Mumbai cinematographer

Asian laurel for Mumbai cinematographer

The Asian Television Awards (ATA) 2014 were announced recently and Mumbai-based cinematographer Veerdhaval Puranik won the best cinematography award. The Pune-born technical ace was in Egypt checking out locations for an upcoming project, when the awards were presented in Singapore.

Puranik says, “I have been in the industry since 2000 and have worked on a number of travel shows as well as historical shows. At the Cannes Film Festival, Buddha, the serial for which I won the award was screened. The ATA members saw it and asked the serial makers to send it for the awards.”

Interestingly, Puranik’s was the only category where the serial was nominated. Speaking about Buddha, Puranik says, “A weekly show allows for more scale and scope to explore camera angles and movement. In a historic show, I feel I am able to do more and show my talents better. The vision of Buddha as a serial was very clear and that helped me work better.”

The makers of the serial collected the award on Puranik’s behalf in Singapore. He says, “This award has given me a nice pat on the back, and is very encouraging. My work is my passion, but getting an Asia-level award is a great feeling, too.”