B. R. Vijayalakshmi  B. R. Vijayalakshmi is an Indian cinematographer. She started her career as an assistant to cinematographer Ashok Kumar and made her feature film debut in 1985 through the Tamil film "Chinna Veedu". Known for being Asia's first woman cinematographer, Vijayalakshmi has worked in 22 feature films. In addition to her film career, she has also worked on many Television series. She is known to be the best friend of actress/film maker Suhasini. Suhasini being close childhood friend of B.R.Vijayalakhmi and Manirathnam being a close teenage friend of B.R.Ravi {B.R. Vijaya Lakshmi's brother} is seen as the reason for Suhasini-Manirthnam'S romantic marriage. Vijay Lakshmi's brother B.R.Ravi is a IIT graduate. He dropped himself into cinema after the demise of his father B.R.Panthulu. Manirathnam has himself stated in his book "Conversations with Manirathnam" that he discovered his passion to cinema only when he made routine chit chat's and film making debates with his friend B.R.Ravi during their early 20s. According to a speech from suhasini, Manirathnam is acclaimed to have assisted only one movie in his life time, which is a B.R.Ravi's Directorial. Vijayalakshmi was born to B. R. Panthulu, a director and producer in South Indian films. Her brother B.R. Ravishankar is a film-maker in Kannada cinema. She worked as an interior designer before entering into films. Vijayalakshmi was interested in pursuing a cinematography course in a film school, but was persuaded by cinematographer Ashok Kumar who took her as a camera assistant citing that practical experience would give more exposure to her. She joined Ashok Kumar in the 1980 Tamil film "Nenjathai Killathe" and continued to work under him for nearly 30 films over a period of three years. During this time she did "Clash work" for films such as "Kai Kodukkum Kai" (1984) and "Pillai Nila" (1985). Vijayalakshmi got her break as an independent cinematographer through K. Bhagyaraj's "Chinna Veedu" in 1985.