桑托什·斯万，Santosh Sivan is an Indian cinematographer, film director, Actor and producer who has worked in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi cinema and english cinema. Apart from feature films, he also directed a 13-minute-long Kannada short film, Prarambha; a part of Mira Nair's project Aids Jaago (Aids Awake). Santhosh Sivan graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and went on to completing 45 features and 41 documentaries. He was a founding member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC) and is the most awarded director of photography (DP) in India. The finest cinematographer in Indian cinema Santosh Sivan has become the first DOP (director of photography) in Asia Pacific's to be awarded the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers (ASC)membership. He was awarded the National Film Awards for Best Cinematography thirteen times, for the films Perumthachan (1991), Kaalapani (1996), Iruvar (1997), and Dil Se.. (1998) and many more.