Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; April 27, 2020)

Actress Malavika Mohanan is worried about her 22-year-old younger brother, Aditya, who is a student in the UK and is stranded there because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The Beyond The Clouds actress told BT, “Aditya is an archaeology-history student, and he has been suffering from anxiety and stress due to the uncertainty.”

Malavika and Aditya are ace cinematographer K U Mohanan’s children. Talking about her brother’s current situation, Malavika said, “Aditya is living in rented quarters outside the campus. He has a tiny room with a single bed for himself. Since several students from other countries have left, he’s all alone. It’s taking a toll on him mentally as London has been hit badly.”

Malavika added, “It’s expensive there and at least, we are in a position to transfer money to him. What about the families who may not have enough resources? There is no provision for cooking in Aditya’s room and ordering food from restaurants is not safe. He has been surviving on canned food for over a month now. I am worried about his mental and physical health.”

The actress pointed out that lack of clarity is a big issue. “Will they be able to come back after May 3? We don’t know. Aditya has written multiple emails to the High Commission of India in London, but hasn’t received any response.”

Speaking from London, Aditya told us, “Many of us wanted to fly back, but it was difficult given the lockdown in India. I am sure that the Indian High Commission here is receiving thousands of calls every day, but they need to be receptive to the people in need. Right now, the only way to reach them is through Twitter. A few NGOs are helping the Indian nationals stuck here.”

Post the success of AndhaDhun, Tabu explains why she could never be stereotyped and how she credits her film choices to her instinct
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; November 25, 2018)

Are you surprised by the success of AndhaDhun?
It is an amazing thing to happen to any piece of art. These days, people tend to move on from a film in a week of its release, but with AndhaDhun, I am still getting calls and messages. A lot of credit goes to Sriram Raghvan and cinematographer K U Mohanan with the way he shot the film and the entire cast. The beauty of the film is its ending, and the options and possibilities are taking a life of its own. As an actor, it is enriching that the discussion is beyond box-office numbers. This is completely a new phenomenon for me. The film was made on a humble budget and the collections have been excellent, but what is important is that it has been unanimously loved and I haven't seen this happen with many films and that is what we are celebrating.

From Maqbool to Drishyam, most of the films you have been a part of are still being discussed. Do you feel invincible?
No, that would be a very strong and dangerous feeling to settle in. I feel gratified and a sense of pride in the choices I have made. The fact is that I was completely immersed in the process for every film. I just wanted to be the best at whatever I did. I never thought about the results. Having said that I didn't want to play just another heroine, neither did I aspire to play the good girl who is shy and smiles all the time. There are many layers in a woman and I want to explore all of them. So, my approach has always been different. That is why I think people could not understand me or bracket me as an actor. I would often hear people saying, 'Yeh Tabu hai kya, isko chahiye kya?' (laughs). I have always gone with the flow and followed my instincts.

Did you ever worry that the choices you made might not work?
I had no intention of becoming an actor. Everything in my life has happened by chance. I don't assess my work so much. It may seem that I have intellectualised the process because of the films I have chosen, but that's not the case. When I started out, I was doing several films at the same time and the roles were as different as chalk and cheese. In one film, I was playing a suicide bomber [Hu Tu Tu] and in another, I was a demure daughter-in-law [Hum Saath Saath Hain]. The sheer fact that I would get to portray various emotions was thrilling, which also helped showcase my talent. I had conviction in my choices as I knew they would work for me.

People start expecting more from actors like you even if it's a masala film. Does that put unwarranted pressure on you?
It makes me vigilant because at the end of the day we are working in an industry of perception. It can also become a problem if I get acknowledged only in content-driven films and not the masala projects. I don't do quality work because it is a perception.

