International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

Twenty-six The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER January, 1934 Film Making in India (Written for International Photographer) By S. RAMAN ATHAN, Editor of Sound and Shadow, Madras, India ILM production in India might be said to have begun in 1913, with the release of the first Indian silent picture. The first talkie was released about 1928 or 1929, but here the parallel between the American and Indian films stops. A comparison of foreign pictures and ours is a question of "look on this picture — and then on this." Our technique is so inferior to that of imported pictures. At present there are nearly 20 studios in India, centered around the cities of Bombay, Calcutta, and and Kolhapur, with the probability of Madras having one of its own, and an equal number of independent production units making use of other studios. Excepting a few, which have been sound-proofed and fitted up with facilities for artificial lighting, all the others work by daylight. On an average each company produces about four pictures per year, each picture, generally in two versions, one in Hindi, the Lingua Franca of India, and another in the local language, whatever it may be. I think "talkies" in more languages have been produced in India than in any other part of the world. Till now, talking pictures have been made in English, Hindi, Urdu, Bengalee, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Arabic, Persian and Burmese. Pictures in Punjabi and Canarese are under production and I wonder in how many more languages pictures should be made to satisfy the demands of the 350 millions of India with its score and a half of languages. There it is, the main problem that faces the Indian film producer. The circuit for any of these pictures is, of course, limited to the one province where that language is actually spoken. This naturally affects the capital outlay on each picture, which is governed by the returns, and this, in turn, restricts production. When Hollywood, with its world-market, is itself finding the language barrier a pretty difficult obstacle to overcome, you can imagine the plight of the Indian producer with his much smaller field and still smaller returns. But the demand for pictures in local languages is insistent, and cheap and quick pictures have become, more or less, the producer's watchword. A feature picture is usually anywhere near 13,000 feet in length — don't gasp — there are excellent reasons behind it. Primarily Indians, I mean the vast mass of illiterate humanity that forms the major percentage of India's teeming millions, and not the sophisticated and English-educated Indians, who, rarely go to see a picture produced by purely native means — demand long pictures. They seem to be willing to sit through any amount of footage so long as something is shown on the screen. Secondly, the feature picture has to supply the whole evening's program, there being no "shorts" or ''topicals" to supplement the show. Indian theatres, that is, those which exclusively show Indian pictures — never go in for "newsreels" and "cartoons," and no production unit in India has as yet taken to regular production of "shorts." The story will generally be taken from one of the two great Indian classics — "Bharatham" and "Ramayanam" which forms the tradition of the land, or it will be a Muhammadan love-story, with plenty of songs. East Indians love songs — plenty of them. There might be anything from a dozen to three score, the latter in one company's production — in a picture. Social pictures are almost taboo. Coming to production proper, standards are much lower than that of imported pictures, due to the pecuniary and other difficulties necessitated by the restricted market. Trained technicians are few and far between. The majority of cameramen have but a smattering knowledge of English, which prevents them from keeping up with the latest developments in emulsions and filters. Panchromatic film is only slowly coming into general use. The use of filters is very limited and over-correction and special effect use of filters is almost unknown. Except in one studio, where they have fitted up an Automatic Debrie Processing Plant, developing is entirely by the rack and tank method, both for sound and picture, positives and negatives. "Cutting" is done entirely in the negative itself, no "rushes" of the day's work being printed. Film is rarely wasted and the extra footage that is invariably wasted in cutting American pictures is never shot in Indian studios. Retakes are few, compared to foreign studios. The Indian producer's aim seems to be to use all the footage taken, very little being scissored off. Feature pictures, on an average, are completed in about a month's time and cost from 10,000 to 30,000 Rs. Coming to technique proper; photography and direction are more stagey, perhaps, than in any other country. Daylight being the source of illumination and, it being difficult to effectively light sets, the picture consists of a majority of medium and close shots, taken at eye-level. This is further necessitated after the advent of sound pictures by the microphone having to be placed as close to the actor as possible to effectively catch the sound, there being no properly sound-proofed studios. The script-girl is an unknown entity in the Indian studios and a pre-conceived scenario itself being sometimes absent, some directors carry it all in their heads. The camera is rarely moved from the normal eyelevel angle and it is still more rare to find the camera traveling to and from the subject. This fixed camera naturally restricts the movements of actors. Without taking into consideration the emotional requirements and necessities of the scene, only two studios in India make proper use of their trolleys and only in their pictures do we see mechanically smooth traveling shots in one plane. The crane is a novelty that is yet to come into the picture business in India. Movement of camera is further limited by the small sets, which generally consist of a few flats, with doors and windows and other necessary decoration painted on them in a dull brown color — showing that our cameramen haven't yet got out of their "ortho" days — placed on one or two sides. This, of course, limits the camera to that one angle. Reverse shots, naturally, are impossible, there being nothing but the studio compound on the other side. The camera has to be very carefully placed, to bt within bounds, and this careful placement does not give the cameraman an opportunity even to "pam" on an action. The only variety he can afford is to change from 25 mm. to 50, and back again, which generally happens when the dialogue breaks down, when the director asks the lens to be changed and proceeds with the action. Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.