These are the people who, in spite of toiling tirelessly, don't get the kind of limelight that personalities in front of the camera do. And its time that their stories are told too.
Ashok Mehta, is an old hand at direction of photography. He has been a part of the industry for the last 38 years. He has worked with veteran filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Aparna Sen, Girish Karnad, Shekhar Kapur, MF Husain, Subhash Ghai and many others.
The Beginning of a Dream
Mehta ran away from home in Delhi when he was just 13 years old. Fascinated by films, I came to Mumbai and I had made up my mind to not return unless I made it in this industry, But I had no idea how to enter the film industry and hence to survive I took up every job that came my way. I sold eggs, water melons, worked as a peon...anything that came my way. Finally, I got to work as a canteen boy at a studio called Shrikant in Chembur.”
Mehta was soon promoted to office boy of the studio office. He recalls, “The studio production team always needed help and I have worked in all the different departments - from clothes to carpentry to tailoring. Finally I got to work in the lights department and I loved it. I worked my way up in that department and was finally offered my first movie as a director of photography.”
This break came after nine years of struggle. Mehta's first film, Witness starred Shashi Kapoor, Rakhi and Kader Khan. But the movie never saw light of day.
But this was not such a big hurdle as offers started pouring in steadily. Apart from being the director of photography for innumerable films, he also tried his hand at advertising. He made his directorial debut with Moksha in 2001, starring Arjun Rampal, but that didn't really work at the box office.
He has won two National awards in 1982 for 36 Chowringhee Lane and also in 2001 for Moksha. He bagged the Film Fare award in 2001 again for his film Moksha.A few of Ashok’s best movies include 36 Chowringhee Lane directed by Aparna Sen, Bandit Queen directed by Shekhar Kapur and and many others.
Mehta brought the play of light and shadow to Bollywood cinematography. He experimented with different kinds of lighting and camera angles and showed the audiences some fantastic visuals that they hadn't seen earlier.
At 65, he leads more or less a retired life as times have changed and there are not many offers coming his way. He says, “Ups and downs are a part and parcel of life. One needs to learn them to take it in their stride.” Someone who has struggled for nine long years should know.
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