You don't seem to be bothered about perception or image...
I guess that is because of my temperament. I never believed in rules and regulations. I never thought ki heroines aise expressions de rahi hai toh mujhe bhi waise hi karna chahiye. I always wanted to express myself as an actor and never thought of consciously breaking the mould. So when I wanted to do loud and hilarious roles like I did in Biwi No 1 (1999), I didn't think twice. And I had fun doing that film. In the same year, I did five other films and all the characters were different. But it never stemmed from the thought of challenging the norms or showing people ki main kuch alag kar sakti hoon.

You are collaborating with your longtime friend Ajay Devgn in De De Pyaar De...
It is a different experience with Ajay as this is a mature love story which we haven't attempted before. The film explores real relationships in a light-hearted manner. We have known each other for over two decades, so, it's been a great working relationship. On sets, it has never been a formal relationship and it never feels like we are working which is a good thing.

Tabu's next with Salman Khan
Despite featuring in several films with Salman Khan, Tabu has never starred opposite him. The trend continues as she does a cameo in Khan's next film, Bharat. "It's one of the most important scenes. If I had to do something in a film like Bharat, this would be it. I am happy to be a part of just one scene," she says and adds, "We have known each other even before he made his debut, so, I wouldn't say no to him. I also know that he and Ali Abbas Zafar would not approach me to do something inconsequential.

Goodbye parda, projection booth, and even PDA in the dark. With a Delhi multiplex switching to an LED screen, it may be the end of another era
Sonam Joshi (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 2, 2018)

Tikeshwar Nath still remembers the day he started working as a projectionist at Delhi’s Delite Cinema. It was 1994, and celluloid ruled the roost. Hum Aapke Hain Koun was playing in theatres, and was to continue its hit run for another 52-odd weeks. For every show, he would head up to his little booth, power up the “carbon stick projector” and pour out the stuff of dreams — a svelte Madhuri Dixit in flamboyant purple and a charming young Salman Khan.

“When film reels arrived, we had to assemble them from different cans, splice them together with tape, then reverse them after every show. It was hard work,” says Nath, 48, the senior-most projectionist at the 64-year-old theatre, who’s seen the transition from analogue to digital. The screening of a film now means transfer of data from a hard disk to a server, activating it with a code, and letting the projector roll. Those bulky reel canisters have been consigned to the mechanical past, along with the whir of the projectors, the sound of the sprockets locking into their holes, and the beam of golden light overhead.

If the transition from celluloid to digital marked a big shift in how films were screened, winds of change are blowing again. This week, multiplex chain PVR introduced the country’s first LED cinema screen in partnership with Samsung in Delhi. It replaces projectors, which have been central to the movie-watching experience since the birth of cinema over 120 years ago. This LED screen is essentially a giant television screen, which Samsung says has “unmatched visual quality, technical performance and reliability over traditional projectors”. “Content becomes far more enriched and enhanced, which we think will excite the audience,” says Puneet Sethi, vice-president, enterprise business at Samsung India.

Launched in Korea in 2017, this is the 12th Onyx screen in the world. Samsung plans to roll out five more LED screens in India by the end of the year. The LED screen is unaffected by ambient lighting, which means you can now eat your buttered popcorn and nachos in non-darkened theatres.

It’s also curtains for the parda. “A lot has happened as far as sound and projection are concerned, but the humble parda or vinyl screen stayed till this LED came along,” says Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, joint managing director of PVR. He says the new screen has another advantage: Saving prime real estate occupied by the projection booth. But this new tech doesn’t come cheap — PVR said upgrading to an LED screen costs nearly Rs 7 crore.

As online streaming threatens to overtake traditional theatres, can newer technology woo audiences? “Over the decades, the industry has faced competition from cassettes, piracy, and now streaming services, but there is a social need to go out and watch movies,” Bijli says.

While filmmakers have experimented with formats since the Lumière brothers first showed their films in the 1890s, the evolution of projection technology has been comparatively slower. Movies were shot on 35mm film and projectors cast them on white screens in darkened theatres. The shift to digital took place towards the end of the 20th century.

