B. R. Vijayalakshmi Biography 
B. R. Vijayalakshmi is a well-known cinematographer and film director in Indian film industry, who is credited as Asia's first woman cinematographer. She is the daughter of acclaimed filmmaker and actor, B. R. Panthulu. She works in south Indian film industry, predominantly with Tamil cinema. As a cinematographer she marked her debut with Tamil movie, Chinna Veedu (1985), and later scripted and directed a few movies as well. As a film director, her most recent release is Malayalam-Tamil bilingual, Abhiyum Anuvum starring Tovino Thomas and Piaa Bajpai in lead roles. She has also scripted Daddy (1992 Malayalam film), directed by Sangeeth Sivan.
She was born into a filmy family, with strong art background. She is the daughter of B. R. Panthulu, best known for directing films in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi in the classic era. Her brother B.R. Ravishankar is also a film director, though not as successful as their father. Interestingly Vijayalakshmi was an interior designer before she joined film industry. She along with her brother has been instrumental in developing the romantic relationship between acclaimed director Maniratnam and actress Suhasini, which paved way to their marriage.
Though she wanted to do a cinematography course before stepping into film industry, she started off as an assistant under cinematographer Ashok Kumar, who advised her to learn from experience than academic course. She joined Ashok Kumar in the 1980 Tamil film Nenjathai Killathe, and in the next three years she worked as an assistant in around 30 movies. She turned a full-fledged cinematographer through K. Bhagyaraj's Chinna Veedu in 1985. When she handled the camera work for this movie, history was born. She became the first Asian cinematographer. She also worked in television industry later.
Published: October 30, 2018
Updated: October 30, 2018
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