Imprinting Mastery with a Lens

Maheen Afshan. F

Raja Ravi Varma painted over a century ago. His fingers holding the brush had the strokes creating not just art but an experience. Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings captured many stories in which a variety of beautiful captivating women were a part of. The colours itself, along with the density presented by their eyes hailed audience from lands afar.

One among those audience in the 21st century is none other than India’s ace photographer – Mr. Venket Ram. Having always been inspired by painters, Venket Ram decided to use his inspiration to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of NAAM Charitable Trust by recreating 12 of Raja Ravi Varma’s iconic paintings as photographs.

Venket Ram unveiled his calendar featuring twelve personalities: Actors Khushboo, Shruti Haasan, Ramya Krishnan, Aishwarya Rajesh, Samantha Akkineni, Nadhiya and Lissy; Dancers Shobhana and Priyadarshini Govind, and Chamundeshwari, a NAAM Charitable Trust beneficiary who portrays Rani Laxmi Bayi of the Tanjore and Travancore palaces.

The NAAM Charitable Trust for which the calendar was shot is founded by Actor and Director Suhasini Mani Ratnam, and operates from an eco-friendly facility in Chennai. The

organisation’s work covers aspects ranging from health to education to self-defense and beyond.

Speaking on the anniversary calendar, Suhasini says, “Very few people can relate to even one of the many dimensions of women. Raja Ravi Varma was one of the few Indians who not only understood women but also represented them exquisitely in a single dimension within four frames, infusing each painting with life through the use of colour. I am always looking for ways to inspire and empower women, and what better way than this homage: a calendar featuring twelve beautiful, graceful Indian women in rich costumes, ornate jewellery and a lavish backdrop.”

While the Internet went berserk over the photographer’s marvellous work, Brew had a chance to sit down for a tete-a-tete with the man of the hour himself – Mr. Venket Ram.

Why did you choose to recreate paintings of the most celebrated artist of India – Raja Ravi Varma?

As a photographer, I’ve always said in my lectures and talks – “Look, my inspiration for photography is always from painters.” I consider artists to be in a higher level than a photographer to be frank. When you shoot as a photographer, you shoot an image meaning what you click is what you get. It has that kind of realism involved but when an artist paints a particular image or a situation or a portrait, its interpretation is the artist’s personal interpretation of the subject. Invariably it’s never reality. It is their perception; their idea about it which is portrayed in the painting.

There’s a lot of difference. What happens is when they paint, they have the advantage of using different kinds of mediums. They could use mud or

paints or oil colours, water colours; They could mix mediums. What you see is something beautiful. They keep working on it. They find something and they keep improvising. At the end of it, it isn’t reality; it’s an illusion… but that’s his interpretation of what he thinks about the subject. This is the difference between a painting and a photographer. Photography is invariably realism, like a journalist who writes; photography shows reality. So, as a photographer when I want to work on a project where I’m trying to recreate a painting to reality, it becomes very difficult. You cannot have norms like – ‘this is what I do’. I’m really stuck. I do not have any freedom in creating what I want. I’m trying to recreate the painting as a picture and so, when I shoot I have my subjects move around a bit because she/he might look better at a spot or move the camera around a bit all the time, just to make sure the picture looks better.

I think – ‘How can I show this guy in a better light?’ I move my lights around so a specific way of lighting makes the subject look better. And this is something I do to make the subject look better aesthetically, photographically and lots more. But in the case of the calendar, since I’m recreating it, I’m stuck with the pose. ‘The woman is going to look in the required direction. The kid has got to be looking at that direction. The dog needs to look here.’ The source of light is also fixed because that’s how the painter has painted it. I can’t change it. Thus, I need to, minding those guidelines create the artist’s magic with artificial light. I’m not shooting it in ambient light or natural light. It’s with artificial light. It becomes so much more difficult when you’re creating light inside a dark studio. It might look like a veranda. It may look like a garden because you’re trying to create daylight with flashlight. That’s where it becomes a lot more engaging. You’re put to test with the way you can create it.

Because we were using stars, and not models, we were not just replicating something. We’re using the stars whom people have seen in movies; in different avatars. You’ve seen Ramya Krishnan play different roles. You’ve seen Shobhana who’s done so many avatars. You’ve seen Aishwarya Rajesh. You’ve seen Samantha and so on. Point is you’ve seen them all as ‘actors’. So, when these stars come to play these characters, it’s almost like a movie.

