3D films in South Asia
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3D in India
The first 3D film produced in India, My Dear Kuttichathan (1984), was made in Malayalam. Following its phenomenal commercial success it was dubbed into Hindi and released in 1985 as Chhota Chetan. Shiva ka Insaaf (1985) was the first 3D film made-for-Hindi.
Annai Bhoomi (1985)was the first 3D film in Tamil.
My Dear Kuttichathan’s Telugu version, Chinnari Chetan, was the first 3D film to be released in Telugu, though not made in India’s second most widely spoken language. The 1985 films Sagar 3D and Jai Bhetala were the first 3D films made in Telugu.
B films like 3D Saamri (1985/ Hindi-Urdu) took the technology into the horror genre, as had happened in the USA (with films like House of Wax, 1953). The 3D trend in India lasted for a couple of years but petered out after that. The same had happened in the USA in 1953: the 3-D Follies was the first 3D film to be cancelled during production, thus indicating that the 3D fad was more or less over. But because the trend came late to India, it also faded away later than in the West. The 3D feature-film boom had lasted two years in the West (1952-53). It lasted roughly the same length of time in India, too (1984-85).
Indian films in 3D after Avatar
3D was revived, and brought right into the mainstream, by the success of the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar (2009). This rekindled 3D in India as well--in big budget mainstream films as well B-grade horror films.
Shah Rukh Khan converted his special-effects laden blockbuster ‘RA One’ to 3D before its release, even though it had not been shot entirely with special cameras. The 3D version was released in less than 15% of the theatres but it fetched up to a quarter of the revenues in the first week
Haunted-3D (2011) was the first Indian film in stereoscopic 3D.
Kalyan Ram's Om 3D was one of the many 3D Telugu films launched after Avatar. Punnami Ratri and Anil Sunkara’s Action 3D followed.
In Kannada, filmmaker Prem tried to convert some scenes of his film Jogayya to 3D, without much success. Upendra’s Katari Veera Surasundarangi was shot in virtual 3D in Hyderabad, and in 2012 became the first Kannada film to be released in 3D. Then director Ravindra launched Superhero 1100.
Sukumar Ray's "Ho Jo Bo Ro Lo" was launched as Bengal's first 3D film.
Ray Jay (Rehan Jainulabdeen)’s Re-Entry: Grey Zone (2013), an English-language co-production between Sri Lanka | USA | New Zealand, was the first 3D (stereoscopic 3D)film to be made by a Sri Lankan born Director.
Revival in Hindi-Urdu
Haunted was a success because it was shot in 3D. Don 2 and RA.One did not work because it was converted from 2D to 3D.
Dangerous Ishhq, Joker, ABCD, Raaz 3 and Sher Khan are among those that followed with 3D technology. Shirish Kunder converted Joker from 2D to 3D
"It is not easy to shoot in 3D. It takes a lot of time. We can't block such long dates from established stars," said director Shirish Kunder, the maker of Joker which stars Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha. "So, for a big star cast, it is better to convert the film in 3D from 2D." .
But Vikram Bhatt, who worked with some established stars in Dangerous Ishhq (its heroine was reviving her career after years, while other actors were relatively unknown) and Raaz 3, and had made Haunted without stars, differs.
Remo said the initial budget for ABCD ('the first dance film in 3D') was Rs.14 crore, but now "the budget has reached about 20.crore. For the first time a production house has spent that much money on a non-star cast film because they believed in the script."
2012: a revival of the 3D trend in Malayalam cinema
2012 saw a revival of the 3D trend in Malayalam cinema Even the exhibiting theatres and distributors are ready to embrace those inevitable changes by equipping the release centers with modern facilities.
The Mammootty-Prithviraj-Nayanthara team had their first 3D in 'Arival Chuttika Nakshathram', which is directed by Amal Neerad.
The other movie to be made in 3D was the debut directorial venture of famous cameraman Ramachandra Babu, titled as 'Manthrika Thakol'. Dileep who will appear as a magician in the film. Incidentally, Ramachandra Babu was also the cinematographer of the first Cinemascope film 'Thacholi Ambu'and the first 70mm film, 'Padayottam'.
Two horror films in 3D were Vinayan's 'Dracula 2012' and 'Raktharakshassu' to be presented by a group of fresh technicians.
70mm films in India/ South Asia
Cinerama theatres in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
3D films in South Asia
