Priyan (1964 – 9 November 2017) was an Indian cinematographer who has worked on

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

films. Beginning his career as an assistant to

Balu Mahendra Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (20 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan Tamil cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked in various Indian film industries, primarily in Tamil ...

, 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 c ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. 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 played supporting rol ...

'' (1982), ''

Olangal ''Olangal'' () is a 1982 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by Balu Mahendra. The film's plot is inspired by the 1980 Erich Segal novel '' Man, Woman and Child''. Plot Life goes on happily for the couple, Ravi and Radha, who live with t ...

'' (1982), ''

Sadma ''Sadma'' () is a 1983 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film, written and directed by Balu Mahendra. The film stars Sridevi as Nehalata Malhotra, a young woman who regresses to childhood as result of retrograde amnesia after suffering a he ...

'' (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 st ...

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

Mani Ratnam Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...

's ''

Pagal Nilavu ''Pagal Nilavu'' () is a 1985 Indian Tamil-language gangster film written and 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 police offi ...

'' (1985) and ''

Nayakan ''Nayakan'' ( ) is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language epic crime drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Produced by Muktha Srinivasan, the film stars Kamal Haasan and Saranya (in her feature debut) in the lead, with Janagaraj, Karth ...

'' (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 Tamil drama ''Bombay' ...

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 ...

, collaborating with them for serials and commercials. Priyan made his debut as an independent cinematographer with

K. S. Adhiyaman K. S. Adhiyaman is an Indian film director and producer, who has directed Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. Career Adhiyaman apprenticed under director K. Vijayan for eight films in the late 1980s, before deciding to become a film maker. After be ...

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

Porkkaalam ''Porkkaalam'' () is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Cheran. The film stars Murali, Meena and Sanghavi. It was released on 30 October 1997, Diwali, and became a huge success. The film was remade in Telugu as ''Ma ...

'' (1997), ''

Desiya Geetham ''Desiya Geetham'' ( ) is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language political drama film written and directed by Cheran. The film, co-produced by R. Chandru, Abuthahir, Sathish Kumar and G. V. Suresh Kumar, stars Murali and Rambha. It revolves around a gr ...

'' (1998) and ''

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

'' (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, film producer, screenwriter and actor who primarily works in Tamil cinema and few Telugu films. He is one of the most commercially successful directors of Indian cinema. He has won m ...

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

-starrer ''

Thenali ''Thenali'' () is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed and co-written 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 a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

'' (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 () 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 progress. The name Ha ...

and has worked on 13 movies barring ''

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

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

Velayudham ''Velayudham'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language superhero film directed by Mohan Raja and produced by V. Ravichandran under Aascar Film. It stars Vijay in the titular role with Hansika Motwani and Genelia D'Souza, while Santhanam, Sar ...

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

Filmography

References

External links

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