One should never seek to recreate a period. One should attempt to reinvent it – Christopher Hobbs
A director has a visual on his mind. Since he cannot create everything, he seeks help from the different crafts of the film industry; they all help him build his dream. The art director is one such technician who helps in solidifying the vision of the director, not by merely recreating the times but the emotional truth of the story and its characters through the environment. Earlier the art directors would handle the costumes of the artistes too, the remaining people including the carpenters and the other works men would stay put in the studio till pack up was announced. But as time passed by art directors have been confined to their jobs and are asked to visit the studio only when they are allotted work. With the decrease in employment opportunities, the respect for them too is waning; the art directors are primarily reputed for inflating the cost of production.
Art director Nagendra and ex–president of Art Directors Association who worked for over 40 films says that their ilk arrive at a figure on paper and informs the producer, and the latter gets a clear idea on the table profit he will get from selling the film during the announcement of the project. By the time the story is given a shape and the finished piece is ready, the cost increases, but the producer still hangs on to the old tariff given by the art director.
When the end product is ready, if the film is a hit, no one complains but if something goes wrong the art director is blamed for the huge expenditure on the film.
Another art director, who prefers to remain anonymous, feels that producers do not have time to patrol the sets and control the budget. A producer is happy and content, thrilled on getting the dates of the stars, worried on how to get the finance for the film. If he takes money from a financier for a film, he spends part of it for his personal expenditure like buying a piece of land and pushes the account onto the art department. If a set is completed in Rs 10 lakhs, it is billed as twenty and there is no one to question; the art director becomes the scapegoat.
Nagendra says earlier there were discussions at the pre-production level with the director, art director, camera man and the producer but these days they don't involve them at all.
“They just pick up a design from somewhere and ask us to replicate it with the least expense possible. There are around 70 art directors in the Telugu film industry out of which 30 have regular work. Ten out of these people are in sound positions, the remaining 20 have to struggle.
An art director gets a job here only if his previous film is a hit, his skill is not a criterion at all,” says Nagender summing up the scenario.
