User:Abushah cinematographer/sandbox

I was born in Karaikal, in the beautiful state of Pondicherry. For every boy, his father would be his biggest hero and source of inspiration. And needless to say, my passion towards cinema was inherited from none other but my father - Mohammad Abu Backer, who belonged to the film fraternity. This is the reason I have added his name in my front, and have been known as Abu Shah.

My father passed out from the 'School of Arts' in 1948, and worked as an Assistant Art Director for the film 'Deva Sundhari' which was taken in five languages and introduced Prem Nazeer as hero in Malayalam, Saroja Devi in Kannada, and T R Mahalingam in Tamil. Unfortunately, 'Deva Sundari' was dropped and never saw the light of the day. Due to parental and other pressures, he was forced into married life, which required him to give up his film ambitions and he remained a still photographer and wrapper designer.

My earliest tryst with science of photography began when I used to project negatives on the wall with the help of a carton box, magnifying glass, mirror and the sun, entertaining my friends from the neighborhood. In my 7th standard I would carry a 110mm camera with me to school to take pictures with a focus on landscapes, silhouettes, children and portraits. I took a further plunge into photography by enrolling in classes without my parents' knowledge. At one stage I even discontinued my course in Aeronautics, and went on to pursue a diploma in video and film technology in a Private Institute.

On completing my diploma in 1995 I joined S.Muthu Ganesh as an assistant and worked for two of his movies - 'Kalloori Vaasal', and 'Nethaji I continued my cinematography pursuits with a host of projects in corporate videos, commercials, music videos, international documentaries, travelogues. I would reckon Vaishnavi Films of Prabhu Nepal and Kutty Padmini as my pavilion, and practice ground for daily soap operas.

My first big break was in 2007, when I had the opportunity to work as cinematographer for Naayaghan featuring JK Ritheesh, directed by Sharavana Sakthi. My recent project was Kadhai, directed by Abishek, featuring Shaan. I am currently working on Vaanara Saenai, which is my third project with director Sharavana Sakthi.