Soundar Rajan is an Indian

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

who has worked in the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

, Telugu and Malayalam film industries.

Early life

Soundar Rajan was born in

Uthiramerur Uthiramerur is a panchayat town in Kancheepuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is situated 90 km south west of Chennai, the capital of Tamilnadu. It is noted for its temple inscriptions that describe a self-governance system ...

, Tamil Nadu to Saranathan and Chandra. His childhood days were spent in

Kancheepuram Kanchipuram ('; ) also known as ''Conjeevaram,'' is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''City of Thousand Temples'', Kanchipuram is known for its temple ...

. He graduated with

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Visual Communications from Loyola College.

Career

Soundar Rajan completed a degree in Visual Communications at

Loyola College, Chennai Loyola College is a private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the French Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other European Jesuits. It is an auto ...

before approaching

P. C. Sreeram P. C. Sreeram ISC (born 26 January 1956) is an Indian cinematographer and film director who works in Indian films. He is also the president of Qube Cinemas, a digital cinema technology company. He is an alumnus of the Madras Film Institute. ...

for work experience. Sreeram recommended him to

K. V. Anand Karimanal Venkatesan Anand (30 October 1966 30 April 2021) was an Indian cinematographer, film director and photojournalist, worked mainly in the Tamil film industry. After a short period as a journalist, he became a cinematographer in the e ...

, who accepted him as an assistant, and they subsequently worked on films including ''

Nerukku Ner ''Nerrukku Ner'' () is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Ratnam. The film stars Vijay, Suriya, Simran, and Kausalya, while Raghuvaran, Shanthi Krishna, Baby Jennifer, Karan ...

'' (1997), ''

Mudhalvan ''Mudhalvan'' () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language political action thriller film produced by R. Madhesh and S. Shankar, written and directed by Shankar. The film stars Arjun, Manisha Koirala and Raghuvaran while Vadivelu and Manivannan appear in ...

'' (1999) and ''

Josh Josh is a masculine given name, frequently a diminutive (hypocorism) of the given names Joshua or Joseph, though since the 1970s, it has increasingly become a full name on its own. It may refer to: People A–J * "Josh", an early pseudonym of S ...

'' (2000), before continuing as an apprentice till ''

Khakee ''Khakee'' (English translation: The Uniform) is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir action thriller film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and written by Santoshi and Sridhar Raghavan. The story revolves around an Indian police team on a mi ...

'' (2004). Soundar Rajan made his debut as a lead cinematographer with ''

Sukran ''Sukran'' is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written, produced and directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. The film stars Vijay in an extended cameo as the title character with Ravi Krishna and Anita Hassanandani. The music was co ...

'' (2005), before going on to work on ''

Kana Kandaen ''Kana Kandaen'' () is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language thriller film directed by K. V. Anand in his directorial debut, and produced by P. L. Thenappan. The film stars Srikanth, Prithviraj, Gopika, and Vivek. The music was composed by Vidyasagar w ...

'' (2005), directed by his mentor K. V. Anand. He was also given an opportunity by director

Shankar Shankar may refer to: People * Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist *S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar * San ...

to shoot

Chimbu Deven Chimbu Devan is an Indian film director also known as a writer, cartoonist, and screenwriter. His films mostly explore the fantasy and historical genres and also comedy. He debuted with the historical comedy-drama film Imsai Arasan 23 M Pulike ...

's ''

Arai En 305-il Kadavul ''Arai En 305-il Kadavul'' () is a 2008 Tamil-language fantasy comedy film directed by Chimbu Deven, who earlier directed ''Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikecei'', starring Vadivelu. A remake of the 2003 Hollywood film '' Bruce Almighty'', the film stars ...

'' (2008). He is an acclaimed ad film cinematographer with more than 3000 ad films to his credit. He has since worked on Telugu films including the fantasy film, ''

Anaganaga O Dheerudu ''Once Upon a time there was a warrior'' () is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language fantasy adventure film written and directed by Prakash Kovelamudi in his first mainstream film. It is produced by Walt Disney Pictures with veteran director K. Raghaven ...

'' (2011), where he worked extensively on visual effects for the first time. Soundar Rajan also then continued work on Tamil films including a collaboration with Anand again in ''

Maattrraan ''Maattrraan'' () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film co-written and directed by K. V. Anand and produced by Kalpathi S. Aghoram, S. Ganesh and S. Suresh under the banner AGS Entertainment. It stars Suriya in dual roles, along ...

'' (2012), where

Suriya Saravanan Sivakumar (born 23 July 1975), known by his stage name Suriya, is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter and a philanthropist. He primarily works in Tamil cinema where he is one of the highest paid actors. He received numerou ...

portrayed conjoined twins and the crew used up to five different techniques to get the desired illusion on screen. He also won critical acclaim for his work in the bilingual ''

Vaayai Moodi Pesavum ''Vaayai Moodi Pesavum'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language satirical romantic comedy film directed by Balaji Mohan. Produced by Varun Manian and S. Sashikanth under their respective production houses, Radiance Media Group and YNOT Studios ...

'' (2014) for his depiction of a fictional hill town. In 2017, he won critical acclaim for his work in

Lakshman Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...

's action film ''

Bogan Bogan ( ) is Australian slang for a person whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour are considered unrefined or unsophisticated. Depending on the context, the term can be pejorative or self-deprecating. The prevalence of the term bogan ...

''.

Personal life

Soundar Rajan married Anusha on 11 December 2005. They have two children.

Filmography

As cinematographer

As guest cinematographer

As associate cinematographer

As actor

* ''

'' (2017)

Behind the Scenes

* '' Goutham Nanda'' * ''

Romeo Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet or Romeo & Juliet may also refer to: Ballets * ''Romeo and Juliet'' (Prokofiev), a 1935 ballet score by Sergei Prokofiev and choreographed by Leonid Lavrovsky and with Ko ...

'' * ''

Isai ''Isai'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language musical psychological thriller film co-produced, written, directed and composed by S. J. Suryah, making his comeback as a director after a 10-year hiatus since 2005. The film stars himself in the lead ...

'' * ''

Bengal Tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the ''Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The tiger is estimated to have been present in ...

''- Raaye Raaye song * ''

Charlie Chaplin 2 ''Charlie Chaplin 2'' is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by Shakthi Chidambaram. The film stars Prabhu Deva, Nikki Galrani and Prabhu. The film is a sequel to 2002 film '' Charlie Chaplin''. The music for the film is s ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soundar Rajan Living people Malayalam film cinematographers Telugu film cinematographers Tamil film cinematographers People from Kanchipuram district 21st-century Indian photographers Cinematographers from Tamil Nadu 1976 births