Archive for January, 2013

No one was killed in the devastating fire that destroyed half the studio in Hyderabad last week but the substandard electrical practices that led to it will almost certainly ensure more such fires occur in the future.

In less than an hour the sound stage and sets at Annapurna Studios were reduced to a pile of ashes, and for the film school that shares this space the lesson couldn’t be clearer: Better adopt some basic electrical safety standards and adopt them fast.  The studio management to its credit had recently tried to impose a safety code but the veteran “electricians” who caused this fire appear to have little interest in updating their skills or lack thereof.

Fire destroyed the largest sound stage at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad India 14 January 2013.

I’m in Hyderabad this week and working with a joint filmmaking group from Annapurna School of Film and Media and Chapman University. I sometimes forget that India has the largest film industry in the world, and as such has evolved its own style of acting that can only be described as big and over the top.

Scene from Proud Mothers shooting in Hyderabad. 17 January 2013.