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Creative art director and production designer Sabu Cyril who has engineered technology in movies like Robot, Ra. One, Krrish feels Bollywood can make Hollywood standard technical proficient movies but lack budget allocation. Here is an interview with Sabu Cyril who is also doing art direction for Agneepath-The Revival, Krrish 3 and Tezz (Priyadarshan's next thriller)
Ra.One is one of the biggest releases of the year, a mega-massive budget action flick. What does it have that we haven’t seen before?
It is Shah Rukh’s brainchild and technologically speaking, very advanced. You will see things you haven’t seen before. Don’t you think the money on Robot was justified? Trust me, so is the money spent on Ra.One. These levels of technology and effects require this much money.
You’ve covered the entire gamut of films from drama, action, hard-core masala ones. What do you look for before you sign up for a project?
The work has to be challenging. That’s my first and only priority. I started out with no intention of being in films. It was purely accidental. I was based in Chennai running a graphic designing studio.
A friend of mine put me on to someone who wanted to replicate a helicopter going up and down on flash. That led me to some other movies, some advertisements and before I knew it, I was a full-fledged art director without any experience in the area.
My thrill is to make mechanical parts move, make a set look seamless, recreate impossible locations like I did in Yuva, where I created Kolkata in the middle of Chennai; or in Don, where I created Mahalaxmi’s Dhobi Ghat in Chennai. I need that thrill.
Be it dramas such as Gardish, and Viraasat, masala movies such as Tees Maar Khan, sci-fi, or period films, I just need a subject that pushes me harder and further.
From period films such as Kaala Paani and Asoka, to futuristic films such as Robot and Krrish, where does your your creativity lie, in the art or the mechanics of it?
I studied Visual communication and like a true Aquarian, was interested in everything from art and design, sketching, clay work, architecture, to the simple and complex mechanics of how things worked. Fortunately for me, my profession allows me to play with it all.
Period films require a lot of research and referencing. There’s a lot of material out there and you have to recreate it. Materials, costumes, artifacts; authenticity is key.
Futuristic films toy with your imagination. It’s about creating something entirely new, anticipating 50-100 years into the future. When we imagine the future, we picture flying cars, teleportation, supersonic speeds. 2001: A Space Odyssey, made in 1968, imagined anti-gravity to the T.
The older Bond movies had the foresight and creativity to surprise. One has to imagine it all. There’s only so much referencing that can be done for a time that doesn't exist. The future is definitely more challenging.
The director and the production designer have a lot of overlapping jurisdictions. Composition, camera, themes... is it challenging to be constantly creatively synchronized?
The director has a clear vision of what he wants to make. I follow. I have my own ideas and people want me on board for what I can imagine and do. But it’s essential to be in tune with his vision. Also, its team work and a lot of people are consulted. Occasionally, it can get difficult if you have very different sensibilities.
Have the sensibilities and technology of Indian film-making caught up with Hollywood?
The technology is there, but the money is not. You make a movie for the masses, and for them, the special effects and sets are not as important as the subject and stars.
Producers accordingly allocate the money. It’s a lot better than the South, where art gets negligible budgets.
New-age directors and filmmakers understand the importance of what high-end technical work can do for a movie and are generous with their budgets. Competition is key too. If there was no competition, Doordarshan would have continued to remain tacky.
But it’s important that money isn’t wasted. For Robot, we approached a studio in LA to make us two robots. They gave us a budget of Rs 5 crore. I told the director I’ll do it for cheaper.
Instead of cables, puppetry, rails, etc like them, I just dressed up two dwarfs for Rs 5 lakh. Sometimes, it’s not about putting in more money, it’s about being creative and judicious with it.
The brilliance in your work lies when audiences don’t realise what you’ve done. Do you miss out on getting your due as a result?
It’s an occupational hazard. Like a magician that tricks children at magic shows, for me, the kick is when I manage to trick grown-ups into thinking things are real. That’s the fun.
I once made a temple set in Chennai for a film that looked so original that people would take off their shoes outside and locals would come to pray every evening. I missed out on an award for that film because the jury thought the temple was real! But yes, some films give me more in return than others.
My work in Kaala Paani, recreating the whole cellular jail, it’s gratifying because it was so well exploited in the film. I put in a lot of effort in Hey Ram, but it went mostly unrecognized. It’s like labour pain, so much effort goes into getting something right, but it’s soon forgotten in light of the finished product.
Priyadarshan and you have done over 92 projects together. What's the story?
