CHENNAI: Chennai-based documentary film maker RV Ramani is known for ‘playing with images’ in most of his films, as well as the diversity of subjects he chooses to work with. Having graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 1985, he has over 15 independent films to his credit. He has carved a niche for himself in the world of filmmaking, with movies such as Saa, Brahma Vishnu Shiva, Language of War, Nee Engey, and most recently, My Camera and Tsunami. With any film, the form of expression is vital, and the 90-minute film based on the 2004 Tsunami, breaks all boundaries, reflecting the bond of the filmmaker with his camera. Through his film, which is a memory of the images he clicked while struggling to save himself from the gigantic tsunami waves, he tries to come to terms with an indefinable image, evoking multiple possibilities and experiencing new perspectives. “I filmed the 2004 Tsunami, but the image was not there (the camera was ruined due to the catastrophe). That was exciting for me — how to structure a film in the absence of an image, and with just the memory of pictures I took,” he reminisces. Ramani says that for the first few months after experiencing the tsunami, he felt no fear and there were no changes in his life. He assumed that he had braved the incident, until the fear suddenly sunk in. “When it happened, I was completely in awe of the situation and had no idea what was going on. The fear came much later. I couldn’t enter the sea for a long time after that,” he says. Ramani extensively speaks about the politics of an image in the film. “I am constantly looking at how images are formed and marketed. It is important that I address the process of filmmaking and create an image. It is very dialectic,” he explains. “With such constant questioning, the image is not thrown at you. Instead, I’m offering an image which will play with you and allow you some breathing space.”Ramani’s films have an undertone — the contradiction of life — that is not easily recognisable. “You have something and you don’t, you know something and you don’t, and you have an image and you don’t,” he says. “This is addressed throughout my films, and it gets built into the movie because I am always preoccupied with it,” he explains. Young filmmakers seldom venture into documentary filmmaking and are more interested in making feature films and commercial cinema. Does Ramani think the trend has to change? “There are a lot of people making documentary films now. But a lot of people still don’t understand that this kind of filmmaking also offers the same kind of excitement as features,” he explains. “The kind of possibilities available with this kind of approach is lot.” He has been shooting Chennai-based theatre group Koothupattrai for the last 20 years and is hoping to complete his next film based on their work soon.
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