R. D. Rajasekhar

R. D. Rajasekhar is an Indian cinematographer who predominantly works in films of Indian languages such as Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi. He is a recipient of the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Cinematographer and Filmfare Award for Best Cinematographer – Tamil. He is the member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).

Early career
After graduating, Rajasekhar found work as an assistant cinematographer, working under Rajiv Menon for about nine years in many advertisement films.

Feature film
Rajasekhar's debut was in 2001, with the romantic drama Minnale. The camerawork of the advertisement films impressed his former colleague and frequent collaborator, Gautham Vasudev Menon. The film was well received and became extremely popular amongst the youth. Subsequently, Rajasekhar and Gautham vasudev menon teamed up again for the crime thriller, Kaakha Kaakha (2003). It was highly praised for its unique style of visuals and scenic views through the lens, which Rajasekhar achieved through a process known as Bleach bypass, where the silver is retained in the print, creating a washed-outlook that reflected in films. He followed it up with the remake of Kaakha Kaakha, Gharshana (2004), and Manmadhan (2004), which were received well amongst the audience.

In 2005, Rajasekhar began his collaboration with A. R. Murugadoss, which started with Ghajini. It earned him huge recognition and awards for the cinematography. Rajasekhar spent two months fine-tuning the look and de-saturating the overall images. It won him the Best Cinematographer award at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards in 2005 and was nominated for the Best Cinematographer award in Filmfare Awards South, in 2006.

He made his Malayalam debut with 4 the People (2004). He reunited with A. R. Murugadoss for Akira (2016), the remake of Mouna Guru, having previously worked on Ghajini.

Awards and recognitions
He had been nominated for Filmfare Awards South for Best Cinematographer in 2004, winning the Best Cinematographer on his first Filmfare Awards South in 2003 for Kaakha Kaakha. He also received award from prestigious Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Cinematographer for film Ghajini. He shot Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018), for which he won Best Cinematographer in SIIMA Award for Best Cinematographer - Tamil in the same year after the release.