Rajiv Menon – Filmmaker and Cinematographer of Minsara Kanavu and Kandukondain Kandukondain fame

Rajiv Menon is a south Indian director and cinematographer who predominantly works in Tamil film industry. He is also a leading name in ad industry since late 1980s. As a film director he gained recognition through Minsara Kanavu and Kandukondain Kandukondain. Yet he stayed away from film direction and returned to the same field after a hiatus of 19 years through the highly acclaimed musical film, Sarvam Thaala Mayam released in 2019. He also composed “Varalaama” song for the movie.

He directed Tamil hits – Minsara Kanavu (1997) and Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000), which won many awards at different award functions including National film awards. His third movie, Sarvam Thaala Mayam (2019), released almost two decades later also earned rave reviews and was a box office hit. A. R. Rahman composed music of all these three films, which gave so much importance to music. He is also a noted cinematographer, best known for his association with Mani Ratnam for movies like Bombay, Guru, Kadal etc.

A camera offered by his neighbour changed his life

Rajiv Menon was born in Kochi, Kerala in 1963. His mother Kalyani Menon is a noted playback singer. His childhood days were spent in different cities as his father was a naval officer. Initially he was little exposed to Indian films. Things changed when his family shifted to Visakhapatnam, and he got exposed to some classic films of different languages during his early teens. At the age of 15 he moved to Chennai, where he completed his education. He lost his father during those days.

He got a spare camera from his neighbour journalist which embarked his new life journey. He later enrolled at Madras Film Institute for film making and got associated with ad world and cinematography since late 1980s. Initially he was a still photographer who worked on fashion shoots and corporate films before he concentrated on his ad career and films.

He started his career as a still photographer

Initially he worked as a still photographer for photo shoots and corporate films, and later started working in ad industry, which changed his world. Slowly he turned one of the top ad filmmakers of 1990s. Since late 1980s he worked in ad world, and acquainted with A. R. Rahman those days through the world of advertisements. Rahman was composing jingles those days. They together worked for many years in the ad industry, when Rahman had not joined films. Later Rahman gave music to all the three Tamil movies directed by Rajiv.

Telugu road movie, Chaitanya gave him the first break as a cinematographer

After a couple of shelved projects, Telugu road film, Chaitanya (1991) marked his film debut as a cinematographer. Cheluvi (1992) was his first Kannada project. His third project – Bombay in 1995 marked his association with Maniratnam, and it was his debut Tamil project too.  Bombay was his first major break in the cine world. There was no turning back after that and he frequently worked with ace filmmaker for many projects later. Harikrishnans, Morning Raga, Guru and Kadal are a few more cinematography works. He is mostly associated with ad films and documentaries.

Chithra’s Poopookkum Osai song from Minsara Kanavu. Its Hindi version (Awara Bhawre from Sapney) gave the first break to Hema Sardesai as a playback singer in 1997

As a film director Minsara Kanavu (1997) marked his debut, and he later directed two more movies. Minsara Kanavu was dubbed into Hindi as Sapney. Though the Hindi version was a flop, songs were huge chartbusters. His first two films mostly starred Bollywood heroines. Minsara Kanavu marked Tamil debut of Kajol, and Kandukondain Kandukondain starred Aishwarya Rai and Tabu as female leads. While his first two movies gave so much importance to music, his third film Sarvam Thaala Mayam had music as the main theme. Though he took a break from direction in year 2000, he was active behind the camera for last two decades. He started Rajiv Menon Productions and Mindscreen Film Institute. He teaches students at his institute and also continues his journey in ad world.

Many of his film projects didn’t materialize after year 2000

In the early 2000s he wanted to make a movie with cricketer Anil Kumble playing the lead role. But the project didn’t materialize. In 2006 he wanted to work with Big B for a movie, but it didn’t happen. He also wanted to make a movie titled ‘Dhun’ with Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. The plot inspired from Abhimaan also didn’t materialize. In 2012 his biopic on Carnatic singer M. S. Subbulakshmi also got shelved. There have been many such film threads which he started, but never happened for one reason or another. Finally he did his third movie – Sarvam Thaala Mayam in year 2019, and the movie was a box office hit. G. V. Prakash Kumar, A. R. Rahman’s nephew played lead role in this movie, while Rahman composed its music.

Rajiv Menon – Some interesting  and less-known facts

1. His wife Latha is also an ad-director based in Chennai.

2. He is a close friend of A. R. Rahman who composed music for all the three directorial ventures. Film director Mani Ratnam is also his close friend from the industry, and both these legends have influenced him throughout his professional career.

3. In the late 1980s he collaborated with the newbie A. R. Rahman for many ad films and jingles before Rahman turned a successful film composer.

4. His mother was in the early 40s when Rajiv’s father passed away. As a strong mother, she brought up two sons and also pursued music as a full-time profession.

5. All his three directorial ventures are musically inclined. Minsarakanavu had influences of Barber of Seville and Sound of Music, while Kandukondain Kandukondain was based on Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. His third venture goes deep into the lives of Mridangam artists as well as those who make this music instrument, perhaps the only feature film made on this theme.

6. Aravinda Swamy’s lead role in Roja was first offered to Rajiv by Maniratnam, which he rejected. He just wanted to simply remain behind cameras. Later he worked as cinematographer for Maniratnam’s iconic film, Bombay which changed his professional career forever.

7. Known for making movies related to the theme of music, Rajiv’s debut movie as a director Minsara Kanavu earned 4 National film awards in the music section, which includes best music, best male & female playback singers and best choreography, which is a unique feat.

8. A.R. Rahman received National award for best music composer for Rajiv Menon’s Minsara Kanavu.

9. Chithra received National award for best playback singer for “Hoo La La” of Minsara Kanavu while S. P. Balasubramaniam received the same for “Thanga Thamarai“. In year 2000 Shankar Mahadevan received the same for “Enna Solla Pogirai” song of Kandukondain Kandukondain.

Hoo La La song from Minsara Kanavu gave National award for best female playback for Chithra

10. Prabhudeva received National award for best choreography for the songs “Vennilavae” and “Strawberry Kannae” of Minsara Kanavu

11. Ace filmmaker Gautham Menon started his career as an assistant under Rajiv during his days of photography, and also assisted him for the first two Tamil releases, before he started an independent career. He also appeared in a song sequence, Hoo La La of Minsara Kanavu among spectators, and also scenes before the song, where he stays close to Arvind Swamy in the camera frames.

Gautam Menon on the left side of Arvind Swamy in a scene from Minsara Kanavu

12. In the early 1990s, Girish Karnad offered him the cinematography work of a Kannada movie titled Jokumaraswamy. But following the death of its lead actor Shankar Nag the movie got shelved. Agniputhri was yet another shelved project before he started his journey as a cinematographer.

13. He played the supporting role of Guptan in 1998 Malayalam movie, Harikrishnans starring Mammootty and Mohanlal. His character is killed in the first scene, and later he appears as a dead body in many scenes.

14. He rendered his voice for ‘Kichu Kichu’ song of Naina (2002), aside Mathangi Jagdish.