IEC
#2: 1999
SANTOSH SIVAN ISC/ASC
Born: 8 February 1964, Thiruvananthapuram [also known by its anglicized name Trivandrum], Kerala, India, as one of the 3 sons of Sivan, a doc filmmaker [1932-2021].
Education: Loyola School, Trivandrum; Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum; Film and Television Institute of India, Pune [graduated in 1984].
Career: Ph music videos.
Founding member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers [ISC] in December 1995. Became a member of the ASC in 2012.
Formed the prod company 'HandMade Films' with Sunil Doshi.
Also active as director [see below].
His brothers Sanjiv and Sangeeth are film dir.
The prod of 'Asoka' was documented in the book 'The Making of Asoka - A Santosh Sivan Picture' written by Mushtaq Shiekh.
Awards: As doph: National Award 'Best Cinematography' [1990] for 'Perumthachan' & 'Mohiniyattam'; Filmfare Award [1995] for 'Barsaat'; Filmfare Award [1998] for 'Dil Se'; Filmfare Award [2001] & International Indian Film Academy 'Award for Technical Excellence' [2002] for 'Asoka'; Screen Weekly 'Screen' Award [2005] & Zee Cine Technical Award nom [2005] for 'Meenaxi: Tale of 3 Cities'.
As dir: Cairo IFF 'Best Director' [1998], Chicago International Children's FF 'Adult's Jury Award' 2nd place [1999] & Independent Spirit Award 'Best Foreign Film' nom [2001] for 'Malli'; Seattle IFF 'Emerging Masters Showcase Award' [2000]; Ale Kino! – International Young Audience FF 'Poznan Goat' for 'Best Director' [2000] & Sarajevo FF 'Panorama Jury Award' Honorable Mention [2000] for 'The Terrorist'; Filmfare Award 'Best Director' & 'Best Film' nom [2002] & Screen Weekly 'Screen' Award nom [2002] for 'Asoka'.
Santosh Sivan on 'The Terrorist' [1997]: 'The film is made on a very low budget, in fact, nothing at all. And it is all acted by purely non-professionals. I want to make films that are very real, even though I make my bread and butter shooting commercial musical films, but when I want to make a film, I want to make it as real and as interesting as possible. So I have made it without those entertainment elements like fights, songs and all that, so you can do what you want. That freedom I get only when we make such films on a small budget, and say something. [...] I'm a professional cinematographer. It was filmed in 17 days, that's all we took. It was done in Madras. And a little bit in Kerala. I studied film. I'm very well known as a cinematographer. I made one film before, for children. Now I'm making another film for children. I wanted to do this film, so I said, I'll make a very serious film. I want to make quite a few more films, on my terms, which I will definitely get around to making.' [From interview with David Walsh on the World Socialist Web Site, October 1998.]
| FILMS | |
|---|---|
|
1987 |
Oru Maymasappularayil [V.R. Gopinath] c; 151m |
|
1988 |
The Story of Tiblu [Santosh Sivan] ?; short/?m |
|
1988 |
Kandathum Kettathum [Balachandra Menon] c |
|
1988 |
Kadal Theerathu/On the Seashore [T. Rajeevnath] c |
|
1988 |
David David Mr. David [Viji Thampi] c |
|
1989 |
Raakh/Ashes [Aditya Bhattacharya] c; 153m |
|
1989 |
No: 20 Madras Mail [Joshi] c; 177m; cph: Anandakuttan & Jayanan Vincent |
|
1989 |
New Year [Viji Thampi] ? |
|
1989 |
Midhya [I.V. Sasi] c |
|
1989 |
Kaalal Pada [Viji Thampi] ? |
|
1990 |
Vyooham/Vyuham [Sangeeth Sivan] c |
|
1990 |
Varthamana Kalam [I.V. Sasi] c |
|
1990 |
Indrajalam [Thampi Kannathanam] ? |
|
1990 |
Doctor Pasupathy [Shaji Kailas] c |
|
1990 |
Mohiniyattam [Santosh Sivan (?)] c; dance doc/?m |
|
1990 |
Perunthachan/The Master Carpenter [Ajayan] c |
|
1990 |
Sunday 7.P.M. [Shaji Kailas] ? |
|
1990 |
Abhayam/Shelter [(Sangeeth) Sivan] c; also Hindi version titled 'Main Phir Aaunga'; for Children's Film Society India |
|
1991 |
Thalapathi/Dal-pati [Mani Ratnam] c |
|
1991 |
Indira [Nripen Mohla] c |
|
1992 |
Daddy [Sangeeth Sivan] c |
|
1992 |
Aham [T. Rajeevnath] c |
|
1992 |
Yodha/Ashokan/Dharam Yodha [Sangeeth Sivan] c |
|
1992 |
Roja/The Rose [Mani Ratnam] scope/c |
|
1993 |
Gandharvam [Sangeeth Sivan] c; 155m |
|
1993 |
Rudaali/The Mourner [Kalpana Lazmi] c; cph: Dharam Gulati |
|
1993 |
Gardish [Priyadarshan] c |
|
1993 |
Johny [Sangeeth Sivan] ? |
|
1994 |
Pavithram [Rajeev Kumar] c |
|
1995 |
Nirnnayam [Sangeeth Sivan] c; 165m |
|
1995 |
Barsaat [Rajkumar Santoshi] c |
|
