May 11, 1998

Tinseltown's magicians wave the wand of their imagination to conjure up a world of make-belief. With money aplenty, the fantasy goes into overdrive.

By Anupama Chopra

Goa. Babes on the beach and fun in the sun. If you can't afford the real thing, take a look at Mumbai's Film City. Spread over seven acres of land is Vasco, a small Goan town, created by Bollywood's premier art director Nitin Desai for Mansoor Khan's Josh. With its 125-ft high church, bakery shops and cafe, complete with Mario Miranda's drawings, it's an illusion which betters reality.

The mega spectacle did not come cheap; 736 labourers toiled from nine to nine for 40 days to create it. Twelve thousand planks, 18 tonnes of wood, 8,500 bags of plaster of Paris and 900m of gunny cloth went into recreating Goa. The construction was preceded by several months of research and scouting in Goa. And finally 22 coconut trees were replanted to add an authentic touch. Cost? About Rs 1.25 crore.

But the best illusions aren't about money. Art director Sabu Cyril, twice National Award winner, recently filled a tank with water and stuck a boat in it. The film, Doli Saja Ke Rakhna, the director, Priyadarshan. Using miniatures -- mostly scrap from earlier films -- and a painted background, Cyril managed to create a lifelike perspective in just one day. When new star Jyotika floats in the boat, few will be able to tell she's sitting in a tank. "I'm not telling how," says Cyril, "it's a trade secret." Cost? About Rs 10,000.

Call them Bollywood's master magicians. Art directors, trained in commercial art and design, are increasingly becoming prominent players in the film industry. The days of shoddy craftsmanship are gone. In the past five years, Desai, Cyril and others like Sharmishta Roy and Thota Tharani have done ground-breaking work in mainstream cinema. Sets, once attractive backdrops, are now talking points. Budgets are soaring, with Rs 50 lakh sets being pass .

If Desai is the king of big, Sharmishta, daughter of renowned art director Sudhendu Roy, is the queen of trendy. Posh Mumbai apartments would be hardpressed to match a duplex apartment she created for the underproduction Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Shah Rukh Khan, playing a theatre director, lived in a similarly hip house in last year's megahit Dil To Pagal Hai (DTPH). Unreal? Sure but the set fits the film's glossy look and Sharmishta walked away with the Filmfare, Screen and Lux Zee Cine Awards for best art direction.

The demand is for something grand rather than real. "If we're too authentic," remarks Desai, "people say it's an art film." In the recent hit, Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya, Arbaaz Khan and family live in an American-style ranch house supposedly in an Indian village, designed by, who else, Sharmishta. The art director's job is to make the impossible possible. A war sequence in Kamal Haasan's Maruthanayagam required military horses from Rajasthan, except that it was too expensive to fly them down to Tamil Nadu. No problem. Cyril recreated Tamil Nadu in Rajasthan using fibreglass palmyra trees.

The aim is to create illusions that upgrade reality. Currently standing on Film City's helipad is a five-level Gujarati haveli Desai created for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Built by 480 people in 32 days, its delicate Jaisalmer-inspired beauty seems almost unreal. Spectacle being specially important for songs, Bijon Das Gupta, one of Bollywood's oldest and most respected art directors, recently erected a Rs 80 lakh number for a song sequence in Veeru Devgan's Hindustan Ki Kasam. Says Desai, "Big sets and item numbers help to get publicity and make a project garam."

Trade pundits estimate that today, roughly 20 per cent to 25 per cent of a film's budget goes into sets. "Art direction budgets have gone up by 40 per cent in the past two years," says Gupta. Cyril estimates that Maruthanayagam will cost between Rs 2.5 crore and Rs 3 crore. Art directors are also becoming expensive. Their fees today would range from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh.

Attitudes towards art direction had to change. Today, audiences and directors are more aware. Since Bollywood storylines have remained static, newness comes in the trappings. Says Sharmishta: "Films today usually don't have a strong storyline. They are love stories set in cities and are more treatment-oriented. So the look becomes even more important."

But good art direction in Bollywood is often equated with big sets. Cyril, weaned on small budgets and the demanding audience of Malayalam cinema, says that there is a lot of wastage in Mumbai. "Big sets don't mean that a film is good. What counts is what's going to be on-screen." Gupta points out that the halcyon days of art direction were the 1950s and '60s. "Filmmakers had the passion and the patience to make grand sets like in Mughal-e-Azam."

But increasingly stars and directors are hoping to restore some of the former glory. Desai is experimenting with new scaffolding devices and is creating permanent props for banners he works with. Computers are common. Cyril designs entirely on his PC, using programs like 3D Studio. And next year, he hopes to start a special effects laboratory along with Priyadarshan and Malayalam superstar Mohan Lal. In fact, Desai will soon start work on renowned director Jane Campion's next feature, Holy Smoke: "There is so much opportunity here," he says, "our sets will soon be comparable to Hollywood." Perhaps a Titanic, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, is only a few years away.

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