Venu (cinematographer)

Venugopal Pillai (born 26 January 1957), popularly known as Venu, is an Indian cinematographer and film director who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune and CMS college Kottayam. He has been the recipient of four National Film Awards, including three for Best Cinematography and one Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director, and four Kerala State Film Awards. He is a founding member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).

Personal life
Venu is the grandson of Malayalam author, Karur Neelakanta Pillai. Venu is married to Indian film editor, Beena Paul, since 26 August 1983. The couple have a daughter, Malavika, who is married to an Englishman and is the manager of the Great North Museum: Hancock.

Career
Venu graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, with a diploma in motion picture photography in 1982. He has worked as cinematographer in over 80 feature films with Mani Kaul, K G George, John Abraham, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Pamela Rooks, Padmarajan, Bharathan and M. T. Vasudevan Nair.

In 1987, Venu received his first National Film Award (jointly for Amma Ariyan and Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal). He went onto receive two more awards for Miss Beatty's Children (1993) and Ponthan Mada (1994). In 1998, he made his directorial debut with Daya, a period fiction written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. The film won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Debut Director and Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director. In 2014, he directed his second film, Munnariyippu, starring Mammootty. His latest work is Carbon, starring Fahadh Faasil.

As director

 * Daya (1998)
 * Munnariyippu (2014)
 * Carbon (2018)
 * Aanum Pennum (2021)

Awards

 * National Film Awards


 * Kerala State Film Awards
 * 1985 - Irakal - Best Cinematography
 * 1992 – Aham – Best Cinematography
 * 2003 - Margam - Best Cinematography