V. Gopi Krishna – Bollywood cinematographer of old classics best known for his association with ace director Shakti Samanta

V. Gopi Krishna was a Bollywood cinematographer who was most active in the era of 1960s. He is best known for his association with ace director Shakti Samanta for many of his hits, and worked with him with most of his films of 1960s, starting with Kashmir Ki Kali as a camera operator. As a cinematographer, ‘An Evening in Paris’ is his major work starring Shammi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore. He also worked as a camera operator of many of the movies directed by Shakti Samanta.

V. Gopi Krishna hailed from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. His passion towards cinema brought him to Chennai. He worked as an assistant under cinematographer V. N. Reddy and his brother V. Subbarao at Vijaya – Vahini studios and Devar films. After spending one decade as an assistant in south Indian film industry, he moved to Mumbai to work in Bollywood in the early 1960s. As a cinematographer, Telugu film – Intiki Deepam Illalu (1961) marked his debut. Initially he worked as a cameraman for many projects in Bollywood before turning a full-fledged cinematographer.

Sawan Ki Ghata was his first full-fledged project as a cinematographer in Bollywood.

He joined the team of Shakti Samanta in the year 1964, and worked under him as a camera operator of Kashmir Ki Kali. After the success of the film, he regularly worked with the director for many years and also got promoted to cinematographer. 1966 movie Sawan Ki Ghata directed by Samanta marked his debut as a cinematographer. He extensively worked with the director in the second half of 1960s till early 1970s and did the roles of both cinematographer and camera operator. He did the cinematography for An Evening In Paris directed by Shakti Samanta, his masterpiece work. It was one among the first Bollywood movies to shoot extensively outside India in big cities, especially Paris. The movie then caught viewers’ attention for the splendid locations outside India and extravagance, which was a fresh new experience.

Same year he handled the cinematography work of Anita (1967) directed by Raj Khosle. After Aloke Dasgupte joined Shakti Samanta’s team in the late 1960s for the blockbuster – Aradhana, Gopi Krishna worked as the director of photography for Kati Patang, where Dasgupte did the camera work. Bachpan (1970) was yet another memorable work of Gopi as a cinematographer. Abdullah (1980) was his last work as a full-fledged photographer. He died the same year following a heart attack.

V. Gopi Krishna – Some interesting and less known facts

1. His real name is Dasari Gopi Krishna, and he added ‘V’ to his name soon after joining Bollywood. Initial – V attributes to Vijaya – Vahini studios of Chennai where he worked as an assistant for 1 decade.

2. He has done camera work for many of Shammi Kapoor movies. In fact he started as a camera operator for Shammi’s Kashmir Ki Kali, and later did cinematography for An Evening In Paris, Pagla Kahin Ka etc. All these movies were directed by Shakti Samanta.

3. He turned a producer in the late 1970s and produced one movie, Bhola Bhala in 1978.

4. His debut Bollywood film as a cinematographer – Sawan Ki Ghata had some unused tunes of O. P. Nayyar, originally meant for Kashmir Ki Kali. After choosing some of the best tunes of Nayyar for Kashmir Ki Kali, Samanta reserved the next best songs for Sawan Ki Ghata.

5. As he regularly worked with Shakti Samanta for many years, he frequently worked with Sharmila Tagore movies also. Tagore appeared in an extra-glamorous role in An Evening In Paris, for which she donned a swimming suit. In fact his both two works as a cinematographer – Sawan Ki Ghata and An Evening In Paris, had Tagore in lead role. Just like Sharmila Tagore, he also joined Bollywood scene through Kashmir Ki Kali – her debut film.

Note: I couldn’t find an image of this legendary cinematographer who did camera work of many great movies of yesterdays. So, I managed with film posters of movies with which he associated for.