Film theorist and historian Amrit Gangar says that in the last 20 years, projection technology has changed faster than in the century before. “Around 1999, digital projectors began to be installed, first in cities,” he says. A decade ago, 4K digital projectors were launched which had a higher resolution than existing 2K projectors and showed brighter, sharper images. Not everyone is a fan though. For Gangar, the analogue 35mm projector was “more immersive” than digital projection that may be “faultless, but it looks synthetic and, to an extent, false”.

“To sell a new technology, they’ll always claim it’s better and brighter but brightness is not the determining factor,” says Bollywood cinematographer K U Mohanan. “The scientific way to see a film is through a projector. Since the projected image is a reflected image with mixed light, it’s more soothing for the eyes. LED backlit screens will exhaust the eyes,” he adds.

Gangar feels the new viewing technology will also be far less sensual.

If the multiplexes do decide to keep the lights on, it will be far less sensual in other ways as well. After all, a movie theatre has been the favourite place for couples to make out or at least hold hands.

With inputs from Mohua Das


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Pop-up plexes bring theatres back to the small town

Sonam Joshi (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 2, 2018)

The movie-watching experience is changing beyond the big cities. A few years ago, Sushil Chaudhary realised that most villages had no halls as most single screens had wound up. Chaudhary, an engineer, designed his own travelling, inflatable multiplex, the digiplex. “I was inspired by touring tent or tambu talkies in old Indian trucks in Maharashtra that would do open-air screenings,” Chaudhary says.

Unlike the tambu talkie, a digiplex is fully air-conditioned, equipped with a 18ftx7ft screen and surround sound, and seats 120 people on chairs. Prices are kept low: tickets cost between Rs 30 and Rs 70, with a bag of popcorn for Rs 8 to Rs 15. These inflatable air-conditioned digiplexes can be packed into trucks and assembled in just 2.5 hours. Chaudhary’s company, PictureTime, runs 37 such trucks with plans to expand to over 100 by next March. His focus is on entertainment dark spots — villages and Tier-3 towns with populations of 50,000 to a lakh. “I want families to come back to theatres.”

Caravan Talkies, started by distribution company UFO Moviez in 2015, works on a similar concept, but in even smaller villages. Its fleet of 114 vans travels to villages with a population of less than 10,000, and it is experimenting with LED screens. “We take content to the audience without investing in brick and mortar cinema screens,” says Siddharth Bharwaj, national sales head, enterprise business, UFO Moviez. “Just like the bioscopewala took cinema to the villages earlier, we thought why can’t we take cinema on wheels to an audience that has never seen a movie on a big screen?”

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; April 19, 2018)

People say that children usually follow in their parents’ footsteps. But for Malavika Mohanan, it was just the opposite. While her dad K U Mohanan is a celebrated cinematographer, the young lady is ready for a career in front of the lens. The actress talks to us about her maiden Hindi venture, Majid Majidi’s Beyond The Clouds (BTC), her wish list of actors as well as directors and how she plans to take her filmi career ahead from here. Over to her...

Beyond The Clouds is quite an unconventional choice for a debut. Did you always want it this way?
Like everyone else, even I wanted a grand debut. When I say grand, I mean an A-league team. And it can’t get more A-league than this. I had Majidi sir leading the pack, Vishal Bhardwaj has written the dialogues and Ishaan (Khatter) is a newcomer, but he is a fantastic performer. So the team was kick-ass and it was an amazing experience. Today, even in Bollywood, things are changing and a lot of focus is on performances instead of naach-gaana.

The line between conventional and unconventional cinema is blurring now. Comment.
Previously, there was a strong divide between indie and masala films, but yes, now the lines are getting blurred. The change is great because it opens up different avenues for actors like me who can do a Beyond The Clouds and an Imtiaz Ali film side by side. We can fit into different movies and I hope I get a diverse range of roles. And why not? In Hollywood, actors get all kinds of roles, so it’s high time that in Bollywood, too, we start exploring new stuff rather than just sticking to massy formula films.

