Mankada Ravi Varma (4 June 1926 – 22 November 2010) was an Indian cinematographer and director who worked in Malayalam cinema. He is exclusively known for his association with renowned film-maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan. He has associated with other major directors such as G. Aravindan and P. N. Menon. He has also directed two films. He has won two National Film Awards and seven Kerala State Film Awards in various categories. In 2006, he was honoured with the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema. Early life Ravi Varma was born at Mankada in Malappuram district to K.K. Thampuratti and A.M. Parameswaran Bhattathiripad on 4 June 1926. Varma was keenly interested in photography since a child. He had his graduation from Victoria College, Palakkad and later learned motion picture photography at the Institute of Film Technology (FTIT) in Chennai. Career After his studies from FTIT, he worked as a cinematographer for several documentaries and short films. His debut film was Aval (1966) was directed by Aziz, another student from the institute. His first notable work was Olavum Theeravum (1970), directed by P. N. Menon and scripted by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. It was a landmark film in Malayalam as it was the first Malayalam film to be shot entirely outdoors. Varma remembered those days, "We exploited the available light. The framing and composition of the film were totally different from other feature films. I tried to accommodate all the tones that were available in black-and-white, and shot the film. As I had shot documentaries in very adverse conditions, I decided to make use of all those experiences in a feature film. Usually in poor light, a cinematographer stops shooting. What I did was use it to my advantage." His other notable works as a cinematographer include Dikkatra Parvathi (1973) by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, Uttarayanam (1974) by G. Aravindan, and almost all the works with Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Association with Adoor Ravi Varma had written an article on films in a magazine called Sameeksha which Gopalakrishnan, a student at the FTII happened to read. He wrote to Ravi Varma asking him to write another piece for a magazine that he was editing from the institute. That was how the association and friendship between renowned director Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Ravi Varma started. Whenever Adoor came down to Kerala, he would make a stop over in Madras and meet