Sabu Cyril has no time to rest and gloat over his awards (four National Awards, the latest one being for Endhiran/Robot ). Neither does he have the inclination to do so. He'd rather be busy at work, erecting true-to-life sets or reading and learning to remain up to date.
Bollywood's A-listers vie for his attention. Sabu is the man at the helm as production designer for Shah Rukh Khan's Ra.One , Karan Johar's production Agneepath starring Hrithik Roshan, Rakesh Roshan's sci-fi magnum opus Krrish 2 and Priyadarshan's action thriller Tezz . He is no more just an art director. “My job doesn't end with conceiving, designing and overseeing sets. A production designer is responsible for every single object that appears in the frame. The production designer has to have an eye for colour and costumes, too, for example we discussed at length even the colour of the robots. There are different departments to take care of miniatures and props in international cinema. Here it is the job of the art director,” he explains.
Robot/Endhiran required him to push his limits to come up with an entertaining futuristic scientific thriller and Ra.One , he promises, will be miles ahead. “ Ra.One and Krrish 2 are both stylish, futuristic films that are different from each other. I cannot afford to repeat anything from Robot for these films,” says Sabu Cyril.
Secrecy shrouds Ra.One and all that Sabu Cyril reveals to us is “expect to see a lot of virtual reality. The movie will be like watching a video game. We've shot in London and Mumbai and the hi-tech film is more like a fantasy.”
The Agneepath remake, on the other hand, is rugged like Gardish , he remarks. Gardish brings back memories. Sabu Cyril recounts how he recreated the Mahalakshmi dobhi ghat for the climax. “It is tough to shoot in the real location with the crowds. So we recreated it,” he says in a matter-of-fact way. It was easier said than done. In fact, he has perfected the art of recreating true-to-life sets with time. Barring the Howrah Bridge, most locales representing Kolkata were recreated in sets put up in Chennai for Mani Ratnam's Yuva . In fact, some of the temple sets he had erected for films have drawn much curiosity that onlookers have come to offer pujas. “That's the irony of our job. Our success lies in making things look real but when it looks too real, nobody knows it is the work of an art director and we don't get appreciation,” he smiles.
Sabu Cyril finds handling the production design for futuristic films more challenging than period films like Kaalapani . “There are reference points in history. You can go back to read and research on that era and work on the film. Scientific films are challenging because you have to make things look believable in the Indian context,” he says.
Given the budget constraints in Indian movies, he feels the production houses here do a commendable job. “Given a chance, I would have loved to take the services of my friend who is a robotics engineer in Buffalo University for Endhiran . But getting a real robot for the film would have pushed up the cost for the film. For the scene that required 100 robots to stand in a line towards the climax, I used 35 mannequins and dressed up 65 others in robotic costumes,” he reveals.
Likewise, shooting on a real train would have cost more and required more time for Tees Maar Khan . He solved the problem by ‘creating' a train. From starting off as a commercial designer for advertisements before films beckoned, he credits his work to the grounding he received while studying visual communication in School of Arts, Chennai. “Studying both Indian and Western art helped,” reflects Sabu Cyril, whose reading list now has science fiction as well as regression therapy. Hugely inspired by Abraham Lincoln, he believes in Lincoln's words: ‘I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come…”
The Priyan Connection
Sabu Cyril and Priyadarshan have a bond that is hard to find in showbiz. “We have worked together in 65 films so far,” smiles the art director. “We have a good equation and can understand and appreciate each other’s strengths. We decided that if he finds a better art director he would move on,” laughs Sabu. That hasn’t happened till date.
