Marcus Bartley Biography 
Marcus Bartley is a national award winning cinematographer of Indian film industry, best known for his work for Malayalam’s all-time best movie - Chemmeen. This camera magician was an amateur photographer during his school days who later joined Times of India in 1935 as press photographer. But later he moved to movies. He has been a master of shots under the moonlight. He received National award for best cinematographer for the Tamil movie, Shanti Nilayam in 1969, a musical film based on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. He received gold medal at the International Film Festival held at Cannes for best cinematography for the highly acclaimed and legendary Malayalam movie Chemmeen. The film was included in the list of 100 greatest Indian films by IBN Live.
He was an Anglo-Indian born in the year 1917. His association with film industry started in Chennai when he joined Pragati Studios. His maiden film as a cinematographer was Swarga Seema in 1945. It is the first Telugu film to be screened at the International Film Festival, Vietnam and Bartley’s work on black and white film was well-appreciated. Since then he has been associated with famous film makers of Telugu like BN Reddy, KV Reddy, and Nagi Reddy.
Yogi Vemana, Guna Sundari Katha, Shavukaru, Patala Bhairavi, Pellichesi Chudu, Chandraharam, Missamma, Maya Bazaar, Appuchesi Pappukudu, Gundamma Katha and Shri Rajeswari Vilas Coffee Club were noticed for his camera work. A few camera tricks are also associated with Marcus Bartley’s works of which some need special mention. The evergreen song Lahiri, lahiri lo shot at a studio in the noon included Marcus’ masterpiece work of cooperating moonlight, the first Indian movie to do so. His trick photography in ‘Pathala Bhairavi’ is worth remembering too.
Published: N/A
Updated: July 23, 2014
.jpeg "Lakshmi Menon (actress)")