Does it mean you are averse to doing a movie in the masala space?
I grew up watching Karisma Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan’s movies. So, I respect them and their cinema, too. I want to work in a team that looks after you. There’s Karan Johar and I have loved his films, so why won’t I do that? I was seven or eight when Kuch Kuch Hota Hai released. I want to work with Dharma and even with Vishal sir because he does different cinema. I got into my costume and character in BTC. If I can do that, I should be able to do the others as well. I would like to believe that today, there’s a huge space for newcomers like me. Look at Ishaan, he already has a lot of attention and has signed a film before this. But he was interested because he was hungry as an actor. To be directed by Mr Majidi is the cherry on the cake. Only an idiot would think twice about doing his film. Today, there’s no formula to becoming a star. So you might as well do what you love.

Have you already planned your next project?
I’m in talks with a few filmmakers and I need to decide which project to do next. But I don’t want to get stereotyped, but play interesting characters.

Any plans of doing an international film?
Not yet. I have been too consumed with this project. We have travelled with it to a bunch of film festivals, but I haven’t given Hollywood a thought as of now. All the movies I’m in talks for currently, are in Hindi. But, yes, the walls are getting thinner and people like Priyanka Chopra are doing stuff that’s not been done before.

Given a chance, which actor would you work with in a movie?
I love Ranbir Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan and would readily do a film with them. Also, because we have grown up watching SRK. My dad (K U Mohanan) shot Don 2, Raees and whenever he’s shooting, I keep going on set. I have met Shah Rukh several times and every time I meet him, I have my fangirl moment. Maybe when I meet him next, I’d talk to him about working in a film together.

Neha Maheshwri (BOMBAY TIMES; April 18, 2018)

Malavika Mohanan began her acting career with Malayalam cinema, but she admits that Bollywood has always been her goal. Now, as she is all set to realise her dream with Iranian filmmaker Majidi Majidi’s Beyond The Clouds (BTC), the young actress talks to BT about being self-critical, finding sexist films really uncool and how she doesn’t judge a film by its label. Excerpts...

Everyone is looking forward to Majid Majidi’s first film in India. Considering that the movie features a fine ensemble cast, it could be very intimidating for an actor who is fairly new to the industry...
There isn’t much nervousness because the people involved are masters in their craft, right from Majidi sir to Rahman (A R Rahman, music director) sir. There’s a sense of security, faith and excitement, because the film has been made with so much love and passion. Our focus was always on the story, which is the real hero of the film. Having said that, I do get a bit apprehensive when I watch my scenes. As an actor, I keep thinking that I could have performed better. I am extremely self-critical of my work, and I need to get over that habit (smiles).

There’s a lot of buzz around the movie, but do you feel that a lot of times, films that win critical acclaim don’t necessarily get the success they deserve at box office?
That was never a reason for worry. In fact, I was excited to be a part of this film, because for any actor, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How often does Majid Majidi come to India to make a film? I was particular about beginning my innings in Bollywood with a good film, because the kind of people you start your journey with is very crucial. I feel blessed that everything fell into place. I have never judged a film by its label or stereotypes; I don’t understand them and prefer not to use tags to define films. For me, it’s either a good film or a bad film. What really annoys me are sexist films, where stalking a girl, kissing her against her will or even slapping her butt is portrayed as heroism. I find such films really uncool. I hope that as an industry, we put an end to it, because films do influence young minds.

Considering the fact that BTC is being touted as Ishaan Khatter’s debut, were you apprehensive of being overshadowed?
It indeed is Ishaan’s debut, but I hope that all the actors get their share of attention. I came on board just 10 to 15 days before the shoot commenced. Once you sign a film, you need time to mentally prepare yourself for the role; 10 days were hardly anything. So, at that point, my attention was solely on the script — I wanted to deliver my best and prove to Majidi sir that I am a good actor. I never bothered about the other aspects and I hope that doesn’t change. There was so much scope to perform in this film and I believe that if you do your job well, you will succeed. I hope people like my performance, because a lot of hard work has gone into it. It was emotionally and physically challenging.

