Pulsating action and brilliantly vivid song sequences that pack a punch are all in a day’s work for cinematographer Gopinath. With big blockbusters like Ghilli, Dhil, Dhool and others to his credit, he understands the language of larger-than-life heroism and delivers it with brilliance onscreen. His latest film was Vettaikkaran with Vijay. We catch up with him for his take on Vijay, Vikram, Anushka, Trisha and other interesting topics.
How did you like working with Vijay? What is he like?
Vijay is mature for his age. In word or deed he is balanced, I want to learn a lot from him. On the sets, if he is given a position, he will stay there however long it is needed and won’t move until told despite being a big artiste. Despite having assistants, when it comes to things like holding his umbrella, he insists on doing such things for himself. If the director asked him to come to the sets at a particular time, he would be there before us. Vijay is 100% professional and very involved.
Vijay is very good with fights and dances. How did you like working on them?
When it comes to song sequences, he becomes very happy and his whole body language is different. He loves songs and dance and nobody can match his timing and most of the songs I have shot with him have become big hits. His timing and performance are good and this works for all elements like action, song and comedy.
How was it working in Vettaikkaran?
Babu Sivan, the director is my friend. He was the AD in Dhool and Kuruvi. I had never worked with a new director and it was the first time. However, everything went smoothly, it was an AVM production which had good planning and was a commercial mass entertainer. The director was clear that a Vijay film has to be like this. If you work with Vijay you never get bored because he goes to the next level, the next time you see him.
