The key to cinematography lies in harnessing colours to evoke the underlying emotions of a scene. Colours can help express emotions and set moods that dialogue or narrative alone cannot convey. Cinematographer Parthiban’s latest film, DNA, is a thriller that differentiates itself from other films in the genre with high contrast and bright colours. Speaking about the film's visual palette, Parthiban says, “Director Nelson Venkatesan was focused on writing the script, so I had complete freedom to choose the colours, costumes, locations, and lighting for the film.” The Atharva starrer is Parthiban’s second film after the 2024 horror feature Pechi.
Despite being a high-stakes thriller, DNA shares a characteristic that is common among many of today's Tamil films: a substantial portion of the story is set at night. “I was particular in my decision not to treat the night portions with blue. Aiming for a warm tone for the film, I mostly used green and red lighting in it and trusted these colours to carry the emotions of the film.” DNA is an investigative thriller that follows the story of Anand (Atharva) and Divya (Nimisha Sajayan) in a twisted cat-and-mouse thriller as they try to find their kidnapped baby.
Beyond the thriller element in DNA, there is also romance between Anand and Divya. Discussing the film's romantic elements, Parthiban explains, “When Anand and Divya meet each other in the film and realise their mutual affection, I wanted to use different lighting than what is usually leveraged in cinema. We illuminated only those two, leaving other characters in shadow to emphasise their budding relationship.” On his process for preparing for DNA, Parthiban adds, “I went to each location in daytime and at night and studied the lighting present there. With that information in hand, I prepared detailed lighting diagrams for each scene, which helped me complete the shoot properly.”
For Parthiban, DNA marks a mere stop on a long journey of working on different films. “After graduating from Madras Film Institute in 2009, I joined director-cinematographer Vijay Milton for the test shoot of Balaji Sakthivel’s Vazhakku En 18/9. After that, I joined cinematographer Rathnavelu on the final schedule of Rajinikanth’s Enthiran,” says the cinematographer on the beginnings of his journey. He adds, “When a batchmate of mine, Gokul Benoy, secured a cinematographer role, I got to join him as an associate.” Cinematographer Gokul Benoy is a recurring collaborator of director Nelson, working on all of the director's films except for DNA. “My collaboration with Gokul extends to all of Nelson’s films, beginning with Oru Naal Koothu (2016). The path to DNA was quite unique: when Gokul was shooting Nelson's Farhana, I simultaneously handled Vidarth’s portions for Irugapatru. Then, our roles effectively swapped; when Gokul had to focus on Irugapatru, I took over cinematography for Farhana. It was this work on Farhana that ultimately led me to DNA.” On his next project, Parthiban mentions that he will be collaborating with Potential Studios, which was behind Irugaparu, for a family drama.