Despite a great start in Malayalam cinema with Pattam Pole, you didn’t follow it up with a spate of films. For a newcomer, you have been rather selective...
In the South industry, it’s normal for actors to do five-six films in a year. However, I didn’t want to lose my focus by doing too many films. My long-term goal has always been Hindi cinema, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t act in Malayalam films. I have grown up in Mumbai and I feel a sense of belonging to this city. My father (K U Mohanan), too, works in this industry, but I never took his help, because he is very shy. He came from a very small town in Kerala without any money and support, and today, he is one of the top cinematographers in India. I come from a privileged family and the least I can do is to make it on my own. I have spent a lot of time in Mumbai meeting casting directors. Nobody offers you a film on platter here, very rarely do you get spotted and cast.

As someone who has worked in both industries, how different are Mollywood and Bollywood?
I feel that the vibe of BTC is similar to that of a Malayalam film. It’s like one big family; even during lunch break, nobody retires to their respective rooms. In fact, there are no vanity vans on Malayalam movie sets. Everyone, including the biggest stars, sits together for lunch. Everyone is treated as an equal. However, on the sets of Hindi films in which my father has worked, actors return to vanity vans after their scene has been shot. Here, you sometimes see a kind of discrimination where people don’t interact with those who are junior to them (as far as their position in the industry is concerned). On the set of BTC, we ate and spent time together. Also, like Malayalam movies, we gave utmost importance to the story. I feel that a lot of Hindi films get lost in ego tussles ki kisi ko please karna hai...

You seem to be extremely outspoken about your views. In college too, you had come out strongly against eve-teasing with your ‘Chappal Maarungi’ campaign...
It started as a college project and was widely covered in the media. College girls are the most vulnerable to eve-teasing. Unfortunately, a lot of girls have this attitude ki chhodo rehne do, what can we do? So, it was just our way of saying that it’s not okay. You have to retaliate if a man touches you inappropriately and without your consent. I have had friends who have slapped the miscreants. At some stage, I would like to revive the campaign.

(Above) Satyajit Ray wields his 35mm film camera on actor Utpal Dutt; (Right) Christopher Nolan shot his Oscar-winning Dunkirk on a 65mm film camera

Old School Film Scores Over Digital Tech In Aesthetics, Preservation & Discipline
Mohua Das (THE TIMES OF INDIA; March 25, 2018)

Ravi K Chandran seems a little wound up. The ace cinematographer is contemplating the shifting sands of the film industry — particularly the relentless feed of new digital film formats. “All this change in technology every few days has enabled new possibilities. Anyone can film anything anytime at the press of a button,” he says, “but there is a difference, the kind you can sense between home-cooked food and fast food or between a Rembrandt oil painting and its digital printout.”

K U Mohanan, who wowed cinegoers with his camerawork in Don, Talaash and Miss Lovely, reminisces about the old-fashioned reel-to-reel film he used since he picked up his first camera as a student at FTII in Pune. “There’s romance, magic and something natural in the image captured on film.”

You hear such musings quite often in Bollywood these days. For more than a century, their world was ruled by celluloid—the medium on which movies were shot, processed and projected in theatres until about a decade ago when the digital wave turned grains into pixels.

Cans and reels have since been replaced by hard drives and digital files; while classic hallmarks of cinema-grains, flicker, and drone of the projector—are rapidly becoming antique.

The Indian film industry, whose cinematic heritage of 135 years is based entirely on analogue prints, witnessed a digital revolution in the past decade with 85% of films going digital in 2012. It was the same year that Prasad Film Laboratories, the largest chain of post-production facilities in India, shut its celluloid-processing units and rebranded itself as a pioneer in digital services. Eastman Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection and Fuji stopped selling negatives and 35mm film stock. Today, India is among the first few countries to have completely broken away from its analogue past.

