How Painful Is That Mottled Lattice Light

Vetri Maaran on cinema in times of the ubiquitous camera, multiple screens for consumption and the democratisation of the craft.

WHAT does the 21st century hold for cinema? Let’s view that question from different perspectives. Content, I feel, is going to be shaped by television series, or rather online streaming platforms (we’ll just call it television for now). For writers, these platforms are great—there is no restriction and so, there’s a lot of liberty. And, a number of big writers have proved that. I’m not talking about the Indian television scenario, but about the wider, global context; television series like Narcos or Game of Thrones. I just watched (Lana and Lilly) Wachowski’s Sense 8. They are breaking all the taboos and crossing social boundaries so easily. And to be able to discuss something of that sort on television...of course I mean an Internet platform like Netflix is very good. In India, I feel these sort of films will come when we sense a play to these platforms. I’m expecting it very soon though. Whatever we’ve seen on television in our part of the world is obsolete. It has to give way for new things to come.

Talking about technicality, movies are going to be more stereoscopic. It’s the big thing. Now, there is no differentiation between video and films. You can make a film on an iPhone and screen it on the big screen, it doesn’t make a difference. What it means is that the craft is going to improve immensely. We all know how to make a film and these days, the right question would be: what to make a film into? Earlier, it was the reverse. See, every 10-year-old kid has his parents’ mobile phone, takes a birthday party video and makes an edit on his own. So they are editors, filmmakers and scriptwriters themselves. They have the access and in terms of craft, it’s going to be very good.