KK Senthil’s collaboration with SS Rajamouli goes back 20 years. The cinematographer is responsible for the blockbusters Sye, Magadheera, Eega, Baahubali: The Beginning, Baahubali: The Conclusion and RRR. The duo will come together again for the upcoming adventure drama SSMB 29. In a new interview, the cinematographer shed light on his long-standing relationship with the director and how it was difficult for him to get on board with Rajamouli’s school of filmmaking initially. 

KK Senthil on why he did not agree with Rajamouli’s larger-than-life vision 

In an interview with Film Companion, the RRR cinematographer KK Senthil praised Rajamouli and revealed how he came on board with the director’s vision initially being against it. He recalled coming from a school of thought where ‘logic’ took presence over mass entertainers, but Rajamouli stated otherwise. He said, “I come from a film school where we look at things like logic and that films have to look a certain way, and all that. Getting into mass entertainment movies was a bit difficult for me to digest initially.”

He then stated the reason that got him to change his way of thinking. He asserted, “When I saw how audiences were reacting to it and perceiving it, I changed the way I looked at cinema. I gave into the kind of films he (Rajamouli) wanted to make and that’s how our collaborations started to work. Given the technology and the budget we have for our films, anything and everything is possible.” 

He gives complete freedom to think wild: RRR cinematographer on SS Rajamouli 

In the same conversation, Senthil revealed what works in SS Rajamouli’s movies. The cinematographer asserted that the larger-than-life sequences work for these films because the filmmaker gives the liberty to technicians to make decisions. He commented, “He gives complete freedom to think wild and come up with anything. Then it is up to us to make it work. Then we brainstorm how to achieve it. Whether we do it with CGI or practically and all that.”

He cited the example of a scene in Baahubali and detailed how the director pieced the scenes together with the help of technology to bring out the grandeur. Senthil will collaborate with Rajamouli again in the Mahesh Babu-starrer movie referred to as SSMB29.