Creative Producer & Cinematographer · Bangalore

I make films, and I make sure they get made.

8+ years making TVCs, DVCs, social and AI films for Dabur, Danone, Allen and Tata Consumer. I take each one from brief to master and deliver it on time.

Get in touch

Brands I've delivered for

DaburDanoneProtinexAllenTata Consumer ProductsOrganic IndiaMsChiefDabur IsabgolSILToffeemanRavalgaonMalibanGood MonkDexogrowMuvtech
8+
years
100+
projects
5–200
crew size
₹50L
top budget
120+
reels in a month

Sc. 01 TVC & DVC

Commercials

Broadcast and digital films for national brands. Press play: each one opens with sound.

Dabur · 25s TVC

Pudin Hara

Position Pudin Hara as the instant fix for acidity, beating slow powders and syrups, with a comedy hook people remember.

Role
Creative Producer & Cinematographer
Format
25s courtroom comedy with VFX

The challenge. A large cast, a period-style courtroom set and VFX product moments, all inside 25 seconds.

How I solved it. Every beat was storyboarded to the frame, so cast and set were lit and shot only for what the edit needed. The product glow was planned as VFX from day one.

Allen · IPL TVC · 2025

“Bas Results”

Turn “No drama, no gimmicks, just results” into a 15s spot that cuts through the IPL ad break.

Role
Creative Producer & Cinematographer
Timeline
Ideation to final master in 7 days
Result
5.6M+ YouTube views

The challenge. A fixed IPL air date, a late brief, and several language versions due at the same time.

How I solved it. One neon-lit street world and one hero performance kept the shoot to a single day. The toppers wall was built in post while the language versions were cut in parallel.

Danone · DVC + promo

Protinex Diabetes Care

An everyday, science-backed ally for people managing blood sugar, not a medicine.

Role
Creative Producer & Cinematographer
Timeline
Shot and delivered in 3 days
Result
Showcased at Danone’s APAC Sales Conference

The challenge. Clinical claims and legal supers on every frame, made warm and human on a 3-day turnaround.

How I solved it. Relatable characters in one home location, data moved into motion graphics, and the DVC and 20s Hindi promo planned before the shoot so nothing was reshot.

MsChief · Maestro DVCA dating-app world built in design and motion for a premium personal-care launch.
Protinex · 20s Hindi promoA doctor-led cutdown from the same production as the DVC: one shoot, two deliverables.

Sc. 02 Approach

Brief to master. One owner.

  1. 01

    Crack it

    I take the brief from the client and write the approach: script, treatment, references, boards.

  2. 02

    Plan it

    Budget, crew, casting, recces and vendor meetings, all locked in parallel when the brief lands late.

  3. 03

    Shoot it

    On set as producer and DP. ARRI, RED, Sony Venice, Blackmagic. Crews of 5 to 200.

  4. 04

    Finish it

    Edit, grade, VFX and every version: cutdowns, ratios, languages. Resolve, Premiere, After Effects.

Fastest so far

7 daysAllen IPL TVC, idea to master
3 daysDanone DVC, shoot to delivery
1 dayUndertow, a narrative short shot in one day

Why work with me

One person, brief to master

Concept, production, camera and post handled by one person, which means fewer handovers and less lost along the way.

Allen IPL TVC: idea to master in 7 days.

Calm when it’s last-minute

Late briefs, festive drops, live broadcast. I lock vendors, recces and crews of up to 200 and still land on budget.

120+ reels in a month. Olympic live coverage.

A cinematographer’s eye on every budget

From ₹1L reels to ₹50L productions, the frame still has to be good.

MFA Cinematography, EICAR Paris.

Faster and leaner with AI

A pipeline I built myself, and the judgement to know when to hand-craft instead.

20 videos a day, 50% faster, 30% cheaper.

Sc. 03 Social

120+ reels. One month. Nine brands.

Celebrity shoots, vox-pops and festive drops. Festival dates don’t move, so neither do I.

