Cinematography techniques of ‘Blue Star’! – Amazing cinematographer Tamil A Alaghan !!

Chennai 29 January 2024 Directed by S. Jayakumar from director B.Iranjith’s studio, produced by director B.Iranjith and starring Ashok Selvan, Shantanu, Keerthi Pandian, the movie ‘Blue Star’ has received great response from the fans. Critically, the film is also receiving accolades. Especially the cinematography of the film is highly appreciated by the people and the media.

Although the cricket game is an important part of the story, the cinematographer Tamil A Alagan has attracted the attention of the entire Tamil cinema by displaying the unprofessional cricket played by the people at that time and the professional cricket match in the second half.

Based on Arakkonam, the story of the film is set in the 1990s. Cinematographer Tamil A Alaghan is happy and excited because the media has noted and praised that the story that took place in a particular area and the people who lived in that area at that time has been displayed very accurately and the cinematography has been set up in such a way that the viewers feel like traveling with the plot.In this situation, cinematographer Tamil A Alaghan told us that the cinematography in ‘Blue Star’ was not the most ordinary but the biggest challenge and shared many interesting things including working on the film and the techniques used in the cinematography.

“The bus stuck underground and the tick…tick…minutes of the passengers inside was a challenge for me in the film ‘O2’. But the film ‘Blue Star’ was more challenging than that. The reason is that in ‘O2’ the lighting is under my control. But in ‘Blue Star’, everything is open lighting, so it is not under my control. As the sun plays a very important role in the film, it was a challenge to bring that sun in all the scenes. The entire film is in motion. I shot the scenes with the camera in hand.The story of ‘Blue Star’ is based on the events that happened in the life of the director Jayakumar, the incidents of Arakkonam where he lived, the love of the local youth and the game of cricket. So, since it is a biographical film, the viewers have to relate themselves to the film. Because only if that happens, the film will reach people, so I had to work hard for it.

The cricket match will be very important in the film. What’s more, instead of a professional cricket match, we have showcased the cricket match played by those youngsters in Arakkona area. They will play good cricket but their competition will not be professional cricket and its likes. Very ordinary, it should be displayed in the right way. The entire first half of the film consists of such cricket matches. It is only in the second half that the professional cricket matches take place and we have shown those scenes at the cricket ground in Pondicherry. We have captured the difference between the two and the nuances of the matches to suit them.

It is a period film, set in the 1990s. Going back 25 years, we have brought things for that period. During that period, not only the people who played cricket in that town, but in many towns like that, the people who played cricket at that time associated themselves with the film. The reason is that these are all events in life. But I have never seen such a life, but only if it is realized and filmed, it will reach the audience in the right way. Such things were challenging for me. Now it’s nice to see the film and everyone is appreciating it.

As director Jayakumar used to look after the art department of the films while working as an assistant director, he has done it right in this film. It was also a great help to me. Being a Preyet film, it avoided all the current things like the tower, modern vehicles and used the things that were used in that period, and managed to bring things like clothes right.Even though Arakonam is a sunny area, that is the beauty of the area. The sun there is not like that in other parts, it is a reddish sun. The reason is that there are many brick kilns there. That dust is always spreading there. So, not only in the stadiums, but also in the faces of the people playing in the sun, I have brought that color in the right way. Such imitation can only be brought about by a film camera. But while it’s a challenge to get such a look on a digital camera, it’s nice to see that I’ve done it the right way, and that everyone has appreciated it.

Cricket is very important in the film and we shot for around 45 days on the cricket ground in the entire film. The cricket in the first half and its lighting is all one piece, and the cricket in the second half and its nuances have been shown by the cinematography. One of the reasons for that is the director’s negligence. He brought sports director Dhru. Some people work as sports directors in cricket related films. There are only one or two such people in India. Dhruv is one of them. He has worked in 83, 800 films. The director got to know him and saw what he was doing and brought him for this film. The director made such an effort to make the cricket matches better. We captured the perfect cricket matches through my cinematography using his tips and appropriate techniques.

The plot comes like a character of the film, that is the Arakkonam part. I have never been to Arokanam, if it is a field-based story, the viewers of the film should feel like they are traveling in that town. That’s the challenge, and if you do it right, the whole picture will come out right. Especially if I do my job right, the rest of the film will be right. Only with that the composer can compose background music. Arakkonam has an army airport. Things related to that are going on there. The fighter jets come suddenly, the helicopter comes. I realized the additional responsibility that I had and worked accordingly as I could give the background music accordingly if all these were presented in the films in the right way.Similarly, train travel is very important in Arakkonam. Not only does it have an ancient railway station, the people of the town rely heavily on rail transport. So, many things were challenging for me because rail transport and train journeys and the people’s bond with them should be very natural. The crew and I worked hard for it. Today, the media and fans appreciate that hard work as much as they do, and it’s not just the excitement, but also the inspiration that no matter how big and challenging films come their way, they can handle it well.”

Cinematographer Tamil A Alaghan, who spoke enthusiastically, is currently shooting for Aishwarya and Yogi Babu’s film. After the film, he said goodbye saying that he will talk about the films in the next meeting, who is contracted to work in many more films.