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As grand and as glorious as it gets — that’s the mission 3D cinema experience strives to achieve. "When handheld appliances are becoming so savvy, the theatre-going experience has to be value for money," says Merzin Tavaria, the co-founder and chief creative director of Prime Focus, the only company that converts 2D films into 3D in India. Not surprising then if the world’s largest film industry, Bollywood, is quickly taking to the format. Recent 3D outings like Haunted, Don 2, Ra.One and Raaz 3 have kindled a renewed interest in 3D. While some filmmakers are rejuvenating the magic of their earlier hits like Sanjay Leela Bhansali converting his epic Devdas (2002) into 3D and Boney Kapoor reviving his mega hit Mr India (1987) with 3D conversion, several others have conceptualised their films in the 3D format — Remo Fernandez’ ABCD (Anybody Can Dance), Nikhil Advani’s animation film — Delhi Safari, Yash Raj Films’ Dhoom 3 and Pooja Bhatt’s Jism 3 are some for the forthcoming ventures in 3D. First 3 D show in 1922 Can you believe it, 3D films have been around since 1915, but the format wasn’t being used for entertainment purpose only because the shoot and the display weren’t profitable then. The earliest patent for 3D movie process was filed by British film pioneer William Friese-Greene way back in the 1890s. But the earliest confirmed ticketed show of a 3D film is The Power of Love in Los Angeles on September 27, 1922. Hollywood did venture into the 3D format in the 1950s, but it is only since the 1980s that 3D gained popularity because of the IMAX theatres and Disney theme parks. But it took James Cameroon’s award-winning Avatar in 2009 to reopen the 3D market all over the world. Of the recent 3D Hollywood ventures — live action as well as animation — experts and critics have voted for Men in Black as the slickest of all. James Cameroon, whose Avatar as well as 3D-converted version of Titanic, are considered to be the precursors of the current 3D wave, aptly described technology as, "It is a window to a world where format instead of calling attention to itself disappears into the narrative. And at the end of the movie, the audience walks out of the theatre saying, ‘I didn’t see a movie, I experienced it.’" India’s 3 D foray Back home, India’s romance with 3D dates back to 1984 with Chhota Chetan, the dubbed version of Malayalam film. Subsequent 3D experiments like Shiva Ka Insaaf and Chhota Jadugar failed to work at the boxoffice and until Avatar hit the theatres, there appears to be hardly any 3D activity in India. But post-Avatar, filmmaker Farhan Akhtar yielded to the market pressures and reluctantly converted select shots of Don 2 into 3D post-production. However, the experiment did not work as Farhan had, then, admitted, "It was never on my mind while making Don 2 but after we completed some shots, we decided to go 3D. But 3D should be a pre-planned process to make the convert effective. "Undoubtedly, Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One’s post-production 3D conversion is considered to be a technological breakthrough in Indian cinema. Tavaria of Prime Focus hails Ra.One as "a milestone". The 3D version of Ra.One did reflect incremental business for the film. Director Anubhav Sinha says, "It is a new paradigm in filmmaking, opening new market space for films." Not all Bollywood scripts are compatible with 3D; Sinha feels that 3D films will be limited to a certain kind of scripts that bring out the kid in you. "You must be immersed in a 3D film, trying to feel or dodge things flying by you," he adds. His upcoming production, Warning is a 90-minute, no-interval 3D franchise about a group of friends who get into life-threatening crisis. Mostly horror scripts are opting for 3D spooks in Bollywood. About resurrecting the creepy ghost in 3D in Bhoot Returns, he says, "The right application of 3D in a horror film is going to enhance the element of fear." Regional capers Rajinikanth’s Tamil film Sivaji is being converted to 3D and at the launch of its trailer, he confessed, "I don’t plan my life; it has always been dictated by God’s will, but I might have to think about 3D when selecting scripts for my next films." Sivaji will release prior to Kochadaiyaan (Tamil), his next 3D project directed by his daughter Soundarya R Ashwin, "3D is the future of film industry," he said. Regional cinema is rooting for 3D big time, Tamil horror comedy Kanchana, later dubbed into Telugu, will now be re-released in 3D format. Marathi filmmaker Mahesh Kothare is all set to shoot the sequel of his hit thriller, Zapatlela 2 over a non-stop 36-day schedule at Nitin Desai’s set of a village fair. Punjabi feature film Khauf, starring Jimmy, Prabhleen Sandhu and Shakti Kapoor will be the first Punjabi 3D feature film. With so many 3D films flooding the markets, the moot question is — are there enough theatres to screen those? "We only have about 250 theatres compatible with 3D format all across India. A lot more theatres need to be upgraded," cautions Tavaria. However, with so many emerging formats of entertainment to satiate the hunger of viewers’ for novelty, 3D may not be last frontier. Holographic films are the future — watch out! The depth perception of 3 D
Merzin Tavaria, Prime Focus, explains that 3D shooting rig is cumbersome and time-consuming but the final production costs turn out to be cheaper as compared to post-production conversion from 2D to 3D. So he advocates hybrid use of both the techniques, "That gives flexibility and comfort of conversion." Having second thoughts Vikram Bhatt, who has made Haunted and Raaz 3 in 3D, points out that this format adds a 40 per cent extra to the budget. So in hindsight, Shirish Kunder’s decision to abandon 3D conversion of his Akshay-Sonakshi starrer Joker seems like a wise one. The fact that 3D camera rigs and stereographers have to be imported is cost-prohibitive, also the process is laborious and time-consuming, therefore, some filmmakers are having second thoughts about going in for 3D shoot, Rakesh Roshan has abandoned plans to shoot Krrish 3 in 3D and he’s setting aside almost a year for the 3D conversion.
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A 3 D movie enhances the
illusion of depth perception because of which the 2D images appear to
be ‘popping out’ of the screen. 3D format created an illusion of
depth using specific wavelengths of red, green, and blue for the right
eye, and different wavelengths of red, green, and blue for the left
eye. The special glasses filter out specific wavelengths giving the
wearer the 3D view. Either a regular film camera is used to shoot two
perspectives or computer-generated imagery is used in post-production
to generate two perspectives. Special projection and glasses are used
to provide the illusion of depth while watching the film.