Terminator 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and X-Men: First Class are all top Hollywood productions and what sets these movies apart are their perplexing visual effects (VFX). The man credited for leading the VFX team behind these movies, and many others, Michael Karp, held a session on the visual effects trends in Hollywood and Bollywood here on Saturday. The session was jointly organized by the Kerala Chalachitra Academy and Toonz Animation Academy.
The VFX expert, who has been part of several VFX-centric movies like Titanic, Batman vs Superman and Hunger Games, has been residing in India for the past three years. “India has evolved to become a centre for all of Hollywood’s VFX needs. Availability of talented yet cheap labour has prompted producers to shift almost all animation activities to India. Most Hollywood movies are now animated in India,” said Karp. VFX work for a film which may cost $100 million in the US, could be made at a staggeringly low cost of $10 million in India without compromising on the quality, he said.
“There was a time when the quality of VFX facilities and talent available in India was inferior to what Hollywood has to offer. But the budget available for doing Bollywood movies are high nowadays and therefore movie makers do not have to compromise on quality,” Karp said. Asked about the quality of the animation training institutes in India, he said that though there are some which offer top notch training, majority fails to impart necessary skills required to work on Hollywood films. All VFX studios have their own in house training facilities that sculpture inductees to levels they require.
Though the movie industry is big and despite several VFX work of Hollywood movies now being done in India, Karp said only the ‘cream of the crop’ gets to work with the best studios in the country. “There are about 10,000 or 20,000 people making movies for billions of others. Therefore the rate of employment generation in VFX remains relatively low despite the industry’s large size,” Karp said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Thiruvananthapuram / TNN / July 10th, 2016
K.G. Subramanyam: Forever creative. Photo: H. Vibhu / The Hindu
K.G. Subramanyan was 92 when he passed away this week, after a magnificent innings lived and shaped with fierce energy, drawing in his wake some of the country’s greatest modern artists
For some, he was the greatest of teachers. For others, he was the doyen of modern Indian artists forever breaking out of fixed categories and emerging moth-like from multiple cocoons. To some, he was a storyteller re-inventing old myths but cladding them in new forms. Often, he could be disturbing, as he poked at the ant hills of convention with his painterly brush and unearthed the termites of hidden lusts lurking within. But one thing that made K.G. Subramanyan the great spirit he was, through his long life of 92 years, was that he always remained an artist; tending the creative force within and nurturing those who came in touch with him.
To those associated with him during the most creative period of his early life, when he fled to Santiniketan (1944-50) and had that moment of revelation when he met the guardians of Tagore’s vision, Nandalal Bose and Ramkinker Baij, at Kala Bhavan, the arts department of Visva-Bharati University, he was always Mani da, an honorary Bengali. For those who met him in later life, swathed in multiple layers of raw silk and cotton in muted colours, he was an apt representative of that austerely elegant school initiated by the Tagorean ethos.
Only some sources mention that Subramanyan’s early influences were those of his native place, Mayyazhi, or Mahe (as it was known in North Malabar), a French protectorate. North Malabar is famous for its living performance traditions of sacred dances, where the dancers, all men, paint their faces and adorn themselves with fantastical costumes made from palm fronds and sheaths, turning into supernatural beings. Some of Subramanyan’s paintings of luridly painted faces and women with exaggerated appendages bring to mind these terrifying manifestations.
There is also a very keen element of making fun of authority that is seen in Kerala that may be observed in Subramanyan’s often pointed caricatures of human interactions, particularly between men and women in moments of erotic congress. In these, he emerges as a ‘trickster’, a bahurupi who changes form continually to both entertain and enrage viewers. The artist here wields the brush like a missile, to taunt society.
K.G. Subramanyam’s ‘Woman Before Mirror’. / The Hindu Archives
Nothing is quite as it seems. It’s this enigmatic quality between the surface of his calm, almost placid, palette of colours sometimes carefully coordinated like those of a fashion designer, and their desire to provoke, that makes Subramanyan’s work full of surprises. Equally, of course, they reflect his close observation of images from contemporary cinema, advertisements and life, as he recorded them in all their curious anecdotage. To him, the great epic dramas tended to be repeated in the events that unfolded around him in everyday life.
Or, as he observed in response to questions about the recurrence of certain motifs in his work, whether painting on wood, glass, paper or a wall, or sculpting sectioned portraits in terracotta like the storied facades of temples in parts of West Bengal; whether illustrator or toy-maker: “We have our own little obsessions. And they may be continuous. But not enough to become a goal. At least a grand, steady goal. Really speaking, I don’t want any more goals and challenges. If the little things I see around excite me and link up into stories of a king, that is good enough.” (Quoted in The Flamed Mosaic by Neville Tuli.)
