From genetics to cinematics: The journey of Sumon Sarkar
Sumon Sarker has so far only worked in four films as a cinematographer. He has already won the National Film Award for two
If you've watched the recently released movie 'Surongo', directed by Raihan Rafi, you must have experienced some amazing visuals. The story starts from a small village from the edge of the mountain, then shifts to a small home on the Karnaphuli river bank in Chattagram, and goes all the way to a bank heist through a tunnel – quite a journey!
Or, if you watched 'No Dorai' (2019) directed by Taneem Rahman Angshu, you would have enjoyed some beautiful sights of surfing on the Bay of Bengal.
The magician behind the camera in all these movies was Sumon Sarker. A Genetic Engineering grad from Khulna University (KU), who ventured first into an IT company, then became a third/fourth assistant director in television dramas, is now a two-time National Film Award winner for cinematography.
Sumon Sarker's interest in cinematography arose one decade back while he was studying at KU.
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"As a genetic engineering student, I was prepared to be a scientist or researcher. However, during my university days, I engaged in various extracurricular activities like sports, writing for scientific magazines, theatre, organising programmes, etc. Moreover, I was staying at the university hall, and there was a culture of watching movies almost every night. My friends and I used to watch various movies from home and abdorad. Slowly my interest in films grew," said Sumon Sarker.
One day, he watched a movie called 'Baraka' - a 1995 documentary film by Ron Fricke - on DVD from a local store, and that set ablaze a fire inside him to do something in films.
"What a movie! A movie shot in different places around the world using 70mm Todd-AO - a process that uses two separate film stocks. A 65mm negative is used during production and then the negative is used to produce the 70mm positives for distribution, which was very expensive back then. The movie has no dialogue! I was amazed and began nurturing something in my inner mind that changed my thinking," Sumon expressed joyfully.
"I was near the end of my graduate degree when I decided I will get into cinematography," he added. "I recommend to everyone watch this movie."
After graduating in 2010, Sumon came to Dhaka and got admitted to a short course on films at Bangladesh Film Institute, all the while doing another job to sustain himself in the city.
"After completing the film course I began to understand films. Before the course, I only watched, and after the course I was able to read a film," said Sumon.
While working in an IT firm, he started to look for opportunities to work behind the camera. He found work as an additional director in television dramas.
"I felt really undervalued at first. Working as a third or fourth additional director in television dramas is nothing good. I worked in that office from 11 PM to 6 AM back then. If a shooting schedule came up, I had to stay up all night and at the end of the day, I only made Tk500. Can you imagine after a sleepless night and working the whole day you are getting only Tk500?" Sumon exclaimed.
In the meantime, in 2013, he, along with two of his friends, made a short film titled 'Since We Separate', which received the Critics Award at the Robi Short Film Festival. Through the festival, he got a chance to work with renowned director Amitabh Reza Chowdhury.
"Amitabh bhai made my journey quite easy. He praised me for my short film and in 2014 he called me to work in television commercials. That was my first television commercial as a cinematographer," he said.
Sumon didn't have to look back again. In 2019 he worked in 'No Dorai', his first feature film as a cinematographer. The same year he worked in 'Lal Moroger Jhuti'. Both of these movies received the National Award for Best cinematography. In 2022, he worked in 'Damal' and his latest, 'Surongo' (2023).
"I am really blessed that I have worked in four films and I got the National award for two. My hard work has paid off. I always love to work with challenges; maybe that's why the result is sweet," he said.
"The team was flexible and amazing. We shot in several beautiful locations, which was a great experience. Crawling through a dark tunnel in the scorching heat and shooting in a dirty garbage-filled manhole in Chittagong city was exhilarating," he said of the experience of working in 'Surongo'.
"For the first time in Bangladesh I shot a movie using the Arri Alexa Mini LF. It was an exceptional experience. I was impressed with the camera's remarkable dynamic range and excellent low-light performance. Its ability to handle highlights and shadows provided me with wide latitude in capturing details, even in challenging lighting conditions," he added.