Ramya Krishnan is playing the role of Damayanti in this film. That’s how it looks because she comes down to play the part. And when she and the other actresses play the characters; they are actors who emote trying to get closer to the picture. That’s when the whole thing gets exciting! It’s feels as if you have a novel; a well known novel and you’re trying to make a film on it. You give yourself time to think and cast the best actor who do justice to a particular role. Now imagine the same in photography.

How long did it take for you to develop the 2020 calendar?

Suhasini came up with the idea earlier because a few years ago a fashion show was held under a similar theme to raise funds. We had shot a few of them and planned to take some more and exhibit it when the fashion show is happening but everything happened so fast that we didn’t have time to shoot. Initially, we had shot only Khushboo. Of course, from that point of time, we never really executed it but this December I called her and said ‘Let’s do it!’. Fortunately she was also interested and said ‘Let’s do it’. Ideas were already there because both of us had it planned earlier. The exhibition took a while because of time constraints and logistics of who’s travelling, who’s free, availability of the makeup artists, hair stylist, the drapist, the stylist, Suhasini, me, actors…everything had to fall in place. But we managed it.

Did you expect to blow up the internet like it has?

No, honestly, I didn’t. I enjoyed the whole process. In fact, the launch was quite simple. We just had just 80-90 people compared to the number we have usually. Normally, we invite the entire press; there are 300-400 people. But this time, I didn’t even video record the launch. It was only the press who showed up. It was such a classy presentation. There was poetry and had a set of very close-knit people who have a common interest in art.

But later that night, I was with a friend chatting and that’s when the stars began calling and asking for the pictures. It was 11:00 p.m. when me and my friend sent everyone the pictures. And the moment Samantha started sharing, it became a sensation. Of course, it is unique. Like I said, it’s not about the models doing it. It’s about the actors playing a character.

Of course, the actresses portrayed thee characters with perfection. But was there any other form of symbolism involved?

Yes. One was the facial features. The eyebrows, the hairline, the figure; what would suit and the way the paintings were modelled. Whether they were standing or sitting or thinking; we needed to match. We did not have a 100 models who would match. We had very few. It wasn’t necessarily looking exactly like the paintings but with the costumes and jewellery it could come closer. Then it became more about the expressions and the body language which we wanted to achieve.

One was matching the painting and the artist. The other was lighting it. Lighting was difficult because most of it were done in natural light. And here we were, shooting in an indoor studio which was time consuming. That became very challenging.

Do you regret not having working with someone for this calendar?

Yes. Quite a few. Keerthy Suresh, Anushka Shetty, Nithya Menon… I had a bucket list. A couple of the whom I thought would fit into certain categories. They’re all good friends and since they were stuck in busy schedules, we couldn’t shoot with them. Yet, we didn’t lose the essence of what we were trying to do.

(Laughs) It’s like asking a dad with twelve kids – ‘Which kid is your favourite?’ It wasn’t about how simple the shot was or how tough the shot was. It was about the kind of energy and enthusiasm you had in terms of creating that particular picture. Even if it was a simple shot or a portrait, the body language and emotions needed to work. It wasn’t a situation where when we shot Ramya Krishnan, we had a lot of set-up or it was any easier than the rest. Every shot took the kind of time to execute it and make sure the expressions were right.

Which was more difficult? Capturing the shot or working on the technical?

I’m not a technical person at all. My thing is more about lighting and getting it right. It’s more about the costumes and jewellery and the field and the set. I indulge into all those details. The technical wasn’t much important as opposed to what kind of camera I was going to use or what kind of megapixel would be shown. It was more about being earthy because with these kind of pictures, we need to be earthy because the originals are very earthy.

Can you give me a sneak peak on your next project?

(Laughs) I’m an advertisement photographer. I’ve been doing a lot of work for film related stuff and advertising. Right now, I’ve not got anything happening related to these photos but yes, I am working

on an idea. It is supposed to cover the cultural definition of Tamil Nadu, Andra Pradesh and parts of Kerala. It shows how different communities have different styles whether it was draping sarees or jewelleries or festivals. Let’s say it’s might be like a South Indian calendar. I might start shooting in April to next March.

Among the appreciation you received, which one do you think stood out the most?

(Laughs) The call from the actress Anushka Shetty. In fact, I had her as one of the 12 because she would fit into it so perfectly. She texted me which said ‘Lovely Calendar, so nice’ but unfortunately she didn’t see my earlier text where on December 5th I had asked whether she was available. Because she was travelling she hadn’t seen it. That was the irony of it. No, I didn’t remind her but when she texted, I noticed it…haha..!