(Left to right) actress Sonia Agarwal, actor Dhanush, director Selvaraghavan,cinematographer Arvind Krishna, managing director of Sathyam Cinemas- Kiran Reddy, director of Real Image Media- Jayendra Panchapakesan

Watching a film is getting more true to what the eye sees, thanks to digital technology. Pudhupettai, India’s first film to be released on D-Cinema, is a case in point, with total clarity, especially in the close-up shots.

From an era when film prints and projectors threw up varying degrees of sharp quality, movies are increasingly turning to digital filmmaking. The interest, sparked by the release of Chicken Little in 2005, has lead to the installation of compatible equipment in a number of cinema halls the world over. In fact, it is mandatory for theatres, like Satyam Cinemas, which screen a large number of Hollywood films, to convert to D-Cinema standards, with defined security standards, compression formats, contrast ratios, brightness on screen or colour gamut. The result? D-Cinema offers viewers a real, reel treat.

A rung below D-Cinema are the theatres which have opted for the E-Cinema package. Theatres which traditionally screen Indian content opt for this package with reduced standards. Considering that the conversion cost for D-Cinema is Rs 50 lakh and only Rs 15 lakh for E-Cinema, quite a few theatres opt for E-Cinema.

‘‘Visually, D-Cinema is the best that technology can ever offer,’’ said Kiran Reddy, managing director, Satyam Cinemas, at a press conference organsied jointly by Satyam Cinemas and Real Image, who have delivered the film on their Qube server in the theatre. Viewers have come out quite impressed with the sleek look of the film. As Jayendra Panchapakesan, director, Real Image, said, ‘‘We have been obsessed with meeting every director’s quality expectations and are happy with the achievement of the quality achieved on screen.

Although cameraman Arvind Krishna confessed that when they first decided to shoot on the 35mm format, there was some ‘‘worry’’ since ‘‘we had no prior experience in this,’’ director Selvaraghavan said they were amazed by what could be done. He sounded quite happy that he could hold the camera inches from the face of the actor and catch every line and emotion. Pointing out that every filmmaker dreams of seeing (on screen) what he imagines, but rarely finds even half of that transferred on print, Selvaraghavan gave a call for installation of D-Cinema all over Tamil Nadu.

Currently, Real Image has signed up with 72 theatres to go digital, and by March 2006, a total of 150 theatres would be installed with the digital projectors and servers, as per recommended global standards of Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI).

Currently, Pudhupettai is being screened digitally in one theatre (D-Cinema), and in the E-Cinema format in 16 others.

Despite the attraction of massive cost reduction in the shooting and editing segments, the high cost of conversion to digital projection is a major deterrent for theatre owners.

When Selvaraghavan was asked if all his future projects would be on a digital format, the director said everything hinged on the script. ‘‘If it is a romantic film about two people, conventional film is enough. But if you are making a weird or dark film, then it is better to go digital.’’

Was Vaanam Vasapadum (cinematography by PC Sriram) the first digital film in India? Jayendra clarified that the film was shot on a high definition camera and then converted to film for projection, which is an entirely different format.

Did Dhanush feel any difference while shooting for Pudhupettai? ‘‘No. What do I know of technology? That is my brother’s forte. All I know is acting,’’ he quipped.