COVER STORY
With no job security, numerous cine-workers such as craftsmen, artists and technicians are often on the brink. Many have fallen by the wayside over the last three years due to the pandemic.
Outlook Magazine - 16 January 2023
In this anniversary issue of Outlook, we sound the silent voices that make Hindi cinema
A well-known foreign scholar of Hindi cinema, Rachel Dwyer, says scholars of Indian cinema are part of a sizeable global network, and considerable works have been done at the university level to make Indian cinema part of academic research and teaching.
In his incisive analysis, screenwriter and researcher Rajesh Devraj tells how Deco influenced the works of publicity artists like J. Mistri since the late 1930s, juxtaposing the modern with the traditional
Reflecting on her interaction with those faceless artists—script-writers and voice artists—author Tejaswini Ganti says dubbing professionals in Mumbai are serving as key cultural producers, brokers and mediators in India’s contemporary media landscape
Anthropologist Clare Wilkinson who has studied designers, assistants, hairdressers, craftspeople and crew, argues that there are different kinds of value throughout the film world, all of them essential, even if they come in different currencies
In its 60-year journey, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees, a motherbody with 32 craft associations, has emerged as the conscience keeper of Bollywood. It has made film makers realise that every life on a film set matters
For Bollywood hairstylist Avan Contractor, with more than two decades of experience behind her, hairdo is more than making a statement
An arms and explosives expert, who manufactures and provides prop guns for films, Vishal Tyagi has ridden the wave of action movies
For make-up artist and hair stylist Shabana Latif, life in Mumbai has been an uphill task especially when you are a single woman and a Muslim
Every film is an archive—the Bombay of yesteryears is different from the Mumbai of today. The location where the film is shot can make or break it
A well-known foreign scholar of Hindi cinema, Rachel Dwyer, says scholars of Indian cinema are part of a sizeable global network, and considerable works have been done at the university level to make Indian cinema part of academic research and teaching.
In his incisive analysis, screenwriter and researcher Rajesh Devraj tells how Deco influenced the works of publicity artists like J. Mistri since the late 1930s, juxtaposing the modern with the traditional
Reflecting on her interaction with those faceless artists—script-writers and voice artists—author Tejaswini Ganti says dubbing professionals in Mumbai are serving as key cultural producers, brokers and mediators in India’s contemporary media landscape
Anthropologist Clare Wilkinson who has studied designers, assistants, hairdressers, craftspeople and crew, argues that there are different kinds of value throughout the film world, all of them essential, even if they come in different currencies
In its 60-year journey, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees, a motherbody with 32 craft associations, has emerged as the conscience keeper of Bollywood. It has made film makers realise that every life on a film set matters
For Bollywood hairstylist Avan Contractor, with more than two decades of experience behind her, hairdo is more than making a statement
An arms and explosives expert, who manufactures and provides prop guns for films, Vishal Tyagi has ridden the wave of action movies
For make-up artist and hair stylist Shabana Latif, life in Mumbai has been an uphill task especially when you are a single woman and a Muslim
Every film is an archive—the Bombay of yesteryears is different from the Mumbai of today. The location where the film is shot can make or break it
OTHER STORIES
Shaukat Khan runs a fleet of vanity vans with compact make-up rooms, toilet facilities and his ambitions
P.M. Satheesh, Indian cinema’s go-to sound designer, creates soundscapes that breathe life into the moving picture to make the audience’s experience memorable
Kuldeep Sood, a sound recordist from another era when sensitivity to the world met improvisation of technique, talks about how sounds used to speak when words didn’t
Gripping, unlike DPing, isn’t a set job that comes with stardom or recognition; there are no awards instituted for grips, no red carpets or galas either. Yet they run the invisible machinery that creates magic within the shot.
Charu Shree Roy followed her dreams into films, edting, directing, producing. There’s no stopping her now
Alan McAlex is a maverick with an unusual life, a bit like the cinema he works for
Sagar and Guru Bhosle know Mumbai like nobody else. They are, therefore, the location gurus
An illuminating account of the life and career of one of the most zealous make-up artists of Bombay cinema
A colony in the Mumbai suburbs provides artists comfort in terms of theatre spaces and some means of living
Mandar Thakur, the COO of Times Music, says the current Hindi film music industry is in deep trouble, it isn’t a genre but just a large-scale, multimedia ‘sniffing’ machine that picks up global trends in music and incorporates them.
Tasked with illuminating film sets, a veteran light-man in Bollywood talks about how things have changed on set over time
When an actor says to a casting director that 'struggle jaari hain', he confirms that giving up is not an option, the struggle goes on.
With changing technologies and the digital taking over, the old master projectionist is an extinct breed. So is the art
A film festival programmer discusses his journey from watching Bollywood films to curating them for large audiences in New York City
Chinki Sinha on putting this issue of Outlook together and on the defiance of memory and words
Pan Nalin’s The Last Film Show is a paean to a lost man, a lost moment in film history, and the power of memory
Life for the propmaster, who brings to life a movie set with minutest details, has been a Sisyphean metaphor
Outlook chronicles the journey that Meenal Agarwal, a photojournalist-turned production designer, has travelled in the Hindi film industry
Mulchand Dedhia, who made his own lights, knows that the camera cannot see anything without light and every story has a tonality that only lighting can provide
The ‘below-the-line’ people often work from 4 am to midnight, for weeks on end, in order to imagine, improvise, and to realise the vision of Hindi cinema. The movie set is ephemeral. The film is seen by the world and often enough drifts into oblivion. But each member of the crew has a story that is inspiring or heartbreaking or both.
Aradhana Seth builds magical worlds in her home, shrines with mytho-political Gods and dazzling sets that show an imagination simultaneously global and local
In her evocative photo essay, Aradhana Seth gives us a glimpse of her creative world by showcasing some of her works in films like 'The Darjeeling Unlimited' and 'The Bourne Supremacy'
Entertainment is more important than critical acclaim, says veteran film reviewer Taran Adarsh
The pandemic threw into relief the sharp differences between the rich and the poor in the film industry
As a stuntee, Amritpal Singh risks his life so the audience has a momentary thrill. And the actors take the credit.
A casting director's job is more important and difficult than you think. Ask Nandini Shrikent
Co-ordinating junior artists requires respecting them, says Pappu Lekhraj
Kabir Munaf Sheikh was film-crazy. Now he serves the stars
Parull Gossain has the difficult but heady task of making stars into brands
The maker of Bollywood Dreams discusses the many problems that plague the Hindi cinema industry
A VFX expert, Jayant Hadke, talks about what drives him to make magic happen onscreen in Indian cinema
Raj Surani entered the world of song and dance as a 14-year-old after the death of his father. Now he coordinates big-scale dances of Bollywood blockbusters
The translation of the vision of a director into celluloid depends a lot on the craftsman holding the camera
On the many achievements of contemporary digital cinema and the challenges ahead for cinematographers
Cakes are not just decorative in Hindi films. They are markers of class, caste and history
A filmmaker, archivist and connoisseur, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, has taken upon himself to restore classics and bring them to audiences
How Rohit Yadav built himself as the go-to caterer in the Hindi film industry
As a scriptwriter, Pravesh Bhardwaj walks a lone path and will not be swerved
'There is no sound more deafening than the silence in an abandoned cinema theatre.'
