KV Anand, the Tamil cinematographer, and director, died after suffering a cardiac arrest early on Friday at a private hospital in Chennai.
He was 54.
According to film industry tracker Ramesh Bala, Anand’s wife and daughter tested positive for Covid-19 about two weeks ago and have isolated themselves. He said that Anand recently tested positive for the virus and had been complaining of breathlessness. The filmmaker was admitted to the hospital where he died.
Shocked and broken by the untimely demise of #KVAnand A Great loss to Indian cinema #RIPKVAnand! Miss you my friend! Your warmth and smile will always linger in my mind as the frames and films you made will be remembered by all the film makers and students pic.twitter.com/chhO9P65br
— Rajiv Menon (@DirRajivMenon) April 30, 2021
Born and educated in Chennai, Anand received his undergraduate degree in physics from DG Vaishnav College and a postgraduate degree in Visual Communications from Loyola College. Anand started his career as a photojournalist and worked as a freelancer for publications like Kalki, and India Today.
In an earlier interview with Silverscreen India, Anand had said that he was inspired by American photographer Ansel Adams’ works, and was not too fond of digital photography. “You share your work with a lot of people; there’s colour correction, post-production, and other work that goes in after shoot. It’s all instinctive,” he had said.
Anand debuted as a cinematographer in the Malayalam romantic comedy film Thenmavin Kombath in 1994, which earned him the National Film Award for Best Cinematography. In the interview with Silverscreen India, Anand had said that the film was his “best experience”. Recollecting his experience while shooting the film, he had said, “For the opening number, the director told me to take 10 bullock carts and five cans of Kodak and shoot whatever I wanted. That, for me was a huge boost.”
He went on to work as a cinematographer for over 15 films in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu.
Condoling the demise of Anand, filmmaker Shankar called him a “dear friend, wonderful cinematographer and brilliant director”. Anand had collaborated with Shankar in Mudhalvan (1999), Boys (2003), and Sivaji (2007).
Can’t come to terms with the sudden passing of K.V.Anand sir.
He was a passionate, tremendously creative and most importantly, a really sweet and kind man. My deepest condolences to his family and prayers to deal with this unbelievable loss.
A D V E R T I S E M E N TBye KV sir. Gone way too soon. ❤️
— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) April 30, 2021
In 2005, Anand made his directorial debut with Kana Kandaen starring Srikanth and Prithviraj Sukumaran. Prithiviraj, who made his Tamil debut with the film, said that Anand played an “important role” in his career.
Recommended
Anand directed seven films but had never been the cinematographer for these films. Speaking about this, Anand had said in the interview that he “thinks he is a better cameraman than a director”. “I don’t want to kill it. When the cameraman starts setting up lights, I can use the time to rework my dialogues or make a scene better.”
Anand had collaborated as a director with actors like Dhanush in Anegan (2015), Jiiva in Ko (2011), and Vijay Sethupathi in Kavan (2017).
Taking to Twitter, Dhanush, and Amyra Dastur, the lead actors in Anegan, paid their respects to Anand. Dastur credited the late filmmaker as launching her in Tamil cinema and called him the “most passionate and disciplined filmmaker”.
A gentle kind honest man has passed away. A very sweet man full of life love and joy. K.v anand sir .. gone too soon sir. Too soon. My condolences to his family. Rest in peace k.v sir.
— Dhanush (@dhanushkraja) April 30, 2021
On Friday, Anand’s mortal remains will be sent to Besant Nagar Electric Crematorium in Chennai for the final rites in accordance with Covid-19 protocols.
Anand’s death was condoled by members of the film fraternity. Actor Rajinikanth expressed his condolences.
மதிப்பிற்குரிய கே.வி.ஆனந்த் அவர்களின் மறைவு மிகுந்த அதிர்ச்சியும், வேதனையும் அளிக்கிறது. அவரை பிரிந்து வாடும் அவரது குடும்பத்தாருக்கு என்னுடைய ஆழ்ந்த அனுதாபங்கள். அவருடைய ஆத்மா சாந்தி அடையட்டும்.
— Rajinikanth (@rajinikanth) April 30, 2021
My heart is broken! KV Anand sir gone too soon! He was the sweetest and treated me like a daughter! RIP 🙏 @anavenkat
— Sayyeshaa (@sayyeshaa) April 30, 2021
Anand is survived by his wife and two daughters.