Amitabh says film-making has lost its charm as it's all digital now

MUMBAI: Veteran Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan who starred in several super-hit Indian flicks appears to be upset with rapid digitization. As he says: “The word film has suddenly lost its charm, for there does not seem to be any need to shoot films on film. It’s all digital now.”

He shared his thoughts over a roundtable event hosted to initiate the conversation about the importance of film heritage and its preservation. Also in attendance were Oscar nominee Christopher Nolan, visual artist Tacita Dean, Kamal Hassan, and Shahrukh Khan.

 

All these international celebrities were present for the fourth edition of Reframing the future of film an event hosted by Viacom18 in association with the film heritage foundation.

The 75-year-old Piku star said, what was known as the “film industry”, where celebrities were “known as “film stars”, has now gone digital. “So, in the complete absence of that medium and that product, it would be quite in order to call ourselves ‘robotic genes’ or words of similar sound…. ‘digi act’ or ‘digi digi’. Whatever… it would be an issue that would need consideration,” he added.

The legendary actor also posted some photographs from the event where he met Nolan along with visual artist Tacita Dean on an invitation from the Film Heritage Foundation. He recounted how the early years of filmmaking were “a bit restrictive” for the artistes.

“The film stock was the most important and costly product on set, and its most minimum use was the challenge for us. If we made the mistake of asking for another ‘take’ for the betterment of the film, the director, in most cases would reject the idea of a retake.

“He would simply weigh it with commerce and retort, ‘If you want another take, pay for it’.” Big B said while shooting his debut film Saat Hindustani, he was in a “terribly frightful challenge” to give a shot right in the first take as they were working with a limited budget and film stock.