RD Mathur
Rameshwar Dayal Mathur (* 1914 or 1915 ; † April 26, 2001 in New Delhi ) was an Indian cameraman and director.
Life
Mathur studied at St. Stephens College in Delhi and was encouraged by his father to pursue his hobby, photography. He studied portrait photography, advertising photography and film development for six months at the prestigious New York Institute of Photography and Cinematography, after which he spent an equally long time in Hollywood doing an internship at MGM and Fox Films.
In 1934/35 he came back to India and successfully applied to the new film company Bombay Talkies . Himansu Rai provided Mathur with the German cameraman Josef Wirsching as an assistant and commissioned him to develop the film. When the German employees at Bombay Talkies were no longer allowed to be employed at the beginning of the Second World War and after Rai's death in 1940, Mathur was assigned to Amiya Chakravarty's directing unit as cameraman . He filmed the Chakraborty films Anjaan (1941) with Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar , Basant (1942) and Jwar Bhata (1944) - Dilip Kumar's debut film .
In the mid-1940s RD met Mathur Karimuddin Asif , who was planning a large film project about a story at the court of the great mogul Akbar I. However, work on this quickly came to a halt when the producer Siraj Ali migrated to Pakistan. Mathur turned to his own projects and made his directorial debut Gajre in 1948 with Suraiya and Motilal as stars, in 1950 Magroor with Meena Kumari in the lead role and in 1953 Aaghosh with Nutan .
Meanwhile, filming began again for Asif's courtesan story Mughal-e-Azam , which eventually became Mathur's most important camera work. The biggest technical challenge was the recordings for the songs Jab Pyaar Kiya to Darna Kya and Jab Raat Hai Aisi Matwali in the “Sheesh Mahal” hall of mirrors - at the same time Mathur's first color recordings - which was solved by indirect lighting and numerous reflectors. He received a Filmfare Award for Best Cinematography for Mughal-e-Azam in 1961 . Of Mathur's subsequent projects with Asif, only Love and God 1986 was published in the incomplete version, in which the project was left behind when Asif died in 1971.
In 1968 he filmed the thuggee drama Sangharsh with Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala, directed by Harnam Singh Rawail . After the death of his teacher Josef Wirsching, Mathur took over his camera position while filming Kamal Amrohis Pakeezah , where he filmed the romantic song Chalo Dildar Chalo , among other things .
In the 70s and 80s Mathur worked again for Amrohi ( Razia Sultan , 1983) and otherwise mainly shot with Asif's former assistant Sultan Ahmed.
RD Mathur died in New Delhi in 2001 at the age of 86.
Filmography
- 1941: Anjaan
- 1942: Basant
- 1943: Hamari Baat
- 1944: Jwar Bhata
- 1945: Pratima
- 1948: Gajre (also director)
- 1950: Magroor (also director)
- 1951: Madhosh
- 1953: Aaghosh (also director)
- 1960: Mughal-e-Azam
- 1968: Sangharsh
- 1972: Pakeezah
- 1973: Heera
- 1978: Ganga Ki Saugand
- 1982: Dharam Kanta
- 1983: Razia Sultan
- 1986: Love and God
- 1989: Daata
- 1995: Jai Vikranta
Web links
- RD Mathur in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- detailed biography (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://rrtd.nic.in/fbmay2k1.htm (at the bottom of the page)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mathur, RD |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mathur, Rameshwar Dayal (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Indian cameraman and director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1914 or 1915 |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 26, 2001 |
| Place of death | New Delhi |