‘Baby Girl’ director Arun Varma defends raw camera style, cites ‘City of God’ and ‘Amores Perros’ as inspiration
According to the director, the team wanted the film to feel raw and grounded because it deals with real people and real spaces.
According to the director, the team wanted the film to feel raw and grounded because it deals with real people and real spaces.
According to the director, the team wanted the film to feel raw and grounded because it deals with real people and real spaces.
‘Baby Girl’ director Arun Varma has addressed criticisms regarding his decision to use raw and unconventional camera angles in the Nivin Pauly film, which recently made its OTT debut. Known for helming ‘Garudan’ in 2023, Varma stated that the visual language of Baby Girl was a deliberate creative choice aimed at delivering an immersive and realistic cinematic experience.
According to the director, the team wanted the film to feel raw and grounded because it deals with real people and real spaces. Instead of relying on carefully constructed sets or polished lighting setups, they chose to shoot extensively in natural locations, capturing maximum exterior visuals, including trains, cityscapes, and driving sequences in Thiruvananthapuram. Many scenes were filmed in real environments without heavy staging, allowing the camera to observe rather than intrude.
Arun revealed that he drew inspiration from the Brazilian classic ‘City of God, ‘Mexican movie ‘Amores Perros’ and the Malayalam film Mission 90 Days, films which employed dynamic, immersive camera techniques. He admired how those films placed viewers directly inside the narrative space through unconventional angles, handheld movements, and perspective-driven shots.
“In most films, audiences often step out of the experience to admire a beautifully lit frame or a perfectly designed set,” Arun told Onmanorama. “But when that happens, the cinematographer has failed in a way — because the viewer is no longer inside the story. We wanted the audience to be present within the film, not watching it from a distance.”
The film intentionally retains moments of camera shake, jumps, and even occasional out-of-focus shots to preserve authenticity. The perspective often mirrors a point-of-view style, creating the feeling that the audience is physically inside the scene. While lighting up a set and making every frame visually polished is not particularly difficult, Varma believes attempting a raw, experimental approach is far riskier — and far more challenging.
He credited cinematographer Faizi for executing this bold vision. “What Faizi did was tremendous and gutsy. He is an expert at this style,” Arun said, acknowledging that the film did receive criticism for its lighting and visual texture. However, he maintained that achieving a raw and realistic aesthetic requires restraint and conviction, and that the team stood by their creative choice. The movie scripted by Sanjay-Bobby duo, is now streaming on Sony Liv.