"THE CAMERAMAN IS AN UNSUNG HERO"

Working behind the lens in the Indian media industry since past 25 years, NARENDRA NATH GUDAVALLI is currently a senior cameraman in NDTV.

Having covered assignments all over the globe, from the Taliban war in Afghanistan and the civil war in Sri lanka to the attack on twin towers and the demolition of Babri masjid, and from the riots in Gujarat and the naxalism in Andhra to the earthquake in Bhuj and the Tsunami in South India; NARENDRA is undoubtedly one of the most widely experienced cameramen in the Indian media.

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In an exclusive interview, Narendra talks about the life and times of a cameraman to Amit Meena.

Q. How do you think has the Indian media evolved in the past 25 years?
- At the beginning, people experimented, which led to inventions and everyone else is following till date. I will tell you an example. In AAJ TAK, Ajay Chaudhary used to tell Deepak Chaurasia, "Deepak, go get this byte" and this is how the term 'byte' was invented. There was no byte technology earlier but look, today even after 15 years we are effectively using the same.

Q. You started your career way back in the 90's. How differently did the camera department worked back then?
- In those days leaders used to know us by face. One incident, once I was travelling with Rajiv Gandhi, following him in Amethi. Sonia and Rajiv were sitting on a stage. I climbed up the stage, I took a shot and was about to get down, ‘Gentleman can you please come here?’ he called me. I said, ’Yeah, for what? Did I make a mistake by climbing on the stage?’ I asked “No, who is the crew?” he asked. I said” Observer news channel.’ Then he told Sonia Gandhi that we were from observer news channel. They used to enquire, know about what is going on, who is who.

Q. - How is the relationship between camera person and the politicians now? Has it become too much crowded?
- When I joined NDTV in 1994, there were only two cameramen and now there are eighteen. No-one recognizes a cameraman, the anchor and reporters are much better known. Earlier even Rajiv Gandhi could recognize me. Once, Rajiv went to travel by second class train for the first time in his life. With the heavy low band camera it was very difficult to show that he was travelling by a train. I told my assistant to catch me and with my one leg hanging in the air I took a very beautiful shot with Rajiv Gandhi sitting and the people waving, luckily the train was in a bend so I could get the train also. That became a very famous shot those days.

Then Rajiv called me, ’please get in or you will hit the pole outside.' Then his bodyguard Pradeep Gupta helped me and gave me chilled mineral water to drink. Can you imagine such a thing happening in the present times? I felt so bad when Rajiv and P.K.Gupta died.

Q. You had covered the Babri masjid incident. Tell us about it ?
- In the Babri Masjid incident, we had done a lot of research. We made friends with local journalists and local police. On the fifth night, I, Seema Chushti, Shyam, our sound recordist and my assistant Ganesh were all there. At 2 in the morning we were near Babri Maszid but could not take any shot till morning. The next day curfew was on and then out of nowhere people appeared on the structure and started breaking it. It took couple of minutes to realize what was happening. I picked the camera and took some shots. One guy who had warned me earlier, came back and hit my camera. It broke the lens.

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I got up and started running. My sound recorder was with me but rest two guys were missing. I had no idea where my reports were, where my assistant was. There were women standing armed with bricks and chili powder. The angry mob incredibly brought down the whole structure in just a few hours. Finally after 3-4 hours someone told us that Seema was hidden in a temple. I told Shyam to go get her. They were in love that time. So in a way, I helped Leila - Majnu reunite.

Q. What kind of special instructions were given to camera persons those days and how was that different from what we are seeing today?
- Earlier, the producer used to talk directly to us. When I used to go out, Radhika used to discuss the whole story with me. When I was in Sri Lana, she used to call me and ask, 'What kind of shots did you get?" I personally knew her very well. Things have changed now.

Q. What kind of changes did you see in the camera technology and which cameras do you use nowadays?
- Earlier we used to have the very bulky cable cameras. Then the UVW100 came. Earlier, 5-6 tapes were used in recording a byte but now it has become much simpler.
Currently, we are using Panasonic P2. Mics have become much easier now. Also, It gives the advantage of using both tapes and chips. That's why it is called P2, plug- in 2.

Q. What changes have you seen in the style of story reporting?
- Nowadays, we do short stories and hence, don't go deep into it. Earlier, long stories were done and we used to spend a lot of time on one story. Only strictly required shots are taken now and that's it. There is no time for a beautiful sunset and an amazing sunrise.

Q. With everything so glamorized, people want to become reporter but not cameraman?
- That's true. Not many want to become cameraman nowadays. They think it is a low class profession, but they don’t know the beauty of it.

Q. Are cameramen unsung heroes or do they get some credit as well?
- None of them gets any credit. They are all unsung heroes. For instance - We were covering a story in a Afghan village and were not allowed to get inside the mosque. So I gave the camera to a villager and told him to get whatever shots possible.

And then again, we were not allowed to get into the Coast city. I called a peon, he knew little hindi, I knew a little farsi, so I made him understand what I wanted. I taught him some basic camera handling and get whatever shots of the city. Soon the curfew started but he came back with a few shots. You see, if you cannot shoot, that does not mean that you cannot get the shots. The story won an award but for the reporter and not me.