Karthik Gattamneni has predominantly been a cinematographer in the Telugu film industry for the past 10 years. Albeit making his directorial debut with Nikhil Siddarth’s Surya vs Surya (2015), he continued to work as a cinematographer for many films like Ninnu Korri (2017), Disco Raja (2020) and Karthikeya 2 (2022). After seven years, he is back on the director's chair with Eagle, starring Ravi Teja in the lead. Ahead of the film's release on February 9th, the director talks about making a “realistic mass film.”
Karthik points out that the preparation and pre-production process is crucial for making action sequences at a massive scale. “Prep became a necessity because we had to shoot major portions in Poland. I didn’t speak the language so I had to make storyboards and then 3D visualisations to just communicate.” He further explains the differences in the styles of production in India and Poland, “In Poland, they do a tech recce, then a staging recce and then shoot…because they are so organised they always stay with the schedule; if we say 3 days, it will be 3 days.” Even weather prediction systems in Poland are accurate. “If they say the rain will stop for 2 minutes, it will actually stop. This is not the case in India,” Karthik says, adding that the Indian style of production though gives space for spontaneity which is not possible there.
Being a cinematographer himself, Karthik says he looks for someone who is focused on the narrative while lensing the film. “I go with the cinematographer who is more keen on the storytelling and less about technicalities. Maybe I am like that as a cinematographer and I try to search for myself there.” Speaking about the visual aesthetic of the film, he says, “I was not so focused on the look of the film, I was more worried about the storytelling aspect. Moreover, the film started to get its own look without us force-fitting something.” But what he instead focused majorly on is making action seem real. “We used 7 different cameras in the film depending on the requirement. We tried interesting ways to show action, we used long shots constantly and other techniques like the bullet camera. The action will seem real…it is not the typical kind of masala action.”
Karthik wanted to work with Ravi Teja after collaborating with him as a cinematographer for Disco Raja. “I saw the intensity in the eyes when I worked with him and I wanted to use that side of him for Eagle.” When asked if Ravi Teja had any issues playing his age, Karthik says, “After I explained to him the character's entire arc, he had no issues and it made sense to him. Ravi Teja sir in fact stays updated when it comes to all kinds of experimental films around the world. He even gives good suggestions when I tell him any idea.”