Woman In Shining Armour

Priya Seth, one of the few female cinematographers in the country, on career, life and underwater cinematography.

- Anisha Gakhar

Sitting in her quaint Bandra home, I felt a prodigious amount of satiation whilst absorbing the fact - that there are women in our industry who have helped skew the cinematography landscape in India considerably. Priya Seth’s living room was adorned with a neatly-arranged rack of books. Her love for reading and her zeal for cinematography, have helped her carve a niche for herself. Priya Seth is an Indian cinematographer who has worked on several Bollywood movies, commercials and web series. Seth’s first shoot was the much-loved music video, Tera Mera Pyaar, debuting Nimrat Kaur. After the success of the song, Seth started venturing into advertising projects and commercials. Eventually, the Naseeruddin Shah starrer, Barah Aana, directed by Raja Menon, came her way. She was highly acclaimed for her work in the 2016 movie Airift, which she shot in merely 49 days.

She is also well-known for her underwater cinematography stints, an area of work not treaded by many of her likes in the industry. Having given over two decades to the industry, she has many movies under her name including, Barah Aana, Airlift and Chef. She has shot some intriguing commercials including those for Parachute, Mountain Dew, Oral B, Dove and Godrej, amongst others. She is currently working on a web series, the shooting for which starts soon.

THE START