Westminsterresearch the Digital Turn in Indian Film Sound
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WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch The Digital Turn in Indian Film Sound: Ontologies and Aesthetics Bhattacharya, I. This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Mr Indranil Bhattacharya, 2019. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: ((http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] THE DIGITAL TURN IN INDIAN FILM SOUND: ONTOLOGIES AND AESTHETICS Indranil Bhattacharya A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2019 ii Abstract My project maps film sound practices in India against the backdrop of the digital turn. It is a critical-historical account of the transitional era, roughly from 1998 to 2018, and examines practices and decisions taken ‘on the ground’ by film sound recordists, editors, designers and mixers. My work explores the histories and genealogies of the transition by analysing the individual, as well as collective, aesthetic concerns of film workers migrating from the celluloid to the digital age. My inquiry aimed to explore linkages between the digital turn and shifts in production practices, notably sound recording, sound design and sound mixing. The study probes the various ways in which these shifts shaped the aesthetics, styles, genre conventions, and norms of image-sound relationships in Indian cinema in comparison with similar practices from Euro-American film industries. I analysed nearly 60 hours of interviews I conducted with sound practitioners in India, examined trade magazines, online journals, the personal blogs of practitioners, technological literature from corporations like Dolby and Barco, and, as case studies, analysed the soundtrack of key Indian films from both the analogue and the digital eras. While my research clearly indicated significant shifts from the analogue to the digital era in India – increased stratification of sound recording and editing processes, aggressive adoption of multichannel sounds, wider acceptance of sync sound, the increasing dominance of the sound designer – it also revealed that many of the analogue era practices remain deeply embedded within digital era conventions. Moreover, technologies and practices from the Euro-American context have undergone substantial ‘Indianisation’ during the process of their adoption. I argue that digital technology, while reshaping deeply institutionalized practices of the analogue era, contributed to particularly radical changes in the practices of sound recording and editing in the digital era in India. While this dissertation is an ethnographic investigation of ‘living history’, it is largely informed by film sound theory, and seeks to achieve a balance between empirically grounded historical research and film theory. iii Acknowledgement I am indebted to a large number of friends, colleagues and well-wishers, spanning two countries who had helped me during my journey as a doctoral researcher. This three-and- half year long period has been a particularly exciting and enriching experience, and despite personal setbacks and tragedies I faced in this period, it will still remain the most significant period of my adult life. I want to express my deepest gratitude to my doctoral supervisor Prof Rosie Thomas. Her unstinting support and encouragement kept me going even amidst difficult personal circumstances. Rosie’s belief in the scholarly importance of my project and her insights into every aspect of the ongoing research, kept me grounded and focused. I am also grateful to my second supervisor, Dr. May Adadol Ingawanij, for sharing her insights on certain key aspects of the project, especially during the final stages. I wish to thank Dr. Roshini Kempadoo, Director of Research at CREAM, University of Westminster, for being always patient and sympathetic, especially in matters of crucial institutional support required during the field visits and academic conferences. I would not have possibly embarked on this mid-career venture, leaving my teaching assignment at a premier institution in India, unless encouraged by Dr. Lalitha Gopalan, Prof Moinak Biswas, Dr Neepa Majumdar, Prof Gayatri Chatterjee and Prof Ira Bhaskar. I am deeply thankful to these eminent senior colleagues for guiding me in the right direction. I would like to acknowledge the efforts taken by the Graduate School at the University to constantly improve the experience of doctoral researchers. I want to express my gratitude to the staff of the Graduate School, especially Lesley McDonagh and Richard McCormack, for their generous support. Without the academic structure laid out and maintained by the Graduate School the timely completion would have been a hugely challenging enterprise. The film sound practitioners and filmmaker friends from India are the real heroes of this project. I am hugely grateful to the sound practitioner communities from Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai who allowed me to interview them, sometimes at a very short notice. iv I want to specifically thank Bishwadeep Chatterjee, sound designer, for not only agreeing to be interviewed but always responding to my texted and emailed queries and clarifications about his work and sound practices in the Mumbai industry. Friends from the film industry like Resul Pookutty, P M Satheesh, Subhash Sahoo, Vinod Subramaniam were also hugely supportive and helped me access various kinds of information and insights during the course of my fieldwork. I am especially thankful to my friend Avijit Mukul Kishore for his support and encouragement over the last three years. I would like to thank the administration of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, for allowing me avail of a long study leave to undertake this doctoral project. I am indebted to my colleagues and associates at FTII who shared regular teaching and administrative duties during my absence. My fellow doctoral researchers at CREAM and CAMRI have been a constant source of inspiration. The camaraderie and warmth centred around the famed ‘JG’ rooms will be hugely missed. Special thank you to doctoral colleague Charusmita for being a sounding board and a loyal comrade during our long writing sessions in the library. I also have to profusely thank my doctoral colleague Pablo Morales for his last-minute tips on the design and layout of the document. I am also indebted to my sister-in-law Swati, for her being a great moral support and also for hosting me in Chennai, during the southern Indian part of my fieldwork. Lastly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family, especially to my partner Sanchita for single-handedly running the home in my absence, along with her extremely demanding professional commitments. Her encouragement and support, especially during crucial phases of the research, kept me focused on my work. My daughter Anahita deserves a huge thanks for not only putting up with my long absences, but even encouraging me to complete my work on time. Lastly, I would like to say thank you to my parents for their support during my absence from India. I wish that my mother, who passed away a day after I was upgraded from MPhil to PhD level, could still be around to see me complete the dissertation. The timely completion of the project is a tribute to her and the rest of my family. v Table of Contents Acknowledgement ...........................................................................................................iii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY: ............................................................................. viii Introduction .................................................................................................................... 10 The Quest for an Alternative History .................................................................................. 10 A History of Indian Film Sound?....................................................................................................... 12 Research Questions ............................................................................................................... 12 A Note on the Originality of the Project ............................................................................. 13 Methodological Issues and Challenges ................................................................................ 14 Methodology – in Theory .................................................................................................................. 14 Methodology – in Practice ................................................................................................................. 17 “Almost an Insider” – Playing the Practitioner-Researcher ............................................. 19 Textual Analysis .................................................................................................................... 21 Thesis Overview..................................................................................................................... 22 A Note on the Naming Conventions....................................................................................