Vairamuthu Ramasamy is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first worked as a translator, while also being a published poet. He entered the Tamil film industry in the year 1980, with the film Nizhalgal, an Ilaiyaraaja musical, directed by Bharathiraja. During the course of his 40-year film career, he has written over 7,500 songs and poems which have won him seven National Awards, the most for any Indian lyricist. He has also been honored with a Padma Shri, a Padma Bhushan and a Sahitya Akademi Award, for his abundant literary output.
Ravi K. Chandran is an Indian cinematographer and film director who predominantly works in Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil-language cinema. He is the founding member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC) and has won two Filmfare Awards and one Southern Filmfare Award.
Indian cinematographers work in a number of regional film centres: Mumbai for films in Marathi and Hindi, Hyderabad for Telugu films, Chennai for Tamil films, Kochi for films in Malayalam, Kolkata for Bengali films, Bangalore for Kannada films, etc. Most Indian cinematographers are known for their work with one regional industry. Some cinematographers belong to various professional organisations and trade unions.
Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language neo-noir action thriller film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Jyothika, and Kamalinee Mukherjee in prominent roles, while Prakash Raj, Daniel Balaji, and Salim Baig played supporting roles. It revolves around a police officer who tries to track down two serial killers.
Nirav Shah is an Indian cinematographer. He has worked on a number of major box office hits in Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam since his debut with the 2004 Hindi film Paisa Vasool.
Ayananka Bose is an Indian cinematographer for Bollywood films. He studied cinematography at the Film and Television Institute of Tamil Nadu in Chennai. He won the best cinematographer of Zee Cine Awards for the film Kites in 2011.
V. Manikandan is a leading cinematographer who has worked as the cinematographer for a number of major box office hits in Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. He is an ad film cinematographer with more than 3000 ad films to his credit.
Moscowin Kavery is a 2010 Tamil romantic drama film written and directed by cinematographer Ravi Varman, making his directorial debut, besides handling the cinematography. The film, which has lyrics written by Vairamuthu and music scored by Thaman, stars Rahul Ravindran and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in the lead roles with Harsha Vardhan, Santhanam and Seeman playing supporting roles. This movie was released on 27 August 2010, after nearly three years of production, the film was panned by critics and was a disaster commercially.
Llewellyn Anthony Gonsalvez is an Indian film editor from Tamil Nadu. He was introduced to cinema through film director Gautham Vasudev Menon by the film Kaakha Kaakha (2003). He continued to collaborated with Gautham V. Menon by Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006), Pachaikili Muthucharam (2007), Vaaranam Aayiram (2008), Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010), Neethaane En Ponvasantham (2012), Yennai Arindhaal (2015), Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (2016) and Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu (2022). Following the success of these films, director Shankar has collaborated with him through Enthiran (2010). He has worked in over two-hundred Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada films. He is the editor for India's most expensive feature film 2.0 (2018).
K. Ramachandra Babu was an Indian cinematographer of over 125 films, out of which most are Malayalam films. He also worked for films in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Arabic and English languages. He served as the cinematographer for several documentaries and advertisement films as well. He was the founder of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).
Krish is an Indian actor and singer who has worked on Tamil and Telugu films. He was introduced to the Tamil Cinema as a playback singer by the successful duos Gautham Vasudev Menon and Harris Jayaraj in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu for the song "Manjal Veyyil". After beginning his career as a playback singer, he has also appeared in films as an actor.
R. Rathnavelu is an Indian cinematographer who works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu films. His work in films such as Sethu, Nandha, Vaaranam Aayiram, Enthiran, 1: Nenokkadine, Rangasthalam and Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy garnered recognition. He has garnered three Filmfare Awards South, the Vijay Awards, the Tamil Nadu State Film Award, two SIIMA Awards and the Kalaimamani Award bestowed by the Tamil Nadu state government for his work.
R. D. Rajasekhar is an Indian cinematographer who predominantly works in films of Indian languages such as Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi. He is a recipient of the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Cinematographer and Filmfare Award for Best Cinematographer – South. He is the member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).
The Vijay Award for Best Cinematographer is given by STAR Vijay as part of its annual Vijay Awards ceremony for Tamil (Kollywood) films.
Rajeev Ravi is an Indian cinematographer, director, and producer from Kochi, Kerala. He's best known for his work in Hindi and Malayalam films. After graduating from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 1997, he started his career by assisting in the Malayalam film, Pranayavarnangal (1998) shot by Santosh Thundiyil. He debuted as a cinematographer with the film Chandni Bar (2001), when he was launched by producer R. Mohan when the original cinematographer Venu had date clashes. The film was directed by Madhur Bhandarkar.
Madhu Ambat is an Indian cinematographer who predominately works in Malayalam and Tamil-language films apart from a few English, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Sanskrit films. With a career spanning over 40 years, he is one of the most prolific cinematographers in Indian cinema. He is best known for his work in films such as Amaram, Anjali, and Makaramanju. He currently resides in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He has won the National Film Award for Best Cinematography thrice. He is a member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).
Rahul Ravindran is an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter who works in Telugu and Tamil films. He made his lead debut in the Tamil film Moscowin Kavery (2010), before playing leading roles as a man with cerebral palsy in Vinmeengal and as a mechanic in Soorya Nagaram. He made his Telugu film debut with Andala Rakshasi (2012) in the Telugu film industry.
Kaatru Veliyidai is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language romantic war film, produced, written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Made under the Madras Talkies banner, it features music composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography by Ravi Varman and editing by A. Sreekar Prasad. The film stars Karthi and Aditi Rao Hydari, with Lalitha, Rukmini Vijayakumar, Delhi Ganesh and RJ Balaji playing other pivotal roles. Set in the backdrop of the Kargil War of 1999, the film narrates the story of an Indian Air Force pilot who recalls his romance with a doctor in the lead up to the war, while being kept as a prisoner of war at a jail in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Kaatru Veliyidai is the soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman, to the 2017 Indian Tamil romance film of the same name, written and directed by Mani Ratnam starring Karthi and Aditi Rao Hydari. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks each, in the original Tamil, and in the Telugu version of the album. Four of the tracks for the original version were penned by Vairamuthu, one by his son Madhan Karky, and one by Shellee. The lyrics to the Telugu version were written by Sirivennela Sitaramasastri. The album won Rahman the National Film Award for Best Music Direction in the “Songs” category at the 65th National Film Awards. The choreography for the songs were done by Brinda and the cinematography for the film by Ravi Varman.
Salim Baig is an Indian actor who has appeared in Telugu and Tamil language films. He is best known for his collaborations with director Gautham Vasudev Menon, having notably appeared as the antagonist in the police dramas Gharshana (2004) and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006). The success of the films prompted several filmmakers to cast him in similar negative roles in the late 2000s.
