Mumbai: His first film hasn't seen the light of the day yet, but this year he had three releases and all three of different genre.

Because his camera is at ease capturing story of every kind and because he is among those few who have successfully moved from behind the lens to the front, cinematographer Natrajan Subramanium is sure to be the next big thing.

"My father actually happened to see me while I was working on the sets. We were shooting in the middle of a road and he was travelling in a bus. I was supposed to be in college, but he caught me bunking. He looked at me, went home and started blasting me left, right and centre. He said he wanted me to do well in studies and then get a job. He said that I had shattered his dream and his ambition for me. I told him this is what I was like and this is what I really wanted to do. He didn't speak to me for two days," says Natrajan.

Popularly known as Nutty in the film industry, it wasn't an easy start for Natrajan.

With no formal training in cinematography, he started off working with friends before moving on to commercials and television.

Though Ram Gopal Varma wanted Nutty to be the lensman for his some of his films including Jungle, it was Anurag Kashyap's still unreleased Paanch that became his first feature.

Nutty also worked on Anurag's Black Friday but the film which got him noticed was Parineeta in 2005, and the offers haven't stopped pouring in ever since.

"The script is the real hero of all films. I consider it that way. I go through a script and if it really interests me, then I tend to see visuals. Accordingly I go in for films. That's how I like to choose my projects," says he.

This year's Indian Oscar entry visually spectacular Eklavya was caught on camera by Nutty, so were the many moods of Kareena and Shahid in Jab We Met.

But what many don't know is that when Nutty is not behind the camera, he is in front of the camera.

Down south, he is now doing his second film Chakravyuham as one of the three lead actors. And this accidental acting debut has been anything but easy.

"The first two days, I was acting in front of the great south actor Naser, so that was big trouble for me. I was literally shivering. The entire unit was not even looking at me, not even offering me cup of tea, even though they were all my friends. l took that as a challenge and I started working hard. After the first three days of the shoot finished, they showed me the footage in the lab and said they want to take a call. The first time I saw myself, I started laughing," Natrajan recalls.

With a variety of projects on his list including Raj Kumar Santoshi's dramatic Halla Bol and Rohit Shetty's comic Golmaal Returns, Nutty, today has more assignments than he can handle.

As Vidhu Vinod Chopra calls him, this Tamil Tiger doesn't believe in roaring much but just rolling it his way.