Ashok Kumar Meena is from Jaipur, Rajasthan. He did his masters in mass communication and journalism. He also have a post graduate diploma in Dramatic Art. In 2013 he joined FTII, Pune for TV Cinematography Course. Since then he is working as a freelance cinematographer and filmmaker. He is being associated with many independent short films, Documentaries and feature films. He has the experience of working with many national and international organisations.
Right now he is engaged in a feature film and some documentaries as a director which are based in North-east India.

As a child what were your early influences towards cinema?
My parents love watching movies. I have watched movies in theatres with them. I loved watching action films during my childhood. But I always wanted to become a cricketer which did not happen.

In childhood, we mostly watched Bollywood, Hollywood and Chinese action films. World Cinema was not accessible because there was no internet. Hollywood was world cinema for us. Everyone in our house likes to watch movies. My elder brother watches more movies than me. Jurassic Park, Braveheart, Gladiator, Harry Potter, Blood Diamond etc. These were popular movies. I did not know much about cinema but whatever was accessible to me, I watched it. Apart from cricket, movies were my second attraction but later cinema became everything.

But yes, in my childhood I loved listening to stories with my grandfather sitting near the fire at night. My education in cinema started from there itself.

How did you first become interested in cinematography? Did you start with photography ?
I was doing my Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication from Rajasthan University and I wanted to work in films. I was looking for a place to learn it. I was especially interested in acting. While doing my Masters, someone told me about a senior, also named Ashok Meena and suggested me to talk to him. He was studying in FTII at that time. When I talked to senior Ashok Meena, he advised me to apply in FTII for a technical course.

During my Mass Communication studies, camera seemed interesting to me, so I applied for cinematography in FTII, but did not get selected. Then I did a diploma in theatre from Rajasthan University. After a year I applied for acting in NSD and again for cinematography in FTII. I just wanted to get out of Jaipur and work in films, whether in acting or in camera. I got selected in FTII. That’s where my journey with camera started. Whatever I learned about cinematography, I learned it from FTII only

What steps did you take to train yourself ?
With the backgound of Mass communication and Theater, whatever was tought in FTII helped me to grow creatively. FTII opened my horizon for cinema. After being a part of FTII, cinema didn’t remained as only entertainment. Cinema became expression to me. I always select projects which gives me creative freedom to express. I am working mainly in Independent Projects where I can work freely. Now I am directing Fiction and Documentary films in Northeast India.

Have you assisted anyone? How does it help one?
I assisted seniors on one or two ad shoots, I did not assist anyone for a long time, I stayed in Mumbai continuously for only 2 years, after that I got a long documentary project in Northeast which was a very different experience for me, after that I left Mumbai and worked as a freelance cinematographer in different locations all over India, especially in Northeast India.

Assisting is very important, by assisting you can learn a lot like how to work within limitations, how a cinematographer should coordinate with the rest of the team to tell a story.

How did your first film project come about?
My first feature film as a cinematographer was ‘Kosa’, directed by Batchmate Mohit of FTII screenplay department. This film was earlier being shot by another cinematographer, who was from Kerala. At that time, I was handling the production and was also in the direction team. The cinematographer left the film midway and had to go out of India for some reason. The director asked me to do the camera. Later, the film premiered at Raindance and was appreciated in many national and international film festivals.

What is perhaps the most important factor for you to choose a script?
I like to work on scripts that are not calculated, I mean even in independent cinema, most people these days are working on calculated scripts that can get them awards, in such scripts there is less expression and more formula, I avoid such scripts and I choose to do only films which are free expression and are not calculated art.

Is cinematography intuitive or is it something you learn?
You have to learn cinematography and you have to give time to it. Learning cinematography and understanding it and then how you use it to tell a story depends on your individuality.

Most important thing is to understand the story and understand the characters, only then you will be able to do the right cinematography, and to do this you need experience and observation in life.
I have a background in theatre and literature which helps me a lot in filmmaking.

Tell us something bout your latest film.
I have just directed an Assamese feature film, It’s my dabue film as a director. This is an independent film which was shot in Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya.

Currently, It’s in post-production, we’ll start working on sound design shortly. We are also trying to find a co-producer.

I have been also working on a docu-drama for the last six years. This docu-drama film is based in Nagaland.

Where do you seek inspiration from?
For other’s projects, the inspiration comes from the script. And also the team which can give me the space to work freely.

For my projects, I try to express my feelings and experiences through films. I don’t need any inspiration for that.
But yes, I have learnt from filmmakers, that there are so many ways to express a story or an emotion. Mostly I let the film flow with time and don’t calculate much. I believe every film choose it’s own journey. You just have to recognise it.

What is in the kitty right now?
I am making a Feature film as a Director & cinematographer, also working on a documentary film in Nagaland as a director. Also developing another 2 documentaries in Assam.

What’s your dream project?
Every film is important to me because most of my scripts are my own experiences. Those are not just a project to my, they are my personal stories. But one of those script is written based on my crazy nightmares I had during a very different phase of my life.

Your most memorable mistake?
Once I had to reach a senior cinematographer’s shoot in Mumbai with some diffusion papers. Even after starting on time, I got stuck in traffic and got late for the shoot. It is always very important for me to reach on time. I panicked and forgot the bundle of diffusion papers in the taxi. After that I completely lost my senses and my health deteriorated and I could not go for the shoot. I felt very bad about whatever happened. It happened many years ago but it feels bad even today whenever I recall it.

Any advice to the inspiring cinematographers?
I am not experienced enough to give advice to anyone, I can only say that learning and understanding are two different things. Learning the technicality of cinematography is the first step. But to execute, you have to understand every aspect of life around the subject. Observing the environment around you will help you to bring life into your frames. Overall, to be a fimmaker one have to be an observer.

What book, music, movie are you enjoying right now?
These days I don’t watch much cinema. There are very few films which are cinema in true sense. Nowadays even art house films have become a very calculated art which are made to qualify for an award. Because of that, nowadays there is very little expression in art cinema and it has became a calculated art form. I like listening to Tibetan music, as well as some movie soundtracks
These days I am more interested in nature, I am trying to understand the environment and exploring folklores of North East India through books