From television to video piracy to audio piracy and now the bullying by OTT! The Indian cinema has bravely confronted technological challenges. Technology and inventions are the bitter truth of existence. While technology and inventions created hurdles and shattered the film business, the industry used the same technology for its survival.
In the late ’70s, when the threat from television, video piracy, and audio piracy raised its ugly head, filmmakers adopted Cinemascope technology to attract cine buffs to cinema halls! The highlight of a Cinemascope film was that, when projected on the screen, it gave a larger-than-life-size experience to the viewers! The film covered the entire widescreen and was a delight for the audience! Besides, the CinemaScope film used a four-track stereophonic sound system along with the widescreen. Thus the overall impact of watching a Cinemascope film on the screen was several times more than watching on the tiny 21-inch screen of a TV!
Cinemascope film thus took over the standard 35mm films, and every second film produced in the ’80s was a cinemascope film like Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Jaani Dushman, Mr. Natwarlal, Qurbani, etc.
The Technique Of 70mm
Besides Cinemascope, some top producers’ used the 70mm film technique to give the audience a royal cinema-watching experience. The highlight of 70mm films was that besides been widescreen, it had Six tracks of the digital stereophonic sound system. The viewing experience was crystal clear, and the sound was beyond imagination! Watching a 70 MM film was a gala experience. Films like Sholay, The Burning Train, Karma, Sagar, etc. were mega-hits. However, due to limited theaters that had 70MM projection, film producers stuck to Cinemascope and continue to make films in Cinemascope technology to date.
Piracy In The Film Industry
In the ’80s, film producers fought video and audio piracy. Malayalam director Jijo Punnoose revolutionized Indian film technology. He made India’s ‘first’ 3-D film, My Dear Kuttichathan (1984), in Malayalam. The film was a success. When dubbed in Hindi and re-released as Chota Chetan in Mumbai, it created a box office record.! Film buffs were left spellbound by the 3-D effect.
The film ran to packed houses continuously for 50 weeks (Golden Jubilee) at Mumbai’s Metro Cinema! The film, being a non-star, dubbed regional film, hence the distributors, Rajshri Films, released the film in the Matinee Show slot at Metro Cinema. However, overwhelmed by the tremendous success of the film, it was, soon, upgraded to three shows daily!
The reason behind Chota Chetan’s incredible success was the unique experience of watching the film wearing the tinted 3D glasses. Besides, the thrill of experiencing the lethal fireballs coming out of the screen towards us was an unbelievable experience!
Chota Chetan thus gave a befitting reply to video piracy! Several Hindi filmmakers made films in 3-D, like Shiva Ka Insaaf (1985 ), Saamri (1985), etc., but a lack of technological skill and poor scripts failed to boost the potential of 3-D films in the ’80s!
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