A decade spent in the mad, bad world of advertising was, in his own words, “An amusement park ride.” Cinematographer Sunil Mehta’s heart clearly yearned for something higher so he decided to hire himself out to feature film makers. After doing uncredited work on Sarfarosh and an obscure film like Chalo America, Mehta has finally landed a Bollywood biggie in form of Yash Raj production’s Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai. Presenting a talk with the cinematographer.

Related Stories

Sanjay Gandhvi

You must be pretty excited to work for Yash Raj banner? What was your reaction when you first heard the news?
Working for Yash Raj banner is a dream come true for me. I have grown up watching their films and when I heard that they have selected me as the cinematographer, I just couldn’t react for a moment. I literally had just one meeting with Aditya Chopra where we mainly discussed our favourite films. Next day I got a call saying that he wanted me to work in their next project. It was all so sudden.

Yash Raj Banner has maintained a tradition of beautifully shot films. Coming from an advertising background, what was your approach to the camerawork involved?
I know Yash Raj films enjoy a tradition of breathtaking visuals and I have tried my best to maintain that. I work with an aim to assimilate the background with the skintone of my actors and I tried mostly to focus on that, though due to the paucity of time I’ve not been as successful as I would have liked to be. I’ve tried to avoid lending loudness to scenes as also duplicity. Then I’ve shied away from a mere mechanical approach and tried to create a flow from scene to scene.

Continuing a tradition also means having to follow certain restrictions...
(Interrupts) Many people have asked me whether I enjoyed complete freedom while working for Yash Raj banner. Let me clarify that neither Yashji nor Aditya ever interfered in my work. Yes, I was instructed to follow certain norms but those instructions were given before the shooting, during our numerous meetings. Once the shooting started, I was my own man. Even my director Sanjay Gadhvi trusted my judgement throughout so I never felt any restraint whatsoever.

The subject idea of Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai is inspired by the hit Hollywood blockbuster My Best Friend’s Wedding. Did you derive any inspiration from its camerawork also?
I had seen My Best Friend’s Wedding when it was released earlier. It is a remarkable movie but I haven’t seen it recently so there is no question of it ever subconciosly influencing my sensibilities.

As a cinematographer how difficult was it for you to avoid the stereotypes set by earlier films as Hum Aaapke Hain Koun and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge which too had marriage as the central theme?
It was very easy for me to just follow the pattern set by these films, but from the first day onwards, my producer and director decided that we should not let ourselves get influenced by these earlier films. We have more-or-less tried to be different, though comparisons will be inevitable. There are so many characters in Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai that my main worry was that they shouldn’t fade-out in soft focus when the camera concentrated on the principle characters. Hopefully, with the director’s collaboration, I worked my way out of this hurdle too.

Do you feel that in todays’ era of visual gimmickry, people with ad-background are better suited to serve the technical departments of feature length films too?
Not neccessarily. Be it the ad industry or the film world, the problem today is that inspite of having the relevant technology, we lack both the expertise and imagination for using it. We still go for an in-your-face approach when it comes to CGI graphics instead of adding subtle touches. For better work to be done, we need to change our whole approach to the changing technology.

How different was working on Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai compared to your two earlier films?
The main difference between my earlier films and Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai is that with Yash Raj I could have asked for the moon and got it. (Laughs). Apart from this, as I took on Sarfarosh only midway, I had to follow the norms set by the earlier cinematographer. With NFDC produced Chalo America, I did enjoy cinematic freedom but as the film failed to reach across to the audiences, the creative satisfaction was missing.

How would you compare the ad-filmmaking with the feature length mode?
There is avast gulf between feature films and advertisements. In ads, you have to get the message across within 30 seconds, whereas you have the luxury of three hours to tell your story when it comes to full length films. Then, as the results are not directly monitored, you sometimes can get away with a bad ad, whereas a bad film would directly result in bad earnings. You get to exercise more creativity in ads if you get an understanding client, whereas, inspite of having an understanding director or producer, you can’t deviate from certain set formulas in films. People say that with feature films you also have to nurse people’s egos, but so far I have been fortunate enough to work in a tantrum-less atmosphere.

—DS