From paper to screen

I clearly remember that when I was 14, I would accompany my father, who was a well known personality (a theatre man, a painter and only later, an art director) to movie sets. Back then, most movies were mythological and the sets used to be massive. Those days, the artwork for movies was done manually. Art directors took time to do the sketching. We art directors, used to conceptualise the art direction those days, and that would also include the colours of costumes worn by the actors. It was all done manually, pencil on paper. I had the wonderful opportunity of working with stalwarts like G.V. Subbarao who gave us classics like Andha Kanoon, Maang Bharo Sajna, Dil aur Deewar; Krishna Rao was among the most expensive set-persons back then. Since I spent a lot of my time at the studios with my dad, I met legendary people like Satyajit Ray and Raj Kapoor. But we would always be so shy and scared around them. So we never got around to taking pictures with them. I started off as an artist and had studied printmaking under S.W. Hayter at his studio Atelier-17 (1976-1977) in Paris. But art direction happened and I was moving between these two realms. I’ve been the art director and production designer for over 200 feature films including the international productions Pondichery, Dernier Comptoir Des Indes (French), Hanuman (French) and Branchie 1999 (Italian). I always like to work with non-realistic material to show a realistic image, which is very apt for the film industry. When I did the sets for Nayagan, for which I had won the National Award, it was to create an ambience that was realistic. And incidentally, most of the movies that I had worked on had low budgets and a short time for execution. I think I’ve used the cheapest materials with the best of effects. There was also an effort to use common materials in ways they have never been used before and that would give a rather modern effect to the set. I was lucky to enter the field during a period when the legendary art directors like Bansi Chandragupta and Sudhendu Roy were there. And, I was lucky to have worked with some of the best directors of today, who were just starting out at that time. My fondest moment was when I met Akira Kurosawa’s art director in Japan. Now, technology has changed the landscape. These days, artists don’t seem to use their imagination, but depend on computers and their assistants. Every art director has almost seven to 10 assistants and the working pattern has changed. In my opinion, perfection is important. I always look for perfection. It’s very important to have the best assistants to attain the perfection in work. One should always understand that art direction is group work. I work out my designs with a pencil and paper, even today. I think that an art director must first use his imagination and only then, bring technology into the picture.