Akkineni Nagarjuna, the tech-savvy actor and Managing Director of the family-owned Annapurna Studios, plans to tap information technology for film-making and post-production work to transform one of the oldest studios in the South.

Fourth Monkey Entertainment Private Ltd, a start-up based out of Bangalore, has tied up with another old film studio in Bangalore to set up a small laboratory with a few computers and a few Red One cameras — a new American digital-movie camera that produces unconventionally high-resolution images at lower costs — to offer one-stop shop for film-makers.

Until recently, use of IT in films has been restricted to a few areas, like visual effects and digital colour correction.

Now, huge servers are being set up in studios in order to dump whatever is shot, letting various units in distant cities access the content to do their bit to enhance the quality of films.

“Earlier, we used to ferry a couple of cans of films to far away places, exposing it to piracy and other problems. We are going to install IT servers where you can store all the content. This can be accessed by visual effect firms and other entities involved in enhancing quality at the same time from multiple points,” Mr Nagarjuna said.

Production houses, too, will be spared the bother of transporting huge cans of film, he added.

Linked Future

Annapurna Studios recently signed a pact with Reliance MediaWorks Ltd to manage and operate its studio facility and to operate and expand the digital post-production facility at the 22-acre studio in Hyderabad.

Mr Arun Iqbal Khan Chowdhary, Chief Executive Officer of Fourth Monkey, says the future of film-making in India is married to IT.

The 26-year-old, who has already completed 30 film projects using Red One cameras that are all the rage in the industry currently, says digital film-making will grow exponentially in India.

Chamundeswari Studios sees an opportunity in IT to revive business to suit the modern film-making needs and has agreed to join hands with this start-up.

KPMG, which conducted a study for Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on media and entertainment business, forecasts that digital post-production and digital release will increase in tune with the growing digital distribution and exhibition market in the country.

“Digital production in films has reduced film-processing and -storage costs. This trend will continue,” it said as it pegged the industry at Rs 8,600 crore by 2012 as against an estimated Rs 7,900 crore in 2011.

kurmanath@thehindu.co.in

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