Long before Santiniketan, Subramanyan had enrolled at Presidency College, Madras, and taken part in the freedom movement as an ardent follower of Gandhi and been jailed for a short while. In the early 60s, he spent some time in New Delhi, both teaching and learning; he had his first brush with Baroda, which would become his second and, later, his spiritual home for two decades (1951-55 and 1961-80); he learnt the nuances of emerging art trends of the mid-20th century at the Slade School in London (1955-56); and worked at Weavers’ Service Centre in Bombay (1957-61).
A great teacher is known by the quality of those who come after him. In Subramanyan’s case, the period in which he lived and worked in Baroda created the ferment in the contemporary Indian art scene, with the dominance of the Baroda School, which produced many greats. Many of these artists have emerged as the conscience-keepers of their generation. In that garden of light and shadows, there can only be one king. Long may K.G. Subramanyan’s aura continue to glow.
Geeta Doctor is a Chennai-based writer and critic.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Magazine / by Geeta Doctor / July 02nd, 2016
Poet says TDB should use its funds to help the marginalised
Poet Sugathakumari on Thursday called upon the Travancore Devaswom Board to use the funds at its disposal to help the marginalised.
“A lot of money is spent on superstitious and ritualistic practices such as ‘vedikettu’ and ‘ezhunnelippu’ of elephants. The board should take up more charitable activities such as educating poor children, building houses for the homeless, providing treatment to the ill,” she said.
She was speaking after accepting the first ONV Puraskaram from veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader V.S. Achuthanandan here on Thursday.
The award has been instituted by Thidambu, the art and cultural organisation of the Travancore Devaswom Board employees, in memory of poet O.N.V. Kurup.
Mr. Achuthanandan said like ONV, Ms. Sugathakumari too gave voice to the Malayali’s problems and emotions through her verse. She campaigned for promoting Malayalam language. She did not just write about Naturen but also waged struggles to conserve it.
Minister for Devaswom Kadakampally Surendran presented the Mannathu Padmanabhan memorial citation to oncologist V.P. Gangadharan. An aid of Rs.1 lakh to the Regional Cancer Centre was presented by TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan to Regional Cancer Centre public relations officer Surendran Chunakkara.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Staff Reporter / Thiruvananthapuram – July 08th, 2016
An incidental meeting with a wild tusker trapped in a trench in the Wayanad forest was the trigger which propelled Sangita Iyer to develop a deep bond with this majestic animal.
The incident happened in June 2013. The Canadian journalist and documentary film maker was on a visit to the state to take part in the rituals associated with the death anniversary of her father who hailed from Alathur in Palakad. “We were coming down from Ootty when I chanced to see the wild elephant in a trench. A wild life conservationist friend who was with me urged that I should visit Kerala again in December to see the difficult life of captive elephants,” says Sangita.
December is the time when temple festivals begin. And these festivals sans elephants, all decked up in the fineries, is something which the people of the state can’t think about!
However, what’s on display at these festivals is not caparisoned elephants but hapless victims of human torture who are made to stand for long hours in the blistering heat on legs pck marked with blisters and bruises. These hapless animals have to even bear extensive damage that the fireworks display wreak on them.
Birth of the documentary
What she saw at the festival grounds made Sangita to embark on a two year long crusade to bring to light the plight of elephants through a medium she knows best. She has made several environment related documentaries and short films in Canada and Bermuda where she worked. “But the documentary I was about to make was a bigger project. I had no money and I had to use my pension funds for the initial steps,” she says. But when people came to know about the magnitude of the project, money started pouring in. She managed to effectively crowd source the 300,000 CAD (Canadian Dollars) project. The filming started in May 2014 and by May 2016, Sangita and her team had over 200 hours of footage. She wanted to get the film screened in Kerala by December last year. But technical issues delayed it. The documentary was finally screened at the Legislative Assembly complex on June 29 before the members of the Legislative Assembly.
Accolades
After receiving accolades from Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and other MLAs the film was subsequently screened at Thrissur. The screening was done under heavy police protection considering the fact that many festival enthusiasts had not taken the theme lightly.
According to Sangita the response she received so far is overwhelming.
When the documentary was again screened at Kalabhavan Theatre on Wednesday, not a single eye was dry. Sangita herself often gets emotional when she talks about Lakshmi, one of the female elephants featured in the documentary. “I got so attached to Lakshmi. After our initial bonding she now immediately recognises me whenever I visit her,” says Sangita. The most haunting scene in the documentary is about the crude treatment Lakshmi receives from her mahout, who pries open her eyes with his unsanitised hands to apply medicine on a wound allegedly adding to her discomfort.
Sangita doesn’t want to be just satisfied with the laurels, she wants to put an end to the plight of the captive elephants by sensitising the public.
She is in talks with leaders from religious-political and cultural sphere to spread the message.
She says she will talk to the Education Minister to seek his help in screening the documentary in schools. Her 13-part documentary series on environment awareness is currently being used as an education aid in schools in Bermuda.
