‘Kaantha’ was like a puzzle that needed to be solved: Dani Sanchez Lopez decodes the film’s visual design

The making of the movie wrong the movie successful Kaantha, produced by Dulquer Salmaan and Rana Daggubati, is simply a communicative successful itself. The cameras and lights seen connected the movie acceptable of the 1950s pertain to the era, sourced and restored to look new, arsenic they would person been successful their prime. Cinematographer Dani Sanchez Lopez reveals that Rana’s father, shaper Sureshbabu who spearheads Ramanaidu Studios, contacted respective studios and older theatres crossed India to root the equipment.

“He was peculiar that we got what was applicable to the period. The lights were painted, restored and we utilized them to airy up the scenes for the movie wrong the film,” says Dani, speaking from his location successful Madrid, Spain, aft wrapping up a romanticist thriller changeable successful Canary Islands. Dani is present penning a publication that helium hopes to nonstop soon.

Kaantha was pitched to Dani successful July 2023 and helium was alert that it would gully comparisons with his enactment successful Mahanati, arsenic some films instrumentality the audiences into movie studios of the past.

The superior quality betwixt Mahanati, a biopic of precocious actorSavitri, and Kaantha, a fictional communicative of ego clashes betwixt a superstar (Dulquer arsenic TK Mahalingam) and his mentor (Samuthirakani arsenic ayya), lies “in perspectivism,” Dani explains. “In Mahanati, the films of the past emerged from retracing memories of Savitri garu. Here, the position changes arsenic we recognize the communicative done its characters. How bash we determine who is the protagonist?”

When Dani work the archetypal publication by manager Selvamani Selvaraj, helium remembers asking, “Is Rana playing ayya? Isn’t helium excessively young?” He was drawn into the ego clashes and keen to spot wherever it is headed. “Much aboriginal I learnt astir Phoenix — Rana’s character.”

While Dani utilized colour and achromatic and achromatic to differentiate clip periods successful Mahanati as well, helium approached Kaantha like “a puzzle that needed to beryllium solved.”

An archetypal thought was to sprout Kaantha entirely successful achromatic and white. Later, Dani and Selva decided to usage colour and achromatic and white. “We decided to usage them successful antithetic ways. For example, Kumari (Bhagyashri Borse) is astatine archetypal tuned to the words of her mentor and aboriginal she sees the position of TKM. Selva wanted that displacement to beryllium portrayed with tenderness, which we achieved successful colour with a softer absorption for present-day portions.”

Four sections

The ocular plan and storyboarding followed a agelong signifier of discussions. “Selva wanted Kaantha to beryllium realistic. We divided the movie into 4 sections and decided to usage colour for the contiguous — the 1950s, achromatic and achromatic for the movie wrong the film, different benignant of achromatic and achromatic for the flashbacks from the 1940s, and a antithetic palette for the recaps during the transgression probe successful the aboriginal portions.”

There was a challenge. Dani points out, “There’s 1 large quality betwixt cinema successful India and elsewhere. I similar speechmaking scripts to narrations; the second is communal successful India, portion scripts support evolving.” However, with a ocular operation successful place, the cinematography, direction, costume, and accumulation plan departments got to work.

For the portions filmed successful colour, a vintage palette was chosen, with references coming from paintings of Raja Vavi Varma, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others from the pre-Raphaelite era. References besides came from Pedro Almodóvar’s Spanish film, Broken Embraces.

For the movie wrong the film, Dani chose achromatic and achromatic with a 4:3 facet ratio. “Among the older lights and cameras, we adjacent had instrumentality utilized for Maya Bazar. The placement of lights were each according to the movie being changeable wrong the film. We utilized the dollies to recreate the 1950s attack to cinema. We lit up the movie wrong the movie utilizing the older lights, which were overmuch warmer than the present-day lights. We had to determination those lights person to Dulquer to get the tegument code of that epoch connected screen, and over-expose by 2 oregon 3 stops. Back successful time, movie sets utilized to beryllium warmer owed to those lights.”

Dani adds that successful the 1950s, Kodak’s caller achromatic and achromatic Tri-X question representation stocks were disposable successful the US. “For the movie wrong the film, we imagined that ayya would person asked Martin (the producer, played by Ravindra Vijay) to marque definite it was disposable for the film.” Further, the squad tried to execute a akin look of the cinematography of the epoch with characteristics of Tri-X.

To program the palette for the colour and the black-and-white portions (to get the required opposition and brightness), Dani contacted colorist Glen Castinho who had antecedently worked with him for Virata Parvam and a Spanish film. Glen contacted radical helium knew from Kodak to replicate the look of images captured utilizing that Tri-X stock. “Hundreds of scans from antithetic movies were procured and from the data, we worked retired a look for Kaantha’s film wrong the film.”

Capturing a dream

As for the flashbacks of the 1940s, the black-and-white tones were different. “We kept the 2.39:1 facet ratio (cinemascope), and filmed the flashbacks arsenic we would seizure dreams, if we could.” The inspiration for a dreamy ocular texture came from surrealism successful cinema successful the aboriginal 20th century.

For the investigative thriller portions, perspectivism and the Rashomon-effect came into play. “We besides took inspiration from Hitchcock’s works to plan the mood. Some of the lighting is abstract since it involves antithetic radical narrating incidents from their observations and memory.”

The focus, Dani says, is sharper erstwhile Phoenix is successful the framework and the camera movements bespeak his constituent of view. “We besides looked astatine however each quality would narrate incidents. For example, Babu (the adjunct director) would swiftly determination from 1 item to another, portion the constitution antheral would observe person details. Perspectives besides travel from showing characters talking to each different oregon observing the happenings done a door.” Dani adds that Citizen Kane and S Balachander’s Tamil film, Andha Naal, were besides references for the play of airy and shadow.

The probe portion factored successful however a movie acceptable would beryllium lit up lone erstwhile a movie is being shot. Darkness and bluish tones pervade immoderate portions, arsenic airy streams successful from the exteriors, and is kept minimal.

Beyond the play of colours oregon achromatic and white, Dani reveals that readying was progressive successful placing mirrors astatine strategical points and readying the point-of-view shots to amusement however Dulquer, Samuthirakani, and Bhagyashri’s characters are projected. “It’s a movie astir ego, acting, smoking mirrors, hiding your existent self, and uncovering your identity. We paid attraction to however we utilized mirrors for conversations — beryllium it connected the movie acceptable erstwhile the writer comes in, oregon the constitution room.”

Kaantha piqued curiosity wrong the movie fraternity erstwhile it was being filmed. Dani recalls being shocked to larn that Sanjay Leela Bhansali appreciated immoderate of the archetypal visuals. “He is 1 of the astir ocular filmmakers successful the world. I emotion the imagery successful his films, they enactment with you for the remainder of your life.”

He has besides had lukewarm feedback from cinematographers Ravi K Chandran, Ravi Varman, and others. What amazed Dani the astir is members of audiences penning to him, wanting to cognize however helium filmed definite scenes, and treatment posts connected Reddit. “It’s fascinating that they instrumentality clip to discuss, oregon to constitute to me. Soon, I volition respond to their queries.”