British philosopher Alan Watts said of change: “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” Just ask the people left befuddled and irrelevant by the rapid decisive marriage of digital technology and the Indian film industry.
Ravindhar, a cinematographer who has worked on films like Chinna Thambi ( Anari in Hindi), and joint secretary of South Indian Cinematographers Association, tells the story of a senior lab in-charge in Chennai who, unable to cope with digital technology, became a watchman for everyday survival. This was a man whose professional life was intertwined with film reels until his skill was no longer useful.
Ragavendhran M., a union leader at Gemini Industries and Imaging Limited, worked there from 1978. A man who joined the company in 1978, his is an arduous journey spanning decades that saw him rise from being a junior lab worker. “Ten years ago, it was all so rosy. Even until two years ago, we were working with films. We didn’t know it would happen this fast.” More than 150 people at the lab have been given the choice of making the transition to the digital department or, if unwilling, accept a settlement instead. “These are people who carried reel boxes and ran. They couldn’t learn to use the mouse and suddenly compete with youngsters.” He isn’t too perturbed as his daughter is married and his son’s education paid for.
Another example is of a Chennai-based company that invested crores into its film processing section in 2010 only to discover a couple of years later that their machines were of no use, as the industry had moved to digital content. Ravindhar saw, firsthand, the machines being dismantled and sold for scrap. “Machines that cost crores were weighed for metal quantity and fetched only lakhs.”
Let’s rewind a bit. Where did it all start? It appears that the beginning of the 21 century marked the period of transition. “While films continued to be the gold standard, you could see digital cinema slowly coming in,” says cinematographer Siddharth Ramaswamy. He should know, as he was the cinematographer of the first-ever Indian commercial film to be shot digitally — Kamal Haasan’s Mumbai Xpress (2005). The first-ever Indian film was the indie film, Let’s Talk (2002), by Ram Madhvani. “Halfway through the shooting, Kamal told me that he expected all of Indian cinema to go completely digital in a decade. I didn’t take him too seriously. But here we are in 2015, and the transformation is complete.”
What’s shocking, given today’s high-end cameras, is that the experimental Mumbai Xpress was shot on a regular Panavision standard definition video camera, and at 720p resolution! Even some YouTube videos are of a higher resolution! ‘720p’ is tech-speak for a video fit to be played on television, not in a movie theatre. Mumbai Xpress had to be substantially edited on Final Cut Pro, a non-linear film editing software, and made relevant for the big screen. And then — here’s the interesting part — it had to be converted to film using a process called Reverse Telecine, as digital projection hadn’t yet arrived. With this conversion came a loss of quality in the form of “pixelation and jitters. I have to admit there were a few problems. But it was a breakthrough movie, nevertheless.”
There was little point in shooting digitally, if there were no digital projectors. Luckily, unknown to Ramaswamy, digital projection was being promoted at the same time. Senthil Kumar, co-founder of Real Image (the company behind the Qube projectors that are used in at least 45 per cent of all Indian theatres), was promoting this concept as an alternative to film projectors. “Even then, the quality was almost as good as film projection,” he says, referring to 2001, when Qube was first presented at the Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI). To prove this, he redeveloped some Indian content for the digital form: ‘Chaiya Chaiya’ from Dil Se was one of the tracks. Three years and quite a few renovations later, Qube was ready for the market in 2004. The advantages were evident: better quality, lower cost, easier editing, and easier storage. “The cost of releasing a film reduced by about 80 per cent,” he adds. The market was primed and lapped the technology up. Change had come, and it was for the better.
B. Radhakrishnan of Gemini Industries, who masterminded the company’s transition into the digital age, says it was a difficult decision to close down the 56-year-old 6000-films-old lab. “So much vintage classic equipment… It was like we were shutting down our soul.” While many machines were broken down at the company’s warehouse, some have been preserved for archival work. He adds that some cinematographers like P.C. Sreeram have come out in public with their love for the old way of shooting.
Ramaswamy, however, admits, “My love for film and negatives will never die. Even today, if somebody offers me a movie that we can shoot on film, I’d immediately agree to be part of the project.” It’s a bit like how photographers love to shoot in black and white, though colour is the norm. The romance is often in the old — in films, and in black and white. After all, movies came to be called films, as they were made on films.
Gemini has invested about Rs. 500 crores in making the transition, in creating its state-of-the-art digital lab. “We have given all our employees a chance to be a part of this transition,” says Radhakrishnan.
But as M. Namaschivayam, a former lab chief at the West Bengal Film Development Corporation (and a former lab chief for 18 years at Vijaya Colour Lab), says, “Youngsters pick up technology faster. They grow up with it. It’s difficult for a person with 35 years of experience like me to take to technology as quickly as they do. However, this is not to say that our skills become negligible. Concepts like colour correction and density still exist. Only the tools have changed.”
Like everybody else — affected or otherwise — Radhakrishnan believes the evolution of technology is good. Hailing from a family of cinematographers, he cites the example of rangefinders. “As a kid, I wasn’t allowed to lay a finger on our rangefinder. It cost lakhs and was precious. Today, there’s an Android app for a rangefinder that costs Rs. 1,000.” Clearly, there’s little point in looking back, except to learn or to revel in nostalgia. As Real Image’s Senthil Kumar puts it, “Every single organisation must be aware of developments in their business. Sometimes, you have to kill your business and start afresh, regardless of how laborious and wearisome it can be.” As Gemini has now done. Plunge into it, move with it and join the dance.
