Ace cinematographer for whom life itself was a work of art
Some day Hindi cinema would like to make more films like Ashok Mehta, the ace cinematographer who lost a prolonged battle with lung cancer at a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday. This was a rare, albeit fatal instance of Ashok coming off second best. Indeed, for the man who worked with the best in the business, ranging from the highly accomplished Shyam Benegal, Girish Karnad and Shekhar Kapur to the hugely popular Subhash Ghai and Anees Bazmee, life itself was a work of art. When the mood overtook him, he could caress with his lens, as he did in films like Utsav, Mandi, 36 Chowringhee Lane. When the situation demanded, he could provoke you, maybe even hurt you, as he did in Bandit Queen. All along, though, he was his own man michael kors crossbody bag, doing his own thing, his own way. Husain in Gaja Gamini, he used his camera as an accelerator for the director drive, his vision creating frames which stayed in the mind of cinegoers long after the film moved out of the theatres.
If he loved working with Husain, he was at ease working with Bazmee in No Entry, a big hit often criticised for its gutter humour. As was the case with Ghai for whom Ashok worked wonders in Khalnayak, Ram Lakhan and Kisna, etc. From the world of art to films driven by commerce, Ashok relished straddling the two worlds. All along discount michael kors store, he remained an unsung hero who brought rare aesthetics to his technique. It did not change whether he quietly seduced you with his camera in the song kyun behka re behka or teased cinegoers in ke peeche kya hai. One was lapped up by the connoisseurs, and the other by the common man. The occasion demanded the treatment. Similarly michael kors outlet, his work in 36 Chowringhee Lane was all about the interplay of light and shadow, and that in Trikaal and Mandi about making the best use of limited resources michael kors discount store. Light, camera angles, colours all whipped up a rare chemistry. Murthy and Nitin Bose in the 1950s. And by doing a No Entry or a Ram Lakhan, he defied easy definition.
Though he did