U Rajgopalan

U Rajagopal was a well-known cinematographer and director who worked for the Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi film industries. He was born in the Thalassery City of Kerala in 1925 to U Gopalan and Rohini Amma. He was married to Shyamala and had three children with her. Rajagopal completed his graduation from Loyola College, Chennai, in the academic year 1943-44 in history and economics. Rajagopal was an enthusiast of photography and cinematography. After a few years of working as a food inspector, he vacated his office and went to Marcus Butley to study photography and cinematography with him.

In his entire lifetime, Rajagopal did the cinematography for 89 films and direction for 1. Rajagopal's first movie as a cinematographer was Puthiya Akasam Puthiya Bhoomi, released in 1962. Amongst his most notable works is Manikyakottaram, released in the year 1966. Rajagopal directed this film. Others are Thacholi Ambu, Sanchari, Sujatha, Agni, Check Post, Devi Kanyakumari, Aromalunni, and Paathira Sooryan. The era from 1972 to 1981 turned out to be a golden era for Rajagopal as he worked on more than 50 films, with the maximum number in 1974, 1977, and 1981. He died on January 27, 1995.