Media and Cinema: 21st-Century Conundrums
Asoke K. Laha
President & MD, Interra IT
I was a cinema buff in my younger days. I am talking about the time before ubiquitous phrases like Bollywood, Tollywood, Mollywood, etc. made their mark. The only known wood was Hollywood. It was a great fun. I remember having discussed many times over the films of legendry filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, etc. among my friends for hours together. We used to wait for each and every new release with great fanfare and expectations. At times, we were thrilled after watching the movie. And at times, we were disappointed. Yet, our love for films, actors and actresses never wavered or waned. When colour movies were shown in celluloid, we thought that was the ultimate thing to happen. At that time also, we never thought about the technology behind cinema.
Those days are gone. I am sure the yesteryear projectors and reels are kept safely in some archives. The coming generation, not even the present generation, may not have any idea about how the films were shot, edited, sound recording done and synchronized with the visuals at that time. The digitized and wired world would treat the initial steps of the film world and its hobnobbing with technology as primitive. Nobody has bothered about the technology and the drill that had gone behind the scene. The focus was on story (in the modern parlance content), charisma of hero and heroine, benevolence of the character actors, crudity and venom of the villain et all.
I am a technocrat and strongly believe that those who do not pay heed to the DNA of technology will have to quit their business sooner or later. This could be true for a manufacturing company, service provider, trader, doctor, or other professionals like lawyers, chartered accountants, etc. Yet, I felt sad when somebody told me that media and entertainment, which is reckoned as one of the sunrise sectors of the world, will be driven more by technology and less by the élan of the actors or actresses or directors or other set of people involved in the industry. The latest crave is to make the media and entertainment a vibrant industry. I do not know what would be the spin-offs of such a coveted status.
Are media or cinema driven by technology? I know the opinions will be polarized. But those who feel that it is not, may be a miniscule minority. The majority feel that it is overwhelmingly technology driven. Kudos have been given to the film Avatar - a box-office hit and known for its technical excellence and special effects. Similarly, many experiments are being carried out by experts the world over to revolutionize cinema viewing. Presently, one can shoot a film and upload it on the net. YouTube and Facebook are the offshoots of films. These radical media reach out to people, wherever they are be at home, office, flights, space, or sea at the click of a button. That is the power of new media and its strength to modulate and inform opinions and views.
The Government is taking a number of steps to make the media and entertainment industry tick. The upshot among them is the decision to connect the length and breadth of the country with optic fibre. A lot of ground has been covered in this regard. It is estimated that, in the coming months, the Government will spend Rs.20,000 crore more to connect the country with optic fibre. There is also a strong intent to make India a teleport hub to enable uplinking and downlinking to transponders, as is done in the countries like Singapore and Hong Kong. A number of legislations are on the anvil to tighten up the anti-piracy laws, IPR and content protection. The carriage fee for cable networks is going to be rationalized and installation of set-top boxes for TV reception has become mandatory in four metros, soon to be followed in other places. The Government is also focussing to enable and incentivize innovations and value additions in the media and film industry.
Big-ticket reforms are being talked about to drive technology in the media and entrainment sector. Important channels are laying down well-calibrated road map for expanding their base and providing more and more value-added and customized services to the consumers. Not to be far behind in the race, cinema in India is revamping their plans to modernize and proposes to celebrate the 100 years of history with great pomp and show. Multiplexes are the order of the day. They combine entertainment with leisure. Once you step into the comfortable ambience of a multiplex, there are many avenues that the service provider can rake in revenue other than selling the ticket, which sometimes go as steep as Rs.500 per person. You have all types of facilities that can make your watching a movie in style and comfort.
Why the new culture of multiplexes? That is also a story woven in the IT web. The advent of DVDs and home cinema and other technology-driven innovations have made inroads into the film industry. Popularization of TV and proliferation of channels, thanks to the government's liberal broadcasting policy, have enabled people to sit in the cosy confines of their house and watch their favourite films along with their loved ones, at a reasonable cost. Rampant piracy of cassettes has further reduced the cost of buying one.
The industry is expected to touch the ubiquitous US$100-billion mark by pulling all the tricks up in its sleeves. The role model it has is the IT industry. There are talks about India becoming destination for making foreign films, creation of world-class content that can be used by the gaming and cinema world, creating sound infrastructure conducive for film shooting set to international standards. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has recently signed an MOU with the Ministry of Tourism for refurbishing scenically appealing places to convert Indian landscape conducive for film shooting. New schools of excellence are being set up for animation, film editing, storing films in archives, etc.
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