1995 |
Indira/Priyanka [Suhasini Mani Ratnam] c; 143m |
|
1995 |
Kalaa Paani/Kalapani/Saza-E-Kala Pani/Sirai Chaalai [Priyadarshan] c |
|
1996 |
Pukar/The Call [Rajkumar Santoshi] c; cph: Baba Azmi & Ashok Mehta |
|
1996 |
Iruvar/Iddaru/The Duo [Mani Ratnam] b&w-c; 118m & 140m |
|
1996 |
Darmiyan [Kalpana Lazmi] c |
|
1996 |
Halo [Santosh Sivan] c; + scrpl; for Children's Film Society India |
|
1997 |
Aastha/Aastha in the Prison of Spring [Basu Bhattacharya] c; cph: Khokon Bhaduri |
|
1997 |
The Terrorist/Theeviravaathi [Santosh Sivan] c: + co-scrpl; see above |
|
1997 |
Vaanaprastham/Vanaprastham/The Last Dance/Pilgrimage [Shaji Karun] scope/c; cph: Renato Berta |
|
1998 |
Dil Se.../Prema Tho/Uyire/From the Heart [Mani Ratnam] s35/c; 163m |
|
1998 |
Malli [Santosh Sivan] c; for Children's Film Society India |
|
1999 |
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani [Aziz Mirza] c |
|
1999 |
Fiza [Khalid Mohamed] scope/b&w-c |
|
2000 |
Marudha Naayagam [Kamala Haasan] c |
|
2001 |
Asoka/Ashoka the Great [Santosh Sivan & (assoc dir) Vishnu Vardhan] Hawk Scope/c; director's cut (158m) & producer's version (180m); + co-scrpl |
|
2002 |
Tehzeeb [Khalid Mohamed] scope/c; 143m |
|
2003 |
Bride and Prejudice - A Bollywood Musical [Gurinder Chadha] scope/c; aph: Adam Dale |
|
2003 |
Meenaxi: Tale of 3 Cities [M.F. Hussain & (assoc dir) Owais Hussain] c |
|
2003 |
Prithvi [Santosh Sivan] first project of HandMade Films; status unknown |
|
2004 |
Aparichithan/The Stranger [Sanjiv Sivan] c |
|
2004 |
Silsiilay [Khalid Mohamed] c; 134m; collab doph: Aseem Bajaj |
|
2005 |
The Mistress of Spices [Paul Mayeda Berges] c |
|
2005 |
Navarasa/Nine Emotions [Santosh Sivan] c; + co-prod/scrpl; prod HandMade Films |
|
2005 |
Anandabhadram [Santosh Sivan] c; 130m; assoc ph: Manoj Pillai |
|
2006 |
Before the Rains/Road to the Sky [Santosh Sivan] c; 2uc: Alphonse Roy |
|
2007 |
Prarambha/The Beginning [Santosh Sivan] scope/c; short/14m; ep of 4-part series on AIDS awareness; other ep: 'Migration' dir by Mira Nair, 'Blood Brothers' dir by Vishal Bhardwaj & 'Positive' dir by Farhan Akhtar; prod Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |
"Tahaan"
|
2007 |
Tahaan [- a boy with a grenade] [Santosh Sivan] scope/c; + co-scrpl |
|
2008 |
Raavanan [Mani Ratnam] scope/c; Tamil-language version; cph: V. Manikandan (replaced by S. Sivan); also Hindi-language version 'Raavan'; filmed 2008-09 |
|
2009 |
Pehla Sitara/Majra [Owais Husain] c; filmed 2009-10 |
|
2010 |
Tatvä - Nature's Elements [Santosh Sivan] HD (Sony PMW-F3)/c; promotional short/3m; cph: Alphonse Roy & Anjuli Shukla; prod for Sony Electronics Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. |
|
2010 |
Urumi [: The Warriors Who Wanted to Kill Vasco Da Gama] [Santosh Sivan] HD (Canon EOS 5D)+?-to-?/c; 160m; + co-prod; also Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and English versions |
|
2011 |
Thuppakki/Gun [A.R. Murugadoss] HD (ARRI ALEXA + Weisscam HS-2)/c; 165m; ph Switzerland: 'Nutty' (= Nataraja Subramanian); Tamil-language version; there's also a Telugu-dubbed version; filmed 2011-12 |
|
2012 |
Rangrezz [Priyadarshan] RED Epic/c; 144m; 2uc: Divakar Mani |
|
2013 |
Inam/Ceylon [Santosh Sivan] RED Epic & Scarlet+HD (GoPro)-to-D-Cinema (scope)/c; 2uc: Divakar Mani; + co-prod/co-scrpl |
|
2013 |
Anjaan/Sikandar/Khatamak Khiladi 2 [N. Linguswamy & Suresh] RED Epic Dragon (scope)/c; 166m; filmed 2013-14 |
|
2015 |
Lies We Tell [Mitu Misra] HD (ARRI ALEXA) scope/c |
|
2016 |
Woyzeck [Santosh Sivan] c |
[Center] dir "Anandabhadram"
|
2005 |
Anandabhadram [+ ph] see Films |
|
2006 |
Before the Rains/Road to the Sky [+ ph] see Films |
|
2007 |
Prarambha/The Beginning [short; + ph] see Films |
|
2007 |
Wedding Party [feature for BBC Films] announced |
|
2007 |
Tahaan [+ co-scrpl/ph] see Films |
|
2010 |
Tatvä - Nature's Elements [short; + cph] see Films |
|
2010 |
Urumi [: The Warriors Who Wanted to Kill Vasco Da Gama] [+ co-prod/ph] see Films |
|
2013 |
Inam/Ceylon [+ co-prod/co-scrpl/ph] see Films |
|
2016 |
Woyzeck [+ ph] see Films |
| MISCELLANEOUS | |
|---|---|
|
1998 |
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai/Something Is Happening [Karan Johar] co-thanks; ph: Santosh Thundiiayil |
|
2009 |
Makaramanju [Lenin Rajendran; feature] actor (as Raja Ravi Varma); ph: Madhu Ambat; filmed 2009 & July 2010 |
