Dishoom And Dishkiyaaon: The Silent Voices That Make Hindi Cinema
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.
What It Takes To Be An Academic Amongst Film Stars
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.
Indian Film Publicity And Art Deco: Combining Modernity With A Critique Of The Modern
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
The Art Of Dubbing And Creating The Magic Of The Original In Hindi Cinema
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
On Workers Who Go About Their Business With The Industry Of Ants
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
Fighting For Rights And Humane Film Work Culture In Bollywood
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
Hairstyle: A Metaphor And A Cultural Marker In Bollywood
For Bollywood hairstylist Avan Contractor, with more than two decades of experience behind her, hairdo is more than making a statement
The Gunman Of Bollywood Whose Guns Don’t Kill
An arms and explosives expert, who manufactures and provides prop guns for films, Vishal Tyagi has ridden the wave of action movies
Make-up Artist In Bollywood: Where Fighting Biases Is Part Of The Package
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
Hindi Cinema: For A Movie To Click, You Need The Right Location
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
Bollywood: Meet Shaukat Khan Who Owns 36 Vanity Vans And Wants To Own More
Shaukat Khan runs a fleet of vanity vans with compact make-up rooms, toilet facilities and his ambitions
The Sound & The Fury: Sensitising Audience To The Aesthetics Of Sounds In Movies
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
The Death Of Good 'Sound' In Hindi Cinema
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
Why Grip On A Film Set Is Crucial To Shooting A Scene, And Shooting It Well
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.
A Wearer Of Many Hats, Charushree Roy Dreams To Work With Hollywood Director Martin Scorcese
Charu Shree Roy followed her dreams into films, edting, directing, producing. There’s no stopping her now
From Below-the-line To Above-the-line, How He Shaped His Career In Bollywood
Alan McAlex is a maverick with an unusual life, a bit like the cinema he works for
'Local Dadas': Why Bhosle Brothers Are Much Sought After In Bollywood
Sagar and Guru Bhosle know Mumbai like nobody else. They are, therefore, the location gurus
Make-up Artists Of Bollywood: Making Others Look Good
An illuminating account of the life and career of one of the most zealous make-up artists of Bombay cinema
'Aram Nagar': Struggle In Bollywood And The Neighbourhood Of Hope
A colony in the Mumbai suburbs provides artists comfort in terms of theatre spaces and some means of living
Hindi Film Music Is A Large-Scale Sniffing Machine: COO Times Music
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.
Things Have Changed, We Are No More Equal: A Veteran Lightman In Bollywood
Tasked with illuminating film sets, a veteran light-man in Bollywood talks about how things have changed on set over time
Film Strugglers Are The Unrecognised Key To The Smooth Functioning Of The Dream Machine
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.
The End Of The Projectionist
With changing technologies and the digital taking over, the old master projectionist is an extinct breed. So is the art
Taking Indian Cinema To The Big Apple
A film festival programmer discusses his journey from watching Bollywood films to curating them for large audiences in New York City
The Incandescence Of Memory
Chinki Sinha on putting this issue of Outlook together and on the defiance of memory and words
'The Last Film Show': A Film That Celebrates Life Of A Projectionist
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
Propmaster Shrini: Finding And Managing Props
Life for the propmaster, who brings to life a movie set with minutest details, has been a Sisyphean metaphor
Bollywood: Making Production Designing Her Calling
Outlook chronicles the journey that Meenal Agarwal, a photojournalist-turned production designer, has travelled in the Hindi film industry
Film Set: Life Is More Than Light And Shade For A Gaffer
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 Of Hindi Cinema
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.
Weaving Magical Worlds Through Imagination
Aradhana Seth builds magical worlds in her home, shrines with mytho-political Gods and dazzling sets that show an imagination simultaneously global and local
Photo Essay: Working With Imagined And Real Spaces For Characters To Inhabit In Hindi Cinema
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'
Masala Versus Art House
Entertainment is more important than critical acclaim, says veteran film reviewer Taran Adarsh
Rallying For Cine-workers During Covid
The pandemic threw into relief the sharp differences between the rich and the poor in the film industry
A Stuntman's Dangerous Legacies
As a stuntee, Amritpal Singh risks his life so the audience has a momentary thrill. And the actors take the credit.
Hindi Cinema: The Right Actor In The Right Role
A casting director's job is more important and difficult than you think. Ask Nandini Shrikent
Hindi Cinema: What It Takes To Build A Career As A Junior Artist Coordinator
Co-ordinating junior artists requires respecting them, says Pappu Lekhraj
Managing The Stars: It's All In The Branding
Parull Gossain has the difficult but heady task of making stars into brands
Bollywood: Who Will Oil The Dream Machine?
The maker of Bollywood Dreams discusses the many problems that plague the Hindi cinema industry
Ordinary Person, Extraordinary Vision
A VFX expert, Jayant Hadke, talks about what drives him to make magic happen onscreen in Indian cinema
Dancing To Bollywood's Tunes
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
Hindi Cinema: Behind The Lens
The translation of the vision of a director into celluloid depends a lot on the craftsman holding the camera
The Genius Of Indian Cinema's Cinematographers
On the many achievements of contemporary digital cinema and the challenges ahead for cinematographers
The Place Of Cakes In Bombay Cinema
Cakes are not just decorative in Hindi films. They are markers of class, caste and history
The Delicate Art Of Film Restoration
A filmmaker, archivist and connoisseur, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, has taken upon himself to restore classics and bring them to audiences
Bollywood’s Go-to Caterer On What It Takes To Rustle Up A Meal For A Film Crew
How Rohit Yadav built himself as the go-to caterer in the Hindi film industry
The Script Less Written
As a scriptwriter, Pravesh Bhardwaj walks a lone path and will not be swerved
The Suspension of Disbelief
'There is no sound more deafening than the silence in an abandoned cinema theatre.'