Priyan (1964 – 9 November 2017) was an Indian cinematographer who has worked on Tamil language films. Beginning his career as an assistant to

Balu Mahendra Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as ...

, Priyan began his career as an independent technician in the 1990s before establishing himself as a leading cinematographer in the Tamil film industry in the 2000s. He is notable in his work with Director Hari. He died due to heart attack in his home.

Career

Priyan was born and raised in

Virudhunagar Virudhunagar is a city and the administrative headquarter of the Virudhunagar district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located southwest of the state capital Chennai and south of Madurai. Virudhunagar emerged as an important trade ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

. While he was doing an industrial course in polytechnics, Priyan spent his time with his uncle Ganesan during a summer vacation in Chennai. Having noticed his interest in cinema, his uncle introduced him to his friend K. Balaji, an actor-producer in the Tamil film industry. Priyan subsequently started working in K. Balaji's camera unit and worked for the production house, Sujatha International, for five years as an assistant cinematographer. Through his work, he was introduced to cinematographer-director

and worked with him on films including ''

Moondram Pirai ''Moondram Pirai'' () is a 1982 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written, directed and filmed by Balu Mahendra. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Sridevi, while Y. G. Mahendran, Silk Smitha and Poornam Viswanathan play supporting roles. ...

'' (1982), ''

Olangal ''Olangal'' () is a 1982 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by Balu Mahendra. The film's plot is inspired from novel '' Man, Woman and Child'' by Erich Segal. Plot Life goes on happily for the couple, Ravi (Amol Palekar) and Radha ( Poor ...

'' (1982), ''

Sadma ''Sadma'' () is a 1983 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film, written and directed by Balu Mahendra. It stars Kamal Haasan, Sridevi in the lead roles, with the music composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The film tells the story of Nehalata Malhotra, a ...

'' (1983) and ''

Yathra ''Yathra'' () is a 1985 Indian Malayalam-language romantic drama film written and directed by Balu Mahendra. The film stars Mammootty and Shobana, while Adoor Bhasi, Thilakan and Alummoodan play supporting roles. The film tells a fictional s ...

'' (1984). Moreover, he worked in the cinematography teams of films including

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...

's ''

Pagal Nilavu ''Pagal Nilavu'' () is a 1985 Indian Tamil-language gangster film directed by Mani Ratnam, starring Murali, Revathi and Sathyaraj. It is about a carefree youth caught between his loyalty to a mafia don and his love for a cop's sister. The fi ...

'' (1985) and ''

Nayakan ''Nayakan'' (; ) is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language gangster film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Produced by Muktha Srinivasan, the film stars Kamal Haasan, Saranya (in her feature debut) and Karthika, with Janagaraj, Vijayan, M. V. Vas ...

'' (1987). Priyan then worked in productions by

Rajiv Menon Rajiv Menon (born 20 April 1963) is an Indian filmmaker who has worked as a director and cinematographer in several Indian regional film industries. After making his breakthrough as a film cinematographer with Mani Ratnam's drama ''Bombay'' (199 ...

and

Suresh Menon Suresh Menon (born 10 January 1967) is an Indian actor, comedian and television personality. Career Menon has appeared in movies including Grand Masti, ''Phir Hera Pheri'', '' Partner'', '' Fool N Final'', '' Krazzy 4'', '' Deewane Huye Paga ...

, collaborating with them for serials and commercials. Priyan made his debut as an independent cinematographer with K. S. Adhiyaman's ''

Thotta Chinungi ''Thotta Chinungi'' is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film starring Karthik, Raghuvaran, Revathi, Devayani and Nagendra Prasad. The film was remade in Hindi as '' Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam'' (2002) by the same director. It was the Tam ...

'' (1995), before regularly associating with director Cheran in films including ''

Porkkaalam ''Porkaalam'' ( ta, பொற்காலம் ) is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Cheran. The film has Murali, Meena, Sanghavi, Rajeshwari and Vadivelu in key roles. It was later remade in Telugu, Kannada and ...

'' (1997), ''

Desiya Geetham ''Desiya Geetham'' ( National Anthem) is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Cheran. The film co-produced by R. Chandru, Abuthahir, Sathish Kumar, G. V. Suresh Kumar. The film created controversy during release and received po ...

'' (1998) and ''

Vetri Kodi Kattu ''Vetri Kodi Kattu'' () is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Cheran. The film stars starring Murali, Parthiban, Meena, and Malavika, while Vadivelu, Manorama, Anandaraj, Vijayakumar, and Charle play suppor ...

'' (1999). During the turn of the millennium, Priyan got the opportunity to work on high-profile projects including

K. S. Ravikumar K. S. Ravikumar (born 30 May 1958) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, primarily working in Tamil films. Career 1990–1997 Ravikumar worked as co-director on R. B. Choudary's production ''Pudhu Vasantham'' directe ...

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali f ...

-starrer ''

Thenali ''Thenali'' is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language comedy film co-written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Jayaram, Devayani and Jyothika, with Delhi Ganesh, Charle, Ramesh Khanna and Madhan Bob in supporting roles. I ...

'' (2000), ''

Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make ...

'' (2001) and ''

Majunu ''Majunu'' is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film directed by Ravichandran and produced by Sunanda Murali Manohar. The film stars Prashanth and Rinke Khanna with Sonu Sood, Raghuvaran, Rati Agnihotri and Vivek appearing in oth ...

'' (2001). Thereafter he has regularly collaborated in films with

Hari Hari ( sa, हरि) is among the primary epithets of the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, meaning 'the one who takes away' (sins). It refers to the one who removes darkness and illusion, the one who removes all obstacles to spiritual progres ...

and has worked on 13 movies barring ''

Venghai ''Venghai'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Hari and produced by B. Venkatarama Reddy. The film stars Dhanush and Tamannaah, while Rajkiran, Prakash Raj, and Ganja Karuppu play supporting roles. The m ...

'' (2011), where Priyan was busy working on ''

Velayudham ''Velayudham'' is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language superhero film written and directed by Mohan Raja. It stars Vijay in titular role with Genelia in the lead, while Hansika, Santhanam, Saranya Mohan, Soori, Abhimanyu Singh, and Vineet Kum ...

'' (2011).Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Filmography

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control 1964 births 2017 deaths Tamil film cinematographers People from Virudhunagar district Cinematographers from Tamil Nadu