On our first meeting, we went out for a drink and he told me, the day you find someone better to work with, you carry on and the day I find a better art director, I'll move on. Until then, let’s try and impress each other. We’re still at it and it’s been fantastic.
Ra.One is one of the biggest releases of the year, a mega-massive budget action flick. What does it have that we haven’t seen before?
It is Shah Rukh’s brainchild and technologically speaking, very advanced. You will see things you haven’t seen before. Don’t you think the money on Robot was justified? Trust me, so is the money spent on Ra.One. These levels of technology and effects require this much money.
You’ve covered the entire gamut of films from drama, action, hard-core masala ones. What do you look for before you sign up for a project?
The work has to be challenging. That’s my first and only priority. I started out with no intention of being in films. It was purely accidental. I was based in Chennai running a graphic designing studio.
A friend of mine put me on to someone who wanted to replicate a helicopter going up and down on flash. That led me to some other movies, some advertisements and before I knew it, I was a full-fledged art director without any experience in the area.
My thrill is to make mechanical parts move, make a set look seamless, recreate impossible locations like I did in Yuva, where I created Kolkata in the middle of Chennai; or in Don, where I created Mahalaxmi’s Dhobi Ghat in Chennai. I need that thrill.
Be it dramas such as Gardish, and Viraasat, masala movies such as Tees Maar Khan, sci-fi, or period films, I just need a subject that pushes me harder and further.
From period films such as Kaala Paani and Asoka, to futuristic films such as Robot and Krrish, where does your your creativity lie, in the art or the mechanics of it?
I studied Visual communication and like a true Aquarian, was interested in everything from art and design, sketching, clay work, architecture, to the simple and complex mechanics of how things worked. Fortunately for me, my profession allows me to play with it all.
Period films require a lot of research and referencing. There’s a lot of material out there and you have to recreate it. Materials, costumes, artifacts; authenticity is key.
Futuristic films toy with your imagination. It’s about creating something entirely new, anticipating 50-100 years into the future. When we imagine the future, we picture flying cars, teleportation, supersonic speeds. 2001: A Space Odyssey, made in 1968, imagined anti-gravity to the T.
The older Bond movies had the foresight and creativity to surprise. One has to imagine it all. There’s only so much referencing that can be done for a time that doesn't exist. The future is definitely more challenging.
The director and the production designer have a lot of overlapping jurisdictions. Composition, camera, themes... is it challenging to be constantly creatively synchronized?
The director has a clear vision of what he wants to make. I follow. I have my own ideas and people want me on board for what I can imagine and do. But it’s essential to be in tune with his vision. Also, its team work and a lot of people are consulted. Occasionally, it can get difficult if you have very different sensibilities.
Have the sensibilities and technology of Indian film-making caught up with Hollywood?
The technology is there, but the money is not. You make a movie for the masses, and for them, the special effects and sets are not as important as the subject and stars.
Producers accordingly allocate the money. It’s a lot better than the South, where art gets negligible budgets.
New-age directors and filmmakers understand the importance of what high-end technical work can do for a movie and are generous with their budgets. Competition is key too. If there was no competition, Doordarshan would have continued to remain tacky.
But it’s important that money isn’t wasted. For Robot, we approached a studio in LA to make us two robots. They gave us a budget of Rs 5 crore. I told the director I’ll do it for cheaper.
Instead of cables, puppetry, rails, etc like them, I just dressed up two dwarfs for Rs 5 lakh. Sometimes, it’s not about putting in more money, it’s about being creative and judicious with it.
The brilliance in your work lies when audiences don’t realise what you’ve done. Do you miss out on getting your due as a result?
It’s an occupational hazard. Like a magician that tricks children at magic shows, for me, the kick is when I manage to trick grown-ups into thinking things are real. That’s the fun.
I once made a temple set in Chennai for a film that looked so original that people would take off their shoes outside and locals would come to pray every evening. I missed out on an award for that film because the jury thought the temple was real! But yes, some films give me more in return than others.
My work in Kaala Paani, recreating the whole cellular jail, it’s gratifying because it was so well exploited in the film. I put in a lot of effort in Hey Ram, but it went mostly unrecognized. It’s like labour pain, so much effort goes into getting something right, but it’s soon forgotten in light of the finished product.
Priyadarshan and you have done over 92 projects together. What's the story?
On our first meeting, we went out for a drink and he told me, the day you find someone better to work with, you carry on and the day I find a better art director, I'll move on. Until then, let’s try and impress each other. We’re still at it and it’s been fantastic.
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