Digital Malayalam Cinema: An irrelevant discussion of a relevant issue

I overheard a Malayalam film producer's PA in conversation with Parashu. Now this dude knew all the inside stuff, when i say 'inside stuff', i mean 'real underbelly stuff'. The kind of stuff that won't get written in the media. The powerful media is expected to be fearless and truthful, but the editors are after all folks with families and career aspiration.

Unlike these editors Parashu is fearless, at the same time he is wise enough to know that most of that discussion lay outside the topical scope of this blog. There was this passing bit in the conversation that i found more interesting than deals and kinks of the famous.

I must tell you guys this...he spoke of digital cinema projection. Parashu was excited by the time 'the insider' had left. He told me how the Malayalam film industry could get its glory back. Malayalam cinema with capability of the innovative subject selection, could phase out the threats it is facing from the other film markets. If only MACTA and film exhibitor's association saw with the clarity he did...

The possibility of film projectors in the theaters and multiplexes going digital would be liberating. This technology is available now. Imagine a filmmaker being able to shoot on digital, edit the film in his home pc. burn the product on to a DVD. Marketing it. Getting censor clearance and put it on the exhibition. Sounds simple and alluring, alley!! It is the economics of the film format which is hindering the technical competitiveness of Malayalam Cinema.

Conversion of film to and from digital format is a very expensive option. while in the big markets like west and the big Indian markets where cost is not a consideration, film is worked upon digitally to make enhanced visuals. That is why foreign films and current crop of hindi, tamil and telugu films have better production value. Now-a-days an art house film in those market can afford minimum budgets ranging between 2-3 crores. But for small markets of the size of Kerala, a film that costs more than a crore and an half for a mainstream film is financial suicide.

That is where digital format comes in. The digital projectors being a new technology can be expensive. What if the Kerala film distributor's and exhibitor's associations can collectively take initiative to bulk purchase digital projectors in place of film projectors. Then the cost of production of the film would come down. That would mean democratization of the film industry, letting new people into the industry making some old hands redundant (this would come in with its fair share of flux) but in the end; one of the more mature film industry and market in India would survive. This would also mean some people would have to give up the habits of deals and kinks, which is easier said than done. Till then we movie goers and cinema at large would have to suffer for their pleasures.

(disclaimer: This piece would make filmmaking in the future sound alluring and simple, Complexities of ever changing film grammars, technicalities and other intricacies , are conveniently ignored to maintain the focus of the topic of discussion. Parashu or the writer will not be take responsibility for any such illusion of simplicity and resultant acts that the above discussion conjures)