Protinex × Bipasha BasuCelebrity shoot
Good MonkStreet vox-pop
RavalgaonRaksha Bandhan
ToffeemanNavratri
ToffeemanChocolate Day
SILMonsoon

Sc. 04 AI production

I built the AI pipeline. Then I used it.

20
videos a day
50%
faster turnaround
30%
lower production cost
  1. Brief
  2. Script & boards
  3. Generate
  4. Edit & grade
  5. Every version

Stack: n8n · Vertex / Veo · Gemini · GCP · ElevenLabs · ClipDrop. Finished in DaVinci Resolve and After Effects.

Hand-crafted AI about 2 weeks each, built shot by shot

Dabur Isabgol15s AI film
A Pudin Hara Fizz glass with ingredient bubblesWatch on Behance ↗
Dabur Pudin Hara 5-in-1 FizzAI TVC

On my pipeline 1–2 days each

Organic IndiaHow it’s made: Honey
Organic IndiaHow it’s made: Quinoa
Organic IndiaHow it’s made: Stevia
SaffolaHigh Protein Muesli
DexogrowAI reel
DexogrowAI reel
DexogrowTeacher’s Day

Sc. 05 Narrative & music video

Where I learned to light a story.

I shot these in Paris and beyond: 30+ films at EICAR, short films, a music video and a feature documentary.

A close-up from Work Ethics Symmetry in glass A window-light silhouette

Short film · Paris

Work Ethics

A lifelong commitment to a company ends in an overlooked farewell, pushing one man to breaking point.

Role
Cinematographer, camera operator, lighting designer

I used natural light across a full day of changing conditions, shaping it with negative fill, black flags, chiffon and ND into a restrained, naturalistic look.

Morning in the apartment, Undertow Warm practical light Day for night

Narrative short · Paris

Undertow

One small apartment, one night, and the quiet tension between the people sharing it.

Role
Cinematographer
Timeline
The whole film shot in one day

I shot the day scenes first, then blacked out the windows and used a single blue key to build the night look without leaving the location.

The artist in a concrete corridor, That’s How I Feel Low and wide Backlight

Music video · Paris

That’s How I Feel

A visual diary of the artist’s inner world, moving through the city.

Role
Cinematographer

Five Paris locations with a small crew and no closed sets. A light handheld package, available light scheduled around the sun, and a low wide lens made public spaces feel staged.

Two people sharing a lighter
Another Night
A confrontation in a stone room
Dragons and Sheep
Two colleagues by a bright window
Jess
A bakery counter in saturated yellow
One Croissant a Day Keeps the Demons at Bay
A grey-haired woman in a garden
Plouf Tzin Tzin
A couple at a diner booth
Point de Rupture

Sc. 06 Live broadcast

Live, global, no second take.

RF and hard-camera operator for Olympic Broadcasting Services at Paris 2024.

6
football matches
5
athletics events

Multi-camera live workflows, mix-zone setups and boom operations, broadcast worldwide.

Santanu on a comms headset inside the Paris 2024 athletics stadium Santanu with the Paris 2024 Phryge mascot
Santanu framing a shot on a cinema camera

Sc. 07 About

Hands on the camera. Eyes on the schedule.

I’m a creative producer and cinematographer with 8+ years across commercials, broadcast, documentary and narrative film. At Brand Scale Up I led productions end to end for Dabur, Danone, Allen and Tata Consumer.

I trained as a cinematographer, with an MFA from EICAR, Paris. I’ve crewed live Olympic broadcast, and I built an AI pipeline that ships 20 videos a day.

Hindi · English · Bengali · conversational French

Santanu on a dolly with the crew on a Paris street Santanu on an Easyrig at a car rig Santanu shooting handheld in the street Santanu at a studio camera Santanu smiling behind a cinema camera

Fin. Contact

Let’s make the next one.

I'm based in Bangalore, open to full-time and freelance work, and will travel anywhere.