Plum,
Very interesting points you raised.
Tac,
Camerawork of that era mainly serviced the storyline and the characters. And for NT, it worked extra hard to capture the best of NT. Consider the monologue scenes in Alayamani, consider the climax story telling in Puthiya Paravai, consider the high low angels that captured the high and mighty Rajinikanth and the meek Kannan...they worked to add to the magnitude of NT's performance.
Wherelse these days, cameras are superstars of their own. It's common to hear, "great cinematography, but the film sucks. Song sequences were great, but the film sucks. Great story, but they could have shot it well".
Antha kalattila appadi patta peechukellam idam illa. NT irukkaaraa...you better capture him in his best and if you can add to his performance, its a great bonus for your film. It happened in this film as well.
To respond your pondering: It mattered only as added bonus for us to capture the most of NT and his colleagues.
Those are my humble opinion :notworthy: :D