Sanu John Varughese ISC is an Indian cinematographer, who has worked in the Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. After beginning his career as a technician in DD News, commercials and documentaries, he worked on Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam films. He won acclaim for his work in Kamal Haasan's spy thriller, Vishwaroopam (2013).[1][2][3]
Sanu John Varughese ISC | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sanu John Varughese |
| Occupation(s) | Director of photography, Director, Writer |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Known for | Vishwaroopam Wazir Take Off Jersey Malik |
Career
editSanu Varughese attended College of Fine Arts Trivandrum and upon graduation went on to join the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication at University of Hyderabad, before beginning work with DD News.[4] He became acquainted with Ravi K. Chandran and assisted him on a couple of ventures and documentaries, before making his debut as an independent cinematographer with Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon (2003). He continued to work on commercials, filming over six hundred, before getting opportunities to work on the Hindi film Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) and the Malayalam psychological thriller, Elektra (2010). During the period, he also began work on Kamal Haasan's historical Tamil film, Marmayogi, but the film was shelved after pre-production.[5][6]
In early 2010, Kamal Haasan called Sanu to work with him on the production of his bilingual spy-thriller Vishwaroopam (2013). The film subsequently was in production for two years, with Sanu working extensively on travelling the globe to find locations to shoot. He won acclaim for his work in capturing the terrain of Jordan, which was shown as Afghanistan in the film, and the technical brilliance of the film was noted by his peers in the film industry.[5][7] The team of the film also shot for significant portions of a sequel during the making of the first film, though Varghese's busy schedule meant that he was unable to join the team for further schedules of the sequel. He also later collaborated with Kamal Haasan during the making of the bilingual Thoongaa Vanam (2015) and A. R. Rahman for videos in his album, Raunaq.[8]
Filmography
edit- As cinematographer
| Year | Film | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon | Hindi | |
| 2006 | Fight Club – Members Only | Hindi | |
| 2010 | Karthik Calling Karthik | Hindi | |
| Elektra | Malayalam | ||
| 2013 | Vishwaroopam | Tamil Hindi |
|
| David | Hindi | ||
| 2014 | Hasee Toh Phasee | Hindi | |
| 2015 | Thoongaa Vanam Cheekati Rajyam |
Tamil Telugu |
|
| 2016 | Wazir | Hindi | |
| 2017 | Take Off | Malayalam | |
| 2018 | Vishwaroopam II | Tamil Hindi |
|
| Badhaai Ho | Hindi | ||
| 2019 | Jersey | Telugu | |
| Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 | Malayalam | ||
| 2020 | Lootcase | Hindi | |
| 2021 | Mālik | Malayalam | [9] |
| Shyam Singha Roy | Telugu | ||
| 2022 | Ariyippu | Malayalam | |
| 2023 | Shastry Viruddh Shastry | Hindi | |
| Hi Nanna | Telugu | ||
| 2025 | HIT: The Third Case | Telugu |
- As director
| Year | Film | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Aarkkariyam | Malayalam | [10] |
References
edit- ^ Decoding a spy thriller – Sanu J Varghese on Vishwaroopam
- ^ "Movie review: Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam". NDTV. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- ^ Anandraj, Shilpa (12 April 2021). "Sanu John Varughese: The camera is an extension of my personality". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "Interested in a career in cinematography? Read this". Rediff. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ a b "In love with the lens". The New Indian Express. 15 February 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "The BIG picture". The Hindu. 28 June 2012. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "Art of deception". The Hindu. 23 March 2013. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "'Kamal's silence is appreciation'". The Hindu. 19 September 2015. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ George, Vijay (19 March 2020). "I accept only scripts that resonate with me, says cinematographer Sanu Varughese". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "Sanu John Varghese to make his directorial debut in Malayalam". The Times of India. 19 September 2020. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 14 October 2023.