Library at the Institute

The library at the Institute was really a repository of knowledge, filled with number of technical magazines, technology and many other rare books. Reading books from the library was an eagerly awaited activity, especially the journals like American Cinematographer, Popular Photography, Sight and sound etc. Books like Five 'C' of cinematography, Focal Series on Cinematography , special effects, Technique of Film Editing, by Karel Reisz were all much in demand.

There were also some gems of rare books which I had borrowed and copied down important portions. Some of those handwritten manuscripts are still with me. After completing the course at Pune, I have started working in the Madras film industry. I found that the American library there had a vast collection of film books and magazines. I became a member there and a regular visitor browsing through American Cinematographer and other magazines. During the extreme hot summer months the super cool air conditioned library was a favourite refuge for me. The proximity of the Woodlands Drive-in restaurant took care our stomach and on some days short film screening were also held there as added attraction.

When I had started earning sufficiently, I took out subscriptions for American Cinematographer magazine and SMPTE Journals, which had helped me to keep up with up to date information. Reading of books, not only technical one, others like literature etc had really expanded my knowledge to a great extent. It had reshaped my way of thinking too.

This reading habit still continues with me , now with a slight change - the Internet is an ocean of knowledge and I am flooded with information and getting drowned!
he library at the Institute was really a repository of knowledge, filled with number of technical magazines, technology and other books. Reading books from the library was an eagerly awaited activity, especially the journals like American Cinematographer, Popular Photography, Sight and sound etc. Books like Five 'C' of cinematography, Focal Series on Cinematography , special effects, Technique of Film Editing, by Karel Reisz were all much in demand.

There were also some gems of rare books which I had borrowed and copied down important portions. Some of those handwritten manuscripts are still with me. After completing the course at Pune, I have started working in the Madras film industry. I found that the American library there had a vast collection of film books and magazines. I became a member there and a regular visitor browsing through American Cinematographer and other magazines. During the extreme hot summer months the super cool air conditioned library was a favourite refuge for me. The proximity of the Woodlands Drive-in restaurant took care our stomach and on some days short film screening were also held there as added attraction.

When I had started earning sufficiently, I took out subscriptions for American Cinematographer magazine and SMPTE Journals, which had helped me to keep up with up to date information. Reading of books, not only technical one, others like literature etc had really expanded my knowledge to a great extent. It had reshaped my way of thinking too.

This reading habit still continues with me , now with a slight change - the Internet is an ocean of knowledge and I am flooded with information and getting drowned!

Film Processing Laboratory and Library

Though we had to study the theoretical aspects of film processing, only after we actually started filming that we understood the intricacies of the chemical process and how it affects the density of the negative etc. Of course the man who was most helpful to me there was Raman Nair (Editing 1966 Batch), the younger brother of Film Archives P.K.Nair. For reasons unknown, after completing the editing course he had been working in the film processing laboratory. Years later we were associated in the Malayalam film "AEKAKINI" directed by G.S.Panikkar.

The Library at the Institute was one of the finest in India with regard to books on Cinema and collection of journals. Many a hours were spent in the library reading the latest issues of Sight and Sound, American Cinematographer etc. It was there that I became deeply attached to the American Cinematographer magazine that for many years I continued reading it to keep up with the latest technologies in Cinematography. After leaving the Institute , I was in Madras working in films. I became a member of the American library where I used to visit often to borrow books on cinema as well as to read the latest issue of AC magazine. The air-conditioned comfort of the library in the scorching summer months at Madras and the proximity of the drive-in-woodlands hotel was an added attraction. Later on when I could afford it I became a subscriber and continued reading it to update on the emerging technologies.

It was a great joy that an interview of mine was published in that great magazine when I did an English film BEYOND THE SOUL Directed by Rajeev Anchal. Please click HERE to read the interview published in September 2002 issue of American Cinematographer Magazine.

The Library at the Institute had played a major part in my film education shared only by the National Film Archives. I think most of the Institute Alumni will definitely agree that the Library and the Film Archives had contributed much to their film education.