Ace K’wood lensman adds new feather to cap

Tirru aka Thirunavukarasu, a Chennai-based independent advertising professional is the man behind the exceptional cinematography of Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani, which released this week.

Recalling memories of shooting the film, Tirru says, “While filming in Ooty, the entire cast and crew went crazy over the Chettinad cuisine. Ranbir simply loves the Chettinad chicken curry. In fact, he likes South Indian food so much that he ended up putting on five kilos during the shoot of the film.”

When asked about the movie, Tirru says, “Working on APKGK was like reading a comic book. It has a fairy-tale quality interspersed with some light-hearted comedy.” Apart from working on several successful ads for top brands, Tirru has lent his talent for Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam films as well.

Having worked on the films Garam Masala and Bhool Bhulaiya, Tirru says that he has a fair idea of Bollywood and the opportunity to be a part of the film did not come as a surprise.

“I know Raj Kumar Santoshi very well as I’ve worked with him in films like The Legend of Bhagat Singh and others. So he was keen on including me in his latest project as well,” he says.

Speaking about his experience working on the film, he says, “Bollywood films have a fantastic budget as they cater to wide audiences. So one gets a chance to be more experimental and creative in them too. We shot for about 100 days and it had gone off quite smoothly.”

Tirru, who also worked on the national award winning film Kancheevaram directed by Priyadharshan, feels that the rapport between director and cinematographer is essential in bringing out the best in the film.

He affirms, “I gel quite well with Raj, so about 60 per cent of the final output came as per our expectations. The moment the script was narrated to me, I felt the film had a dreamy appeal. So it had to be shot in a place like Italy, as the country has very romantic notions associated with it, which would be successful in kindling the imagination of the viewers. However, due to several constraints, we filmed at Turkey and Ooty.”

Probe him about the most memorable experience shooting the film, starring Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor and he says, “The song sequence of Tera Hone Laga Hoon, was great fun to shoot.”