A Magician named Sanjay Loknath: John Mahendran

A Magician named Sanjay Loknath.

When we decided to make Aanivaer, rumors spread that we were doing a movie about LTTE, that we were doing a movie for LTTE.

Whatever it was, I was starting to get calls from many big names wanting to be part of Aanivaer, as they were great admirers of LTTE.

There were some actors who insisted on even a small role but with one condition that they were to be shot after the shoot and buried in Kilinochi, so that their future generation will be proud that their father or grandfather is buried in EEZHAM.

Start the shooting and finish with his shooting….Great

But as we came close to the start of the movie all these warriors vanished with memorable excuses.

I landed in Srilanka to start a movie with absolutely no one in hand.

Photography was always my passion when it comes to movie making. Grew up watching magical frames of Balu mahendra sir, Ashok kumar Sir, PC sreeram sir. Still I hear the claps and whistles that followed as soon as PC Sreeram sir name appeared in Thiruda Thiruda titles.

And here I was standing in Srilanka about to start a movie with no cameraman. Just then my dad called and said that he is sending someone named Sanjay son of a great cinematographer B.S.Lokanath to be our Cinematographer.

Waiting outside Bandaranaike Airport, I was wondering who this Sanjay is and how am I going to gel with him. Relationship between a Director and Cinematographer is something very important when it comes to making a movie.

A tall lean looking man with eyes smiling walked out pushing his trolley, and introduced himself as Sanjay.

During our travel he never spoke anything about Cinematography, I started getting skeptical, or maybe he had the same impression about me.

Yes, Aanivaer was produced by LTTE.

We had a script, we had actors, we had locales, and we had original weapons for shoot (FILM SHOOT), but we gave Sanjay just a Sony Varicam.

A film based on Eezham war backdrop, Lots of night shoots, Lots of interiors, and all we gave Sanjay was just a Cam.

Not even basic lights, not even a Thermocol , forget about trolleys or crane. People were flying down from all over the globe as it was first feature film from LTTE.No chance of postponing the shoot. When they could bring in many great directors or Cinematographers for that project I still feel we lucky to bag it. But can we meet the expectation with so many limitations.

Looking at the constraints, I asked Sanjay “ idhu edhuvumay illama panna mudiyuma Sanjay? “

Smiling he said “ pannidalaanga”

That word was a Sign of God.

“THE MORE THE LIMITATION THE MORE THE CREATIVITY “these words were told by his master PC.SREERAM Sir.

Next forty days were havoc. Sanjay used whatever that came to his hand, Collected mirrors from all over Kilinochi for shoot, used head lights of vehicles we could get our hand on, used fires, saw dust, used smoke…as I said earlier he was a magician bringing out amazing visuals with absolutely nothing.

We shot a sequence where thousands of people were brought in for an early morning shot, God knows how Sanjay lit up the entire crowd using just the head lights of the vehicles.

If only I was given a huge budget, if only I was given the equipments I asked for, if only I was given more time, if only I got the technical support like Mani sir….i see many amateurs use this IF ONLY often.

Sanjay never spoke about photography to me, he just spoke through his Camera.

Sanjay is still a Diamond that someone will unearth soon.

John Mahendran

Film Writer/Director