Preetha Jayaraman
Preetha Jayaraman is an Indian cinematographer. She is the niece of famous cinematographer P. C. Sreeram. Jayaraman is a gold medallist from the Film and Television Institute in Chennai and holds a Master's degree from Bond University, Australia. She is one of the first four women to be inducted into the Indian Society of Cinematographers. She is also a member of the South Indian Cinematographer's Association (SICA) and the Indian Women's Cinematographer's Collective (IWCC).[1]
Early life and education
[edit | edit source]Jayaraman earned a gold medal from the Film and Television Institute (FTI) in Chennai.[2] She began her career at age 18 as an assistant to P. C. Sreeram, working with him for five years before pursuing further education.[3] She later completed a Master's degree in Film and Television from Bond University in Australia (2000-2001), during which she received an internship with Warner Brothers during the production of Scooby-Doo (2002).[4]
Career
[edit | edit source]After completing her master's degree, Jayaraman returned to India and shot her first feature film, Knock Knock, I'm Looking to Marry (2003), in English. She came to prominence with her work on Abhiyum Naanum (2008), a Tamil family drama directed by Radha Mohan and produced by Prakash Raj.[5][6] The film was awarded Best Film by the Tamil Nadu state government for the year 2008. Jayaraman has worked extensively across multiple Indian film industries, shooting features in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam, and English. She frequently collaborates with actor-director Prakash Raj, having worked on his trilingual film Un Samayal Arayil (2014), also released as Ulavacharu Biryani in Telugu and Oggarane in Kannada.[7] She later shot Raj's Hindi directorial debut Tadka (2022). Her notable works include Vaanam Kottatum (2020), produced by Madras Talkies, Hey Sinamika (2022) in Tamil, and Dhoomam (2023) in Malayalam. In 2025, she worked as one of three cinematographers on the coming-of-age drama Bad Girl, directed by Varsha Bharath, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.[8] Beyond feature films, Jayaraman has extensive experience shooting television commercials, music videos, short films, and documentaries. Her commercial work includes campaigns for major brands such as ICICI Bank, Britannia, Titan, and Apple. She shot the popular music video "Teri Deewani" (2007) for singer Kailash Kher.[9]
Filmography
[edit | edit source]| Year | Title | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Knock Knock, I'm Looking to Marry | English | |
| 2007 | Kannamoochi Yenada | Tamil | |
| 2008 | Abhiyum Naanum | Tamil | |
| 2009 | Aakasamantha | Telugu | |
| 2011 | Aidondla Aidu | Kannada | 1 of 5 cinematographers |
| 2013 | Gouravam | Tamil Telugu |
|
| 2014 | Ulavacharu Biryani Un Samayal Arayil Oggarane |
Telugu Tamil Kannada |
|
| 2015 | Boxer | Kannada | |
| 2019 | The Fakir of Venice | Hindi | [10] |
| Aadi Lakshmi Puraana | Kannada | [11] | |
| 2020 | Vaanam Kottatum | Tamil | [12] |
| 2021 | Hey Sinamika | Tamil | |
| Badava Rascal | Kannada | ||
| 2022 | Tadka | Hindi | |
| 2023 | Dhoomam | Malayalam | |
| Baanadariyalli | Kannada | Story writer [13] | |
| 2025 | Bad Girl | Tamil | Cinematography alongside Jagadeesh Ravi and Prince Anderson[14] |
Awards and recognition
[edit | edit source]| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Karnataka State Award | Excellence in Cinematography | Won | |
| 2019 | Wonder Women Awards[15] | Best Cinematography | Won | |
| 2020 | Inspirational Global Woman Award | Cinematography | Won | |
| 2021 | JFW Movie Awards[16] | Best Cinematographer | Vaanam Kottatum | Won |
References
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