Peter Pereira

Some Lesser Known Facts About Peter Pereira

• Peter Pereira was an Indian cinematographer and special effect creator & supervisor, who worked on special effects for many fantasy films in Bollywood. He shot to fame in 1987 for creating special effects to make Anil Kapoor‘s character, Arun Verma, disappear in the Bollywood film Mr. India.

• Peter grew up in Vasai in Mumbai, Maharashtra. In 1970, he shifted to Juhu to explore more professional work opportunities in cinematography.

• Peter’s father worked as a film distributor with MB Billimoria, a well-known film distribution company in the film industry during the 1940s.

• In an interview, Peter talked about his interest in comedy films and stated that he was a huge admirer of Charlie Chaplin and his films.

• At the beginning of his career, Peter joined as an apprentice at the Basant Studio in Chembur, which was owned by Homi Wadia, an Indian film director and producer, and there he performed a few odd jobs like setting up the camera and other common routine tasks.

• Peter, in an interview, stated that he was highly inspired to make films after he watched the film The Corsican Brothers (1941) in which Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. played the dual role of Mario and Lucien Franchi.

• Peter developed an interest in photography as his father was a photography fanatic. In an interview, he stated that while working as an apprentice in the Basant Studios, he got inclined towards cinematography and said,
  

  My father was a photography enthusiast. I shared his hobby and enjoyed photography from the very beginning, throughout my youth. I owned a small Brownie camera and used to take lots of pictures. It was during my time as an apprentice at Basant Studio, where being in that whole environment in which films were being made, I too got attracted to motion pictures.” ^[2]Scroll

• To learn the tips and tricks of cinematography, Peter assisted Babubhai Mistry, a special effects specialist, who operated as a trick photographer in the Basant Studios. While assisting Babubhai Mistry, Peter was hired at a salary of Rs 50 per month. ^[3]The Indian Express

• Peter worked in the Camera and Electrical Department for a few Bollywood films like New Delhi (1956), The Train (1970), Bharam Veer (1977), and Border (1997).

• In an interview, Peter talked about his experience of working in the film Mr. India and said,
  

  What a beautiful film. Shekhar Kapur would tell me what he wanted and I would do it. It was easy and straightforward – I worked on a per day basis, otherwise I would have to be there all the time. I wasn’t the cameraman of the film, that would be Baba Azmi. On the sets, I didn’t work closely with the cinematography department, unless I wanted something changed. There was a scene in which I took one shot, Baba Azmi came up and started asking whether I was sure about the lighting. I asked him to bring me an egg and I would light it in 25 different ways.”

• Peter, who handled the special effects in the Bollywood film Mr. India (1987), used the classic masking technique for the character’s appearance and disappearance and the stop-motion technique for capturing the character’s footprints.

• Apart from Mr. India, Peter worked on special effects for other fantasy films like Roti (1974), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Prem Rog (1982), Sheshnaag (1990), and Ajooba (1991).

• Peter worked as a cinematographer in some of Amitabh Bachchan‘s Bollywood films like Yaarana (1981), Coolie (1983), Mard (1985), Shahenshah (1988), Toofan (1989), and Lal Baadshah (1999).

• Peter made a special appearance in the Bollywood film ‘Amar Akbar Anthony (1977),’ starring Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, and Rishi Kapoor.

• Peter, in the early 2000s, lost his vision due to glaucoma, a progressive eye disease that damages the optic nerve, which eventually leads to loss of vision.

• Peter was last seen in the documentary film Chhayaankan in 2022, directed by Hemant Chaturvedi in which Hemant showcased the contribution of 14 cinematographers who worked in the Hindi film industry between the 1950s and 2000s.

  

• During his last days, Peter was attended by a caretaker in his apartment in Juhu, Mumbai, who was arranged by his nephew, based in the United States.

• Peter took his last breath on 10 January 2023 at his residence in Juhu. He was buried at the Our Lady of Grace Cathedral Papdy in Vasai, Maharashtra on the same day.

• Recalling the fond memories of Peter, the Indian actor Abhishek Bachchan shared the news of Peter’s demise on his Twitter account, which read,