What changed was not only the making but also showcasing. Instead of lugging around kilos of film cans across halls, they could be transferred to a disk or wirelessly. New releases could hit hundreds of screens at a go and enter the Rs 100-crore club while independent filmmakers could afford small-budget films. Digital tools made risk-taking easier in terms of techniques and touching up scenes.

Yet, senior cinematographers are almost desperate now to bring celluloid back. Sudeep Chatterjee, the man behind the lens for films such as Padmaavat, Bajirao Mastani and Dhoom 3, is not anti-digital. But he says film—his “favourite medium”—should be an available choice. “Today there are digital interventions—graphics and visual effects—at every level. But not every movie requires it. In such cases, why shouldn’t film be available?”

“In India, we’ve never had a culture of preserving our past while leaping on to something new. Age-old cameras, scanning machines and projectors are being junked. Big companies such as Arriflex have stopped making film cameras. It’s unfair for India to discard its time-honoured format for something still in its infancy,” says Mohanan.

Chandran, known for his visual metaphors in Tamil and Hindi films such as Kandukondain Kandukondain, Yuva and Dil Chahta Hai, talks about aspects of traditional film that a digital one would not be able to recreate. “Film is a chemical process in which light enters the lens and hits the negative. The chemical reaction creates rich hues, light and shade dynamics, and dreamy textures that go missing in digitally regimented visuals.” These lensmen also believe that limited film stock breeds discipline and rigour on the sets. “The sanctity of a shot is gone when one knows they can indulge in a flurry of takes,” adds Chatterjee.

Archival durability in the time of constant upgrade cycles is another growing concern. “Something stored on your floppy disk cannot be played anywhere anymore; 1K and 2K cameras have no value now while film format cameras from the black-and-white age can still be used,” says Chandran.

Anyone who has ever suffered the heartbreak of a hard drive crash or tried to watch home videos recorded in a now obsolete device knows of the dark side to digital storage. In two reports titled The Digital Dilemma published successively in 2007 and 2012, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences raised concerns about the longevity of digital material. Although archives surveyed for the reports showed that unlike traditional motion picture film stock that can be stored at proper temperatures and humidity, long-term preservation mechanisms to maintain access to digital content for 100 years or longer had not yet been developed.

This perhaps explains why some reactionaries are gearing up to preserve celluloid in India steered by filmmaker and archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur who set up the Film Heritage Foundation in 2014 to protect India’s decaying film heritage. Dungarpur’s efforts and the cinematographers’ wish might get a shot in the arm given that Hollywood stalwart Christopher Nolan is making overtures to the country’s film fraternity.

After bringing together professionals from art, film preservation and cinema to discuss steps needed to protect the medium of film and reposition its importance in an aggressive digital market in Los Angeles, London and Mexico City, Nolan and Tacita Dean, visual artist and founder of Save Film, a movement petitioning Unesco to safeguard the medium of film will be in Mumbai next weekend to dwell on the need to preserve photochemical film and keep it available for future generations. “Getting rid of celluloid is like getting rid of the grandmother. It’s not about choosing one above another but the need to co-exist. Hopefully, Nolan and Tacita, who wrote to me wanting to come and support our film heritage will draw our industry’s attention,” says Dungarpur, just back from a rescue mission of resuscitating 30,000 film reels in Sri Lanka. “This was possible because of the stability celluloid has achieved since 1895 when the Lumiere Brothers showed the first film.”

Celluloid is staging a comeback in Hollywood; some of the nominees at this year’s Oscars—Dunkirk, Phantom Thread, The Post, I, Tonya, and Call Me By Your Name— were mainly shot on film, not digital cameras. “I’m so glad that veterans such as Nolan, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino are sticking to film. I wish we could do the same here,” says Chandran.

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 19, 2017)

She plays Ishaan Khatter's sister in his relationship-based human drama
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 14, 2017)