Monday, December 24, 2001		Article

It’s A ‘digitally’ Different Sunday
Peeyush Agnihotri

SIXTEEN YEARS ago when a crystallography professor in the Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, was explaining about how a Carlsbald-twinned ‘multi-faceted crystal,’ looked like, someone among the students quipped — ‘Just like Navdeep Malhotra, Sir. Same crystal, different faces.’ The class giggled but the comment was just apt.

Ex-Flying Officer Navdeep Malhotra has a career graph as skewed as an amoeba. He wanted to be an engineer but ended up pursuing a Bachelors’ in Geology. He didn’t become a geologist. Rather he flew high above the earth as an IAF officer. Then he lost an eye. So he fine-tuned his artistic and creative abilities in NIFT where he was a topper. As you can guess he didn’t become a fashion designer and ended up being an art director with a multimedia magazine on CD ROM simply because he had a penchant for animation, graphics and designing software. Not satisfied with this either, he floated his company, Red Papaya, and met Shekhar Kapur and his associates last week to get a script approved for a digital movie. The board not only gave a nod to his script but also agreed to part-finance his amateur venture.

So now this Senior Model School, Sector 16, Chandigarh, alumni has gone hi-tech —morphed into a digital camera wielding film director. He is in Chandigarh producing a digital film. The movie called A Different Sunday revolves round the theme of caring about ones’ parents and is targetted at persons in their mid-30s who more often than not have half-baked professional and family life. Navdeep plans to complete this venture in two months flat at the cost of Rs 4 to 5 lakh and is already armed with a written permission from Chandigarh Administration. He is especially thankful to SSP Parag Jain for helping him out through the red-tape.

He plans to use Sony DSR 500 camera for shooting the film and a Macintosh Power G4 computer for post-production editing. "Post-production work will be on a non-linear scale and would be done with software like Edit5. Editing in digital mode is far superior than is done in analog, as you do not have to wade through serpentine film rolls. Just use a computer with an 80 GB hard drive and pick to edit the shot of your choice. That way you save a lot of time, money and botheration," Navdeep says and adds that this venture is an acid test for him both as a director as well as a Chandigarhian.

"I love Chandigarh. That is why the movie is going to revolve around various places in Chandigarh. The actors too are going to be from Chandigarh. Even the theme of caring about your parents despite being away from the city due to career compulsions is also so very Chandigarhian," he says.

The movie is being partly financed by Digital Talkies Private Limited, the Shekhar Kapur’s company that encourages amateur digital filmmakers. The rest of the money is being provided by a sponsorer, an engineering MNC whose name he wants to keep under the wraps.

"After the success of Monsoon Wedding it appears that the days of digital movies have set in. For mega movies you have to fight for tickets and be seated for more than three hours. It’s a full day project whereas digital movies are an instant phenomenon. People identify themselves with such movies and above all, they are convenient to watch. Instant that is." Navdeep adds that already multiplex theatres are coming up in metros and other big Indian cities as there has been a paradigm shift in the taste of cinegoers.

After the film gets completed it would be screened at Digital Talkies International Film festival to be held at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, from March 8 to 15, 2002, and would be premiered in the competitors’ category. If selected, it would be marketed under the banner of Digital Talkies and would be taken to various destinations abroad.

If this digital movie goes places will Navdeep try his hands at commercial cinema? "A sunny smile is the only answer that one could elicit from this ex-geologist, IAF officer, fashion designer, multimedia CD director… The movie will also have Navdeep’s wife, Kiron, who studied at PU’s English department, as one of the actors besides some good friends. "Some old pals from the Geology Department also?" this correspondent asks. "None," Navdeep replies. Geologists may not be good actors. But multi-faceted they are.