So this blog has served as a general news feed for my business, but has changed a bit to have personal information as it is a lot easier to post one place the news of what I have seen and how I have been then it is to send out several individual emails. However, I have consciously decided to keep a bit of the technical edge to it, as I have been flown out here to do a technical job and I have been doing a lot of learning for my field in general while I am out here. India is poised to be the next production center for  visual effects. I think within 5 years a similar outsourcing shift will occur here with visual effects as it has for the general IT industry.

The pieces are in place, the culture is obsessed with films and the market here actually, astonishingly, outpaces hollywood in terms of general output (900 plus films a year) and audience (4 billion or so compared to the 3 and a half billion estimated for hollywood films). Of course the only thing that American films far outpace Indian cinema is price per picture (by multitudes). One of the dirty little secrets of Hollywood is that they are gambling huge amounts of money on their pictures, and that they are insanely expensive to make. I think soon most post production will be sent here much to the chagrin of many in my industry and my friends, but hey, welcome to globalism. 

At the Divalli party talking with Rafique, who is a head of production here (and one hell of a character), we discussed a lot of things (over whiskey) and one of his main points regarding the state of the industry was my very existence in front of him at the party. "Never in a million years would I have imagined bringing in a top American Visual Effects Supervisor to do one of my pictures", of course, he was fishing, he wanted me to confirm that I was a top visual effects supervisor, which of course I am not. Don't get me wrong, for the effects they are looking for and the scope of the picture, what they really want is a motion graphics artist and I am confident that I can fumble my way through the shoot enough to get the footage that I need for post, where I can set up a post production pipeline, which will be far within my comfort zone.  However, his main point was not lost on me, that the industry was changing, the world was changing, and the Indian market will soon not be seen as a second rate ghetto for film for much longer. The firm we are possibly using for our DI (digital intermediate) is called Prasad EFX magic, and on a recent VFX heavy indian film they brought in a Hong Kong Director and an all american post supe and VFX supe. 


That night, at the Divalli party, was the second Cricket match in a series between India and Pakistan. Pakistan won in a nail biter that night (within 1 pitch), and the reaction at the party was quite interesting to me. "Let them have it", they said. The context was clear. Let them have this, we are superior as Indians. Rafique also made it quite clear to me as to where my and his place was within Indian society, i.e., we are on the top of society. He asked me if this situation would happen at the states often, A bunch of friends getting together during a holiday party having drinks and playing cards and getting hammered. "It's quite simaler, however, we wouldn't have the servants in the kitchen", I replied. I also made some sort of half-assed reference to the fact that my parties in San Francisco would be a bit more diverse with friends of Asian decent, gay people, etc. I was mainly thinking of my goodbye pancake feed before I left the city, and this was in fact, pretty true, although I don't know how true it would be as a generalization.

I know now how insensitive and grossly ignorant a statement this was for me to make. "Imagine my country, where when you go from state to state, everyone has a different language. Also, they have a different religion.", he responded. "How do you keep from letting it dissolve into unrest like they do in so much of the rest of this area of the word?", I asked. "Well, we don't!", he exclaimed, "We have social and religious unrest all of the time!".


Part of what makes India such a unique democracy is that certain different groups are afforded different kinds of rights according to their backgrounds under the SAME constitution. A lot of this can be attributed to the genius of Dr. Ambedakar, and his drawing up of what is regarded as one of the most airtight constitutions ever written, on par with Mandela's South African one. Of course, the constitution succeeds in keeping the country together, but as a modern document, it does provide less rights for different groups. Largely unknown in the west, Dr. Amedakar represented the Dalits, the lowest caste in indian society, and combined the academia of Martin Luther King with the rage of Malcom X. He also instituted the most massive shift of a group of people to a different religion (willingly) in the history of human kind, as the Dalits were afforded far more rights as Budhists. Tomas, my roommate and producer here, has been working on a documentary for the BBC (Which is now out of funding half way through production) about Dr. Ambedakar's life, and it is fascinating, sad, and beautiful. I will help with post and titles on it once we are done with the paying gigs. One of the reasons Ambedakar will be lost to history in the west was his antagonism toward Ghandi, who has since been forever martyrized. 

This leads me easily into the caste system of India itself. I never felt in the people at the party a sense of guilt or responsibility to their fellow impoverished Mumbaikars, something that weighs on me heavily while I am here. It is mainly because that there is a huge sense of keeping the status quo of the caste system. Talking with Rafique, he told me that most of the segregation happens mainly by class rather then race. I think it might be the opposite in the states, where racism is still a large problem but you can't really get a sense of classism the way it is here.

The monsoon season is during our summer. I probably won't see any rain the whole time I am here, unless I travel to the rain forest type areas. Massive flooding is a huge health problem here, as garbage and sewage are in the open, and the rains make the city a giant floating cess pool. While it is a relief from the heat, many of the educated Indians recognize the insane health problems with dirty water and only the very beginnings of the beginnings of the stirring of ecology are being realized here. 

This hits me a lot while I am here as well... There is no sense of human's impact on the environment. Indians throw garbage everywhere, and what would be beautiful beaches and vistas are public dumps. Plastic is everywhere. With almost a billion people, and due to double with mainly an undereducated, poor, populace, I feel as though humans as a species are kind of fucked. 

There is a lot of beauty here, particularly in the culture of the positive way other Indians treat each other and the focus on the family, which is paramount here. Everyone is friendly and helpful, and everyone is genuinely excited to see Americans. Something else I have noticed is that the Indian sense of humor is robust and pretty close to our own.

The city is mainly an out of control, brakes off, roller coaster explosion of activity and economic boom, consequences be damned. The stock market closed down (bear) last week for the first time in ten years. Think of ten years of uncontrolled double digit economic growth. The city has between 13 and 20 million busy Indians, each every day, getting their slice of the pie, even in the ghetto. I haven't toured Dharavi yet, Asia's largest ghetto and a mini city within a city. An estimated one million people live in a giant maze of corrugated metal and shacks, with limited running water and electricity. However, even there, the estimated export capital from the tiny shops and factories is 650 million dollars. 

Lest this post becomes overly academic, here a few pictures from my 27th birthday. We went halfway a through the city to find "The Ghetto" a rock club with pool tables and such, only to find out it was a dry day. (no booze in the whole city!) We eventually found a bar that would serve us, but it was in the Hyatt and they served us as westerners. I got one beer in before they closed up.Twan and I had a great time while he was here. The last night (also thanksgiving) we had a few drinks at a local place and I convinced the Djays to let us have some mic time at closing time and Twan flowed over the beats. They loved it and asked for his autograph, etc etc. Mad MC skillz in India. Also, If there are any fine art reps out there, I can only say www.anthonykurtz.com.

Tags: India