Founder: Rajiv Menon
Rajiv Menon began his career in the film industry in 1984 when he graduated in cinematography at the Film and Television Institute of Tamil Nadu, with a gold medal. His subsequent training in steadicam operation under Garret Brown, the academy award winner for the invention of steadicam, provided him the opportunity to work on some top of the bracket productions and so early in his career before he began to invest his energies in the making of advertisement and corporate films.
As the professional quality of his output as the producer, director and cinematographer of film commercials, began to speak for itself, he has gathered a wide clientele such as Brooke Bond Ltd, Hindustan Lever, Titan Industries, Cadbury’s, Asian Paints, Coke, Hoechst, Smithkline Beecham, Dabur, Nestle, Raymonds and many more. At the least, from 1987 – 2006, nineteen of his commercials have won an award either at the Madras Ad-Club or at the Bombay Ad-Club. Adding more plumes to his cap, the Advertising Club of Madras honoured him with the The Living Legend award during its 50th Anniversary Celebrations.
Besides working on a few important documentary projects with such renowned personalities like Shyam Benegal and Girish Karnard, Rajiv Menon always manages to find time to return intermittently to his principal passion, feature filmmaking. As the director of photography of Prathap Pothan’s Chaitanya (1990), Girish Karnard’s Cheluvi (1992), Maniratnam’s Bombay (1995), Mahesh Dattani’s Morning Raga (2004), and Manirathnam’s Guru (2007) he has evolved a distinctive style and a repertoire of techniques.
It is quite rare an honour, that Rajiv Menon’s directorial debut in feature filmmaking, Minsara Kanavu (1997) turned out to be a production that was aimed to mark the 50th Anniversary celebrations of a mighty institution like the AVM Studios. Three years later, his next feature, Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) based on Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility distinguished itself by wining two filmfare awards under the Best Film and Best Director category and by participating in international film festivals at London, Washington, Copenhagen, Ghent, Amsterdam and Paris.
Looking forward to doing more, Rajiv Menon is equally interested in giving back to the industry a range of talents it needs to constantly renew itself. It is with that principal aim he has founded the Mindscreen Film Institute, that was inaugurated in July 2006 by the eminent filmmaker, Maniratnam.
