Sudeep Chatterjee (Bengali: সুদীপ চট্টোপাধ্যায়) is an Indian cinematographer, who mainly works in Hindi films and Bengali films. He has collaborated with critically acclaimed directors like Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Vishal Bharadwaj, Srijit Mukherji, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Nagesh Kukunoor. He is mostly known for his work in films like Iqbal (2005), Chak De India (2007), Guzaarish (2010), Dhoom 3 (2013), Chotushkone (2014), Bajirao Mastani (2015), Padmaavat (2018), and Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022). He has received the National Film Award for Best Cinematography, twice, for Chotushkone and Bajirao Mastani.

Sudeep Chatterjee
Born
NationalityIndian
Alma materFilm and Television Institute of India, Pune
OccupationCinematographer
Years active1995 – present
Known forKaalpurush
Chotushkone
Bajirao Mastani
Padmaavat
Chak De India
Gangubai Kathiawadi
Children2 (Ishika Chatterjee & Ishaan Chaterjee)
Websitehttps://www.sudeepchatterjee.net

Early life and education

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Chatterjee was born and raised in Kolkata. After he passed class 10 his father gave him a camera, which in time provided him with a career direction. After he finished his schooling he joined an engineering college, but after only eight months he left it to join the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, where he studied cinematography.[1]

Career

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After graduating from Film and Television Institute of India, he started his career in Kolkata making advertisements and documentaries, eventually after two years, filmmaker Anjan Dutt offered him Bada Din (1997), a Hindi film starring Shabana Azmi. Thereafter he shifted based to Mumbai and started working TV series and commercials for a year before he shot Ram Gopal Verma's Road (2002).

Soon was working in film across genres, action, thriller and drama, and his in Salman Khan starrer, Lucky: No Time for Love (2005), where he shot the picturesque locales of Russia, followed by Nagesh Kukunoor's successive films Iqbal (2005) and Dor (2006), and Jaan-E-Mann (2005) got him attention,[2] and he got to do Chak De! India (2007) directed by Shimit Amin, where he grained and desaturated the film, and shot almost 80% of the movie with a hand-held camera, eventually winning him accolades and the 2008 Filmfare Award for Best Cinematography, IIFA Award for Best Cinematography and Zee Cine Award for Best Cinematography amongst others.[1] His next important work was in Bengali film, Kaalpurush (2008), directed by acclaimed film director of Bengali cinema, Buddhadev Dasgupta, and starring Mithun Chakraborty and Rahul Bose, the film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film.

In 2010 came Guzaarish directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali starring Hritik Roshan and Ashwariya Rai, Sudeep had previously apprenticed with Sanjay, also a fellow FTII student, in 1942: A Love Story, where he was the song director.[3] Guzaarish Won IIFA, Screen, and Apsara award for best Cinematography.

He followed it up with the big budget super successful entertainer Dhoom 3 (2013). He then worked in the film Chotushkone (2014) directed by critically acclaimed director Srijit Mukherji for which Chatterjee won the prestigious National Film Award for Best Cinematography.

Chatterjee followed up with his second consecutive National award in 2015 with the highly acclaimed Bajirao Mastani directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

He again collaborated with Sanjay Leela Bhansali for the critically and commercially successful period piece Padmavat (2018). He is currently shooting the period drama Gangubai Kathiawadi (2021) directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and much anticipated Brahmāstra (2022) directed by Ayan Mukherjee.

He is presently a member of the Advisory Board of the Kautik International Student Film Festival[4]

Filmography

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Films

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Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Film Language Director Notes
1997 Bada Din Hindi Anjan Dutta
2002 Road Rajat Mukherjee
2004 Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... Samir Karnik
2005 Lucky: No Time for Love Radhika Rao
Vinay Sapru
Iqbal Nagesh Kukunoor
Eashwar Mime Co. Shyamanand Jalan
2006 Dor Nagesh Kukunoor
Jaan-E-Mann Shirish Kunder
Fight Club – Members Only Vikram Chopra
2007 Chak De! India Shimit Amin
2008 Kaalpurush Bengali Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Bombay To Bangkok Hindi Nagesh Kukunoor
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic Kunal Kohli
2009 Dil Bole Hadippa Anurag Singh
Kaminey Vishal Bhardwaj Additional photography
Main Aurr Mrs Khanna Prem Soni
2010 Aashayein Nagesh Kukunoor
Guzaarish Sanjay Leela Bhansali
2011 Mere Brother Ki Dulhan Ali Abbas Zafar
2012 Joker Shirish Kunder
2013 Dhoom 3 Vijay Krishna Acharya
2014 Chotushkone Bengali Srijit Mukherji
2015 Baby Hindi Neeraj Pandey
Bajirao Mastani Sanjay Leela Bhansali
2017 Kaabil Sanjay Gupta
2018 Padmaavat Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Missing Mukul Abhyankar
2019 Thackeray Abhijit Panse
Housefull 4 Farhad Samji
2022 Gangubai Kathiawadi Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva Ayan Mukerji
2023 Shehzada Rohit Dhawan
2024 Chandu Champion Kabir Khan

Web series

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Denotes web series that have not yet been released
Year Film Creator Ref.
2024 Heeramandi Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Documentary

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Awards and nominations

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Year Film Award Category Result Ref.
2008 Chak De! India 2008 Zee Cine Awards Zee Cine Award for Best Cinematography Won [5]
53rd Filmfare Awards Filmfare Award for Best Cinematography Won
9th IIFA Awards IIFA Award for Best Cinematography Won
Screen Awards Screen Award for Best Cinematography Won
2011 Guzaarish Apsara Award Best Cinematographer Won
2014 Chotushkone National Award Won [6]
2015 Bajirao Mastani Won
Filmfare Award Won
Screen Award Won
IIFA Award Won
Apsara Award Won

References

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  1. ^ a b "Unknown stars: Sudeep Chatterjee, Cinematographer". CNN-IBN. 10 November 2010. Archived from the original on 14 November 2010.
  2. ^ "Sudeep Chatterjee - a cinematographer with variety". 9 September 2006. Archived from the original on 18 February 2009.
  3. ^ "Guzaarish: Bong creation". The Telegraph. 15 November 2010. Archived from the original on 21 May 2012.
  4. ^ http://kautik18.com/festival-people/ [dead link]
  5. ^ "Zee Cine Awards 2008 winners announced | Movies & Theatre News". Zee News. 23 April 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  6. ^ "62nd National Film Awards: List of Winners". NDTV. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
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