The success of Shah Rukh Khan's Ra.One - with the 3D version, released in less than 15% of the theatres, fetching up to a quarter of the revenues in the first week - has affirmed a trend that has grown dramatically since Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron's magnum opus Avatar arrived in late 2009.
Though filmgoers were willing to pay more to see the 3D version of Ra.One, most of them, adults and children alike, complained that it was a pain to watch the film for nearly three hours with the required special glasses. The message is clear: in a cinema-loving nation where the first 3D film, My Dear Kuttichathan, was made in Malayalam in 1984, and dubbed in Hindi in 1997, the technology that remained confined to a niche earlier is now a hit.
But, in this format, the traditionally long Bollywood film is not acceptable. Even as manufacturers are trying to make lighter and more comfortable glasses, the human eye does not seem attuned to watching 3D for more than two hours at the most. With the 3D format getting a new lease of life thanks to digital projection, Bollywood filmmakers are readying to supply the desired content, while film theatre owners across the country are upgrading the technology.
It costs 15% more on average to produce a 3D movie, including the cost of conversion from the 2D format, while theatre owners need to invest in 3D projectors, a silver screen and 3D glasses. "Bollywood is being pushed to rewrite its script - to making compact, one-and-halfhour movies, like in Hollywood , and to doling out action movies instead of lovey-dovey flicks," says Nishant Fadia, chief financial officer of Prime Focus.