A Malayalam version of the documentary with poet Sugatha Kumari’s narration is also planned.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Unnikrishnan S / July 08th, 2016
The district will host a mud football tournament on July 16 and 17 near Malappuram town.
Paddy fields with 15-metre width and 20-metre length and those ploughed well to make them marshy would be the venue of the mud football tournament which is organised by the state tourism department.
A similar kind of tournament that was organised in Malappuram during the last monsoon season was labelled a big success.
The District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) has started registering teams. The secretary of DTPC, Ummar Koya, said international rules of mud soccer would be amended for regional adaptation.
The duration of a match would be 20 minutes and the minimum age of players has been fixed at 18. The total number of players in a team would be 11, including three substitutes. The winner of the tournament will get cash prize and a certificate.
The tourism department has decided to organise mud soccer every year after the event last year attracted a large number of tourists. The authorities are hopeful that the popularity of football in Malappuram would make the event a success.
The mud football organised in Wayanad as part of the monsoon tourism festival was a big success.
The district administration of Malappuram is also planning to organise panchayat-level mud football tournaments with an aim to popularise the sport among villagers.
Apart from the mud football, the DTPC will also organise rain trips to Nilambur and off-road bike rallies as part of its monsoon tourism programmes in Malappuram.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kozhikode / TNN / July 06th, 2016
Success story:The LED manufacturing unit of the start-up Semilon Technologies Pvt. Ltd. at Peroorkada.
Start-up by five youths makes turnover of Rs.1 crore in 2014-15
While several start-ups have been launched in the State in the past few years, not many have been able to break even and go on to register profits.
The feeling of uncertainty could easily have dissuaded a group of five youths from floating their start-up company soon after graduating from a self-financing college at Karakulam in 2010. But, pooling in the caution deposits they received from the college, they launched their endeavour, which primarily focused on supplying LED lights.
“Despite many odds, we were confident of tapping the potential of such a venture though LED lights were not in vogue then as they are now,” says Jino V. Manohar, one of the founders of the company. Amal Raj, Arul Raj, Shahab Ellias Iqbal and A.K. Surjith are the other members of the group.
Their decision turned out to be a masterstroke with their company, Semilon Technologies Pvt. Ltd. at Peroorkada, witnessing a turnover of Rs.1 crore during the 2014-15 fiscal. The company has a workforce of 12 people at present.
Their journey has been far from smooth. However, the company has gone on to bag the commendation award from the Kerala State Energy Management Centre in 2012 for manufacturing energy-efficient equipment.
Diversification
After establishing themselves in the market, they ventured into lighting design services in 2014. “Lighting design is an important component in architecture and has become increasingly popular over the years. There are several takers for planning the specifics of lighting equipment while designing the interiors and exteriors of a building right from its planning stage,” Mr. Manohar says.
Besides having commenced a solar power plant division, the group also diversified to create a R&D consulting division. They were recently empanelled as one of the few channel partners by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to implement solar power plants.
e-crop
The R&D division had recently developed ‘e-crop’ for the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI) at Sreekaryam.
The device is equipped with multiple sensors for various purposes, including assessing soil parameters, solar radiation and predicting crop yield.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Staff Reporter / Thiruvananthapuram – July 06th, 2016
“India is rich in ancient wisdom, and there’s a lot to learn from our own country, before you look towards the West for knowledge.”
These words by medical scientist and former vice-chancellor of Manipal University Dr B M Hegde were not to create confusion in the minds of budding physicians and medical scientists, but to enlighten them on the ethics of modern medicine and to warn them about the ‘murky business behind western science’.
He was delivering a talk as the part of the lecture series organized by Santhigiri Research Foundation, Santhigiri ashram on Monday.
Always a strong critic of ‘monopoly of western medicine’ and a visiting faculty at many universities in the country and abroad, Dr Hegde was candid on how the governments jeopardized the health system to protect the interests of powerful corporations.
“We have all been brainwashed into following western science through false campaigns. Western medical science is all about making money. Now, the Indian wisdom, including the practice of yoga, is being commercialized by the west,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we are inclined to condemn anything that’s Indian, including Ayurveda, Siddha and Yunani. Instead of going for a morning walk in the nature barefoot, which can rejuvenate our body and mind and keep us healthy, we have fallen for jogging shoes being aggressively marketed by the corporate world,” Dr Hegde said, quoting from books from the western world, including ‘Science for Sale’ by David Lewis and ‘Blinded by Science’ by Mathew Silverstone.
“There’s no freedom of health in the US, where it’s mandatory for a child to have 56 vaccines in the first year, when we all know that breast milk is the best vaccine for a child,” he said.
A recipient of both Dr B C Roy award and Padma Bhushan, Dr Hegde was also critical about the ‘wrong priorities’ of various governments and universities while initiating scientific researches. “We come across many science research journals which are of no use to anyone, while there’s a dearth of studies which actually would be useful to mankind,” he added.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Thiruvananthapuram / TNN / July 05th, 2016
