Rajeev Ravi is an acclaimed cinematographer turned film director, who works in Bollywood and Malayalam film industry. He won National Film Award for Best Cinematography in 2014, for English film – Liar’s Dice, the movie directed by his wife Geetu Mohandas, a former Malayalam film actress. His work for Dev.D (2009) earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Cinematography. Moothon and Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups are among his recent works as a cinematographer, both directed by his wife.
As a cinematographer, some of his major works in Bollywood are Chandni Bar, Dev.D, Gulaal, That Girl in Yellow Boots, Gangs of Wasseypur Series, Mukkabaaz, No Smoking, Udta Punjab etc, and in Mollywood are Virus, Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, Classmates, Moothon etc. He is best known for his association with Anurag Kashyap in Bollywood. As a director, most of his works released until now – Annayum Rasoolum, Njan Steve Lopez and Kammatti Paadam met with critical acclaim and commercial success.
Rajeev Ravi took diploma in cinematography from FTII, Pune
He hails from Kochi, Kerala and was born in 1973. He completed in cinematography from Film and Television Institute of India, after which he started his career in Bollywood in the early 2000s. Right from debut, he mostly worked with critically acclaimed projects, rather than commercial masalas, yet most of them met with commercial success too, earning fame in Bollywood. Before his Bollywood debut, Rajeev Ravi worked in Malayalam cinema as an assistant. Pranayavarnangal (1998) shot by Santosh Thundiyil was his first association with this profession.
Best known for his association with Anurag Kashyap in Gangster films
This National Award-winning cinematographer started his career in Mollywood as an assistant. Chandni Bar in 2001 was his debut film as a cinematographer, directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. Yet later he got permanently associated with Anurag Kashyap. In association with the director, he moved camera for Gangs of Wasseypur Series, Mukkabaaz, Bombay Velvet, Dev. D, Mumbai Cutting (segment – “Pramod Bhai 23”), That Girl in Yellow Boots, No Smoking etc. No Smoking was their first work together.
Annayum Rasoolum was his debut movie as a director. He went on to make critically acclaimed movies one after another. Some of his works in Malayalam cinema as a cinematographer include – Ivan Megharoopan, Seetha Kalyanam, Rasikan, Chakram, Anyar, 5 Sundarikal etc, Shesham was his first work in Malayalam. He has also done the camera work of Telugu project, Naa Peru Surya, Naa Illu India.
Rajeev Ravi as a Malayalam film director
Post the success of his debut movie as a director, Annayum Rasoolum, he directed Njan Steve Lopez, Kammatti Paadam, Kuttavum Sikshyayum and Thuramukham. He mostly worked with youngsters belonging to present generation and also introduced a few actors like Manikandan to silver screen. It was through Kammatti Paadam, Vinayakan came into spotlight after a long struggling period. Both the actors won Kerala state awards in the best acting categories too. Rajeev also worked with DQ, Nivin Pauly, Fahad Fasil and Asif Ali in different films.
His long-term association with Anurag Kashyap gave him the experience to direct the best gangster drama in Malayalam, Kammatti Paadam. When the movie was released, Kashyap heaped praises on him. They later, too, associated in many films.
Rajeev’s works post 2020
Rajeev Ravi has done a commendable job as a cinematographer post pandemic. He frequently worked in Akshay Kumar films. He worked in three Akshay films in a row – Bell Bottom, Selfie and Cuttputlli. In 2023, he did the cinematography of highly acclaimed and multiple award-winning film, Paradise. The following year, he worked for the Bollywood film, Maharaj, starring Aamir Khan’s son, Junaid Khan. Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups directed by his wife is his recent work, for which he received praises, following the teaser release.
Rajeev Ravi – Some interesting and less-known facts
Rajeev Ravi and Geethu Mohandas on the occasion of their marriage
1. He met his future wife in the film sets of Shesham, the movie in which Geetu played lead role and Rajeev did camera work. Love blossomed between the two and they got married in 2009.
2. In Bollywood Rajeev Ravi mostly worked with Anurag Kashyap, and most of them were gangster dramas too.
3. He did the camera work of 2019 Sri Lankan movie, Gaadi, which was shown at many international film festivals.
4. Climax of his debut movie, Annayum Rasoolum was inspired from Tamil flick Sethu, which was remade in Hindi as Tera Naam.
5. Academy winner Resul Pookutty was his classmate at FTII.
6. During his first year in FTII, every afternoon his classmates were asked to spend time at public places like bus station, market, villages etc until evening, to know more about social life. They were asked to observe things and note it down so that they can write from real lives rather than fictional writing.
7. In 2014, his interview sparked controversy when he targeted filmmakers like Mani Ratnam, Sreenivasan etc for their film making style and choice of subjects.
8. He never does cinematography for his own films. He provides this opportunity to some other people.
9. Rajeev Ravi was active in politics during his college days in Maharaja’s College, Kochi and was affiliated to leftist party.
10. Right from Geethu’s debut short film, Rajeev Ravi, her husband, works as her cinematographer. Since then, they worked together in all her movies, including Moothon and Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups.
11. His directorial venture Kammatti Paadam was an A-rated film, yet earned double of its budget. It eventually became one of the biggest Malayalam grossers of 2016. Read more.
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