a-half after the film had got released.

Taking to his Instagram page to pen the post on the film, which featured Samatha Ruth Prabhu and director Rahul Ravindran in the lead, Ravi Varman wrote, "Moskva and Kaveri are the names of two prominent rivers, the two main characters named after them, just like rivers.

"The love which flows through them is that of the water which flows in the river, ever-changing and ever-moving. The concept of living together, which is considered normal today, was conveyed in this film a decade ago, when such thoughts were seen as impure or fraudulent.

"See how time changes—what was impure then is pure now; how words, the meanings they carry, and the actions they represent are as ever-changing as the water that flows in a river. An experimental film, with the permission of the producers, also introduced many new faces on and off the screen — new faces then, big names now.

"This film failed at the time of its release. I had the biggest part in it becoming a failure, but here I am, still standing, and this failure has pushed me to the big stages of today. @the__asc @bscine."

To the unaware, National Award-winning cinematographer Ravivarman, best known for having shot several landmark films including ace director Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, is only the second Indian to have been inducted into the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).

The only other Indian cinematographer who has been inducted into the ASC is cinematographer Santosh Sivan.

Cinematographers who have won multiple Oscar awards watch a cinematographer's body of work, assess the quality of the cinematography, discuss and then collectively grant this recognition.

Interestingly, soon after the induction, Ravivarman had posted pictures of himself at the ASC on his X timeline and said, “I began my career filled with uncertainty. Life led me to where I am today, and since then, I've been carefully planning my steps to discover the true meaning and purpose of my life.”

In the last 25 years, Ravi Varman has shot many films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English. He has collaborated with many great directors of India. Some of the noteworthy films that Ravi Varman has shot include Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ponniyin Selvan', Shankar’s ‘Anniyan’, Gautham Menon’s 'Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu' and Anurag Basu’s 'Barfi'.

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The Hans India