An afternoon with the master Thota Tharani (Part 2)

Responding to a query from the audience, he said it was more stressful to work on real sets compared to original locations, as in the latter case, the art director could just focus on the décor whereas on a real set, he had to work on the design of the set as well.

To yet another query on the utilisation of resources, he explained, “Contrary to popular perception, we don’t really need expensive materials. The allocation of resources should be done wisely. In

Sagara Sangamam

, we have this view of snow-capped mountains in the backdrop in a song. What we used was a transparent plastic cloth to get that effect. Similarly, in Kaadhal Desam (

Prema Desam

), you see trendy glassed-buildings but we didn’t use glass really. It was plywood.” He also shared an interesting fact about the famous cycle chain of Shiva. “That wasn’t a real cycle chain. We cut a cycle tyre into pieces and amalgamated them to form a chain,” says the veteran of more than 200 movies with a smile.

“The key is to come out with an output within the budgetary stipulations. If one is stubborn and not accommodative, he will not be called again and thereby lose out on work,” is the word of advice from him.

“I’m proud of the fact that I worked when there was really no infrastructure unlike today. I’ve introduced many things to the industry such as the use of silver foil, insulation tape etc. But I don’t want to talk about it,” he says modestly. Finally, what does he feel about the changes in the role of the art director in films? “An art director used to be the right hand man for a director. He used to be involved with 90% of whatever one sees on screen. Frequently, even the cinematographers used to approach me and ask me where they should place the camera. That trend is now gone thanks to the advent of the ‘production designers’, “says the legend, ruefully.