Home > Entertainment > Indian Movies > Digital Cinema in India
Digital Cinema in India
Digital cinema in India has revolutionized the film industry by introducing efficient and cost effective techniques of film making. However the complete digitalization of Indian cinema still requires colossal restructuring of the Indian film industry.

Share this Article:

Digital Cinema in IndiaDigital cinema in India has greatly transformed the facet and economy of the film industry. Although the waves of digitalization had touched the Indian technology over a decade ago in the form of DVDs, VCDs, mobiles and online streaming, its arrival in the Indian film industry occurred much later. Digital cinema is a new reel less approach to film making and utilization of digital technology for the distribution and projection of motion pictures. This comprises distributing the movies through optical disks, satellites and hard drives and replacing the conventional film projector with digital projector.

History of Digital Cinema
George Lucas, an American film producer and the creator of Star Wars series, is accredited as the pioneer of digital cinemas. His dissatisfaction with the celluloid and the special effects created by traditional techniques led to the development of hardware for creating desired special effects. However this hardware could not match the required quality on the big screen and thus Lucas involved himself in developing a video-based digital cinema system in collaboration with other technical firms. Consequently, in 2002, the epic American film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was made which was both shot and projected digitally.

Mechanism of Digital Cinema
Digital cinema has completely ruled out the use of chemicals on film as in case of celluloid and employs bits and bytes, which are the strings of 1s and 0s, for recording transmitting and replaying images. The main advantage of digital cinema lies in its capacity of storing, transmitting and retrieving enormous amount of information in exactly the form in which it was recorded originally. Unlike audio tapes which use the analogue technology, there is no loss of information while transmission due to frequent viewing.

Digital Cinema in India Advantages of Digital Cinema
Digital cinema has played a vital role in boosting the economy of the Indian film industry as it is much cheaper as compared to film reel. Digitalization rules out the need of any processing before the editing stage. In case of low budget, the tape can be reused multiple times by the filmmakers. Another pleasant aspect of digital cinema comes with its distribution cost as it lowers the budget of dissemination of films by at least 50 percent. Editing is also much faster and easier. In traditional methods, the film footage is converted to digital format for post production tasks and then again to its previous format for theatrical release. However, with the advent of this new technology, this conversion step has been completely omitted and the editing starts right after shooting the scene. The production wise consistency of digital cinema has also added to its preferability. No matter how many times a movie has been screened, it still maintains its original quality. The content of these movies are stored in servers which also provides `cut and paste` benefits to the theatre owners. Thus if a particular film doesn`t gather much viewers, it can be easily changed without any tedious procedure.

Digital Cinema in Indian Films
Although many of the Bollywood film makers such as Dibankar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap have adopted the concept of digital cinema, the complete digitalization of Indian film industry has not reached yet. The prime reason behind it is the cost of the conversion of conventional theatre into a digital one which is quite high. The next hindrance in the digitalization of cinema is the task of restructuring. Even though digital cinema on distribution front is very economical, it also demands huge changes in the industry. The workforce as well as the equipments in the film industry needs a complete restructuring with the adoption of digitalization, which again raises the overall costing greatly. The digital projector is also much expensive than traditional film projectors. In addition to this, owing to rapid technology advancement, the pricey digital projectors may also turn out to be outdated after five years. Digital cinemas also don`t favour the distributors and viewers much as it renders the tickets much more expensive. Digital cinema also enhances the piracy rates making the task easier than conventional techniques.


Share this Article:

Related Articles

More Articles in Indian Movies


3D Films in India
3D films in India have gradually marked a prominent presence in the Indian film industry with the advancing technology. The movie Chota Chetan was the first 3D film of India which was followed many others in Hindi as well as regional film industries.
Filmfare Award for Best Music Director
Filmfare Award for Best Music Director is awarded to the music director who composes the most soulful and audience appealing music album for a Hindi film of the preceding year.
Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut
Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut is awarded to the debutante actress who gives the most impressive performance in her debut Hindi film and shows a promising presence in Bollywood.
Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer
The Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer is awarded to the best female playback singer who has delivered an outstanding performance in a film song.
Arundhati Devi
Arundhati Devi is considered as one of the most independent minded, educated and forceful women in the history of Bengali cinema who was a multidimensional talent from being a director to actress.
Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer
Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer is given by Filmfare to the singer who gives the most pleasant and melodious male voice to a song of a film in the previous year.
Filmfare Award For Best Actor
The Filmfare Award for Best Actor is presented by Filmfare every year to the actor who portrays his character and performs the role in a film with most commendable finesse.
Malayalam Movie Actresses
Malayalam Movie Actresses have contributed considerably to the growth of Malayalam cinema.
Bollywood Villains
Bollywood villains have entertained the audience over years. Bollywood villains are only the villains on screen. Some notable Bollywood villains include Premnath, Omrish Puri, Shakti kapoor, Danny, Amzad Khan etc.
Marathi Actors
Marathi actors in India have made significant contributions to the country`s film industry, showcasing their exceptional talent, versatility, and dedication. From veteran legends to emerging stars, Marathi actors have left an indelible mark on Indian cinema, enriching it with their powerful performances and captivating storytelling.
Bengali Actors
Bengali actors have a significant contribution in the Bengali cinema and over years they have presented the film industry many landmark films which marked their spectacular performances. Their outstanding dramatic skills won them applauses from critics as well as masses.
Bengali Actresses
Bengali Actresses are the most beautiful, talented and evergreen of the whole Indian film industry. The incomparable acting ability has made them well-known to all.
Odia Cinema
Colloquially known as Ollywood, the industry of Odia Cinema is based in Cuttack and is a popular on the regional basis.
Oriya Cinema Actors
Oriya actors have aided in restructuring the Oriya film industry.
Tamil Actors
The Tamil actors with their powerhouse performance aided in shaping the Kollywood industry.
Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to honour the film personalities who have enriched the Hindi film industry with their profound contribution over the years.
Telugu Cinema
Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Gujarati Movie Actors
Gujarati movie actors, like Upendra Trivedi, Arvind Rathod etc, are talented entertainers who have significantly contributed to the development of Gujarati film industry.
Bengali Cinema
Bengali Cinema has proved itself class apart instead of being a regional film industry. It has its own charm and attraction which is enough to make it popular.
Assamese Film Actresses
Assamese Film Actresses have carved a niche for themselves in the history of regional films. They are talented and credible with susceptible style. They have contributed to the growth of Assamese cinema in all the ways possible.
Tamil Actresses
A talented lot of Tamil Actresses has enriched Tamil cinema for years.