09 May TOP 5 FEMALE CINEMATOGRAPHERS IN INDIA

Cinematography is not only an Art of Aesthetics in Films but a well-known craft that requires Technical understanding and Practical knowledge of the production process, Camera handling along with other heavy equipment’s.

Cinematographers are the visionaries for the Director’s eye. The narrators to their story. They are the People, who actually gets in the director’s shoe to understand what they are thinking and what they want to portray. The scenes that wonderstruck us and keeps us stick to our seats throughout a Movie is made possible by these people.

We all must have heard of names of numerous men contributing in this field but How many of us could actually name the Female cinematographers in our Film industry and How many of us would really Believe the number without a single doubt.

It’s time for breakthrough over this patriarchy and change in the perceptions towards our Mainstream media fortunately which has already began. Fowzia Fathima (aged 47), Deepti Gupta (aged 46) and Priya Seth (aged 44) sat down with Scroll.in on a warm evening in Mumbai to expunge out the reality about women directors of photography in the Indian film industries.

Their accounts shows that progress is poor. They are expected to focus on “women-friendly” subjects and must curb their instincts and personalities if they hope to be taken seriously.

That is why in 2015, the Indian Women Cinematographers Collective was set up by these 3 woman in the hope to increase the reach of its members (78 thus far and counting) and generate dialogue and debate on the blatant and unthinking ways in which women DPs are denied employment.

With no More female Bosses, female director’s, female advocates or female “something”. It’s time to accept women as someone who simply happens to be as Bosses, Director’s, advocates and cinematographers and Believe in their abilities.

Until that happens, Here’s a list of 5 IWCC women cinematographers in India that have been working in the industry for more than 15 years and are supporting this initiative as a team while paving the way for more woman to lead-

1. B.R VIJAYLAKSHMI

Hailing from Tamil nadu, B.R vijaylakshmi is the oldest woman cinematographer in Asia. She is the daughter of renowned director-producer B.R Panthalu which gave her an easier access to the film industry. She was mentored by Ashok Kumar and has shot 22 films in the 1980’s and 90’s including ‘China Veedu’ and ‘Pattu Padava’ .

2. SAVITA SINGH

Savita has been director of photography for a number of films, from a period fantasy like ‘Hawaizaada’ to showcasing her Potential in a Marathi comedy-drama ‘Ventilator’ . The scenes from her films are available for viewing on her vimeo page.

3. FOWZIA FATHIMA

Fowzia made her debut through an Award winning film directed by Revathi named as ‘Mitr, My friend’ which had an all- female technical crew. She was the one to motivate her colleagues to form the IWCC. What started off as a Facebook group she formed for fellow cinematographers turned into a collective.

4. PRIYA SETH

Priya has been the DOP for various ad films and made her debut in the Indian cinema more recently with films like ‘Chef’ and ‘Barah Anna Montage’. Not just this, she shot the 2015 period action film Airlift in just 49 days making it a remarkable success.

5. ANJULI SHUKLA

In 2010, Anjuli Shukla was the first woman cinematographer to win a National Award for Best Cinematography for ‘Kutty Shrank’. In 2015, she directed her own film, ‘Happy Mother’s Day’, which was the opening film for the 19^th International Children’s Film Festival India  (ICFFI).

While There are numerous other woman coming forward and needs the Industry’s and it’s people’s support and encouragement. We need to keep the conversation going..