2025 has so far been a special year for cinematographer Jithin Stanislaus, as it has seen him venture into new territories within his favourite realm of cinema. While his first release of the year, Kerala Crime Files (KCF) season 2, marked his foray into production, Jithin made his Tamil debut just a month later with 3BHK. "It has been a fantastic couple of months, but it's only now that I'm getting to process it properly. I was off to Chennai the next day after KCF 2 release, and when people were trying to reach me to congratulate me, I was busy with 3BHK's grading work. With 3BHK out on OTT now, I'm finally going through all the responses, and it's been heartening."

Even though KCF 2 and 3BHK were released back-to-back, both are completely contrasting in terms of genre, mood, and treatment. While KCF 2 is a thrilling police investigation story, 3BHK is about a middle-class family's struggles to own a home. Jithin, who loves experimenting with different genres, had an interesting time adapting to the demands of both projects. "We started 3BHK  when there was still a schedule left for KCF 2. Both these projects demanded different working styles. KCF 2 is my fourth collaboration with Ahammed (Khabeer), and we have always been strong with pre-production. Almost 80 per cent of the work is done during that stage, and the rest is about executing it. It's a meticulously planned process where we're all on the same page. In Tamil, though, we can't always expect that. 3BHK was shot across multiple schedules because of the different looks we had to achieve and the fact that we had two big stars involved. There will be a lot of changes from what was originally planned, and you'll have to be equipped enough to adapt accordingly."

Jithin is no stranger to the Tamil film industry as his cinema journey kick-started there. After graduating from LV Prasad College of Media Studies, he started assisting cinematographer Om Prakash in films like Maari, Kashmora, and in several ad films. With ample experience in both industries, Jithin says, "It felt nice to be back. Compared to Malayalam, the workload is much less in Tamil. You are mostly expected to work only till 6 PM, and there won't be shooting on Sundays. And since I studied in Chennai, language was also never a barrier."

Jithin has often been lauded for the pleasant, vibrant visuals he produces in feel-good dramas, as evident in June and Madhuram. 3BHK's director Sri Ganesh wanted exactly that—a "Malayala padam feel"— for his heartwarming family drama. With Jithin's frames in Madhuram as reference, the director was looking for cinematographers and eventually decided to find someone from the Malayalam industry itself. "Being a big fan of Madhuram, Sri wanted 3BHK to have a similar look and feel. He enquired with Abhinav Sunder Nayak, the director of Mukundan Unni Associates, if there was someone who could replicate the Madhuram style of making. That's when Abhinav suggested approaching me directly."

One of the most striking features of 3BHK is how the film treats the house as a character. As the story progresses, we see the family moving to different houses, each time to a bigger, better space. But their quest to find a house they can call home faces numerous roadblocks. As a cinematographer, Jithin says the idea of treating the house as a character and capturing the family's struggles from its perspective was exciting. "We show four different houses in the film, and each of them has distinct characteristics. From the amount of light that enters the house to the colour palette, everything was planned before going on the floors. Since I've also lived in Chennai, I'm familiar with the interiors of houses there and the interesting colours they use, which we normally don't see in Kerala. In the film, you can notice shades of green in the first two houses and blue in the third. By the time they move into the fourth house, they are slightly stable, but things are still not bright enough, so we used an off-white colour. It is their final 3BHK house that gets an all white and bright look, signifying the realisation of a long-cherished dream."

The challenges were different in KCF 2. Firstly, it's the second season of an already successful series, also shot by Jithin. Second, the responsibilities of a co-producer and collaborating with a writer, who is also a cinematographer. "Bahul is my junior from college, and I've always seen the spark in his writing. He hardly interfered in cinematography, but obviously, he would visualise scenes in a certain way, which may not align with my vision. Since we are also good friends, we had the space to exchange our ideas." Production, Jithin says, was not a sudden decision. "Ahammed and I wanted to produce the first season itself, but Hotstar wanted the project to begin immediately, and we weren't yet ready for it. We mainly wanted to have all the control with us to make quick decisions and function freely."

We usually see web shows maintaining a distinct visual treatment, but Jithin says he was not keen on following a tried-and-tested approach. Explaining his rationale, he says, "I didn't want to retain a similar tone because the emotions communicated in both seasons are different. With the grading done by the same person, we could still achieve the feel of a follow-up season. It's also easier to fix a colour palette for an investigation story like this, because the predominant colour is anyway khaki."

If it was framing the house in 3BHK, what challenged Jithin the most in KCF 2 was executing the scenes with the dogs. Some of the best moments in the show feature dogs, and Jithin knew it wouldn't be easy filming them. "It's not like one or two shots. There are lengthy sequences featuring them, both individually and as a group, and it shouldn't look amateurish. Thankfully, we had a talented trainer who got all the dogs trained in two months. The key is to be patient with them and not expect instant results. We were most anxious about the tail wagging scene in the climax, and shot it continuously for three days. We would shoot that scene every day early in the morning and just before sunset, but as it turned out, the first take was still the best."

After KCF 2, Jithin is once again collaborating with Ahammed Khabeer for a film starring Tamil actor Arjun Das. There's also Nivin Pauly's Dolby Dineshan, to be directed by Thamar KV, with whom Jithin had previously worked on 1001 Nunakal. "Ahammed's film is a romcom, which I feel is comparatively easier for me. I don't know why, but I feel, as a team, we are good with romcoms. Dolby Dineshan is a fantasy comedy, which I haven't attempted before. We're still figuring out the dates for both of these projects."

While he is all for recurring collaborations, Jithin says the driving factor is always the story. "I'm not very particular that every project should pose some new challenge for me. I'm fine even with repeating genres as far as I find the story appealing. When I'm offered a project, I'm not looking for what's there for me to do in it, but what I can contribute to make it better. It's not the number of fights or songs or new locations that excite me; it's always the story. Doesn't matter if it's mainstream or offbeat."