3D conversions of foreign films being undertaken at Kochi

Kochi: A state credited with making India`s first 3D film `My Dear Kuttichatthan` in Malayalam in 1984, Kerala is witnessing another revolution with French, Russian and Hollywood films making a beeline to Kochi to convert their 2D films to 3D format.

Eighty per cent of the conversions are done at the Kochi office of Ultra Rays 3D Technologies Private Ltd after which it is sent to the Mumbai head office, Managing Director, Anubha Sinha, told reporters here. The company has so far completed 3D conversion of 26 films, including Indian and Hollywood movies. "We are in contract with Hollywood, Russian, Taiwanese firms for conversion of movies into 3D," she said. The Kochi office presently has over 100-odd staff and is on expansion mode and plans to take in at least 400 more employees as early as possible, she said. Movies like `Dam 999`, `Warning 3D` ,`Sholay 3D`, `Piranha 3D`, `Black Jack` and India`s first 3D advertisement for Arena multimedia which was released in 3D theatres with Spiderman last year are among the works she has undertaken. Anubha said her order book for three years is full. Now busy with a French project on conversion of animation film `Arthur King` to 3D, she said they were adding some special effects to it which would be exhibited in Europa Park in France when completed. The company completed a Russian film in a month. 3D Rays has won a Russian government tender to convert 50 movies from 2D to 3D and colourise it. These are some of the best films in Russian. Already they have completed `Quiet Bay` and work was going on with regard to `Kashey` and is expected to be completed by next month, she said. Anubha said she had developed a software in 3D conversion, which converts movies from 2D to 3D very economically. This led to overflow of overseas projects. Starting off as an entrepreneur at the age of 16 from her home, Anubha, who is in her early twenties, said she had met Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy during the `Emerging Kerala` meet and hers was the only private project which had received government`s approval. The project was to train about 5,000 college students -- both boys and girls in two years time, who can work from home for two to three hours and make an earning. The project was expected to roll out soon, she said. Anubha said she has also developed glassless 3D theatre prototype, which is expected to be launched soon. Normally, one needs to wear glasses to watch 3D films but the company has come up with a new technology for which movie buffs need not wear 3D glasses. The prototype of the new technology was ready, she said. If it becomes a reality, Kerala may witness India`s first 3D Glassless theatre experience, she said. "3D is the future almost all English movies are in 3D now. United states has 6 3D channels -- Discovery, National Geographic, BBC and Sky, 3D being the most popular, while China has 4 3D Channels and Russia has one. Europe, Australia, Korea and many other countries also have 3D channels. From Olympics to Queen Elizabeth`s Christmas speech and almost all important events worldwide are being shot in 3D for future telecasts." Very soon, India will also join the bandwagon, she said. "From Black and White era we moved into colour and the next shift is doubtlessly going to be 3D", Anubha says. India does not have 3D channels. There are many companies selling 3D television sets, but there is no content available. Some shots of `Pizza` the Tamil movie, which is being made into Hindi by UTV, are being converted into 3D by her company, she said. She also has held talks with Director Priyadarshan and Producer Ram Mohan with regard to conversion of Malaylam film `Kilukkam` into 3D, she said.