Dream classroom

Filmmakers find a business opportunity in.

Have you spotted film veterans like Shabana Azmi, Karan Johar and Subhash Ghai looking professorial lately? You soon might. And it would not be out of place. Big film production houses such as Zee Telefilms and Ghai's Mukta Arts are now in the education business. They have started media training institutes.

Mukta Arts' institute, Whistling Woods International (WWI), is slated to open classroom doors in July 2006. By then, Mukta Arts expects to have invested Rs 50 crore in WWI. The total investment should be to the tune of Rs 100 crore.

WWI offers full-fledged three-year-long courses in acting, cinematography, direction, editing, screenwriting, sound recording and design, and in film and television as a business. An average full-time course could cost a student Rs 5.5 lakh per year.

That's steep. But Rahul Puri, vice-president, finance and strategy, Mukta Arts, doesn't see it that way. His argument: Regular four-year film specialisation courses in the US cost about Rs 47 lakh to Rs 58.8 lakh, and this is quite a steal in comparison.

Maybe so, if the technical training meets American standards; on film content, of course, the value would depend on the luminaries who take students under their aegis of mentorship, and how well they're able to impart their soft skills (being a creative field, this is often an osmotic process).

In fact, that is perhaps what WWI is banking on to justify its premium over the renowned Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, which offers separate three-year film courses in direction, editing, cinematography and audiography, at slightly over Rs 1 lakh a head.

It also offers one-year television courses in electronic cinematography, editing and audiography for about Rs 70,000 per course. FTII's two-year-long acting course is also far cheaper: about Rs 2.4 lakh.

Zee Institute of Media Arts (ZIMA) isn't as exorbitantly priced as WWI either. Its one-year courses in acting, direction or film animation and visual effects cost about Rs 1.3 lakh per course. A year-long cinematography or editing course costs about Rs 1.1 lakh.

Among ZIMA's cheaper courses are its one-year diploma in sound, for Rs 99,000, one-year production management diploma for about Rs 93,500, and one-year writing course for Rs 49,500.

Having enrolled about 225 students since its start in October 2004, ZIMA is using the razzle-dazzle of special effects as a draw. Its tie-up with Autodesk, which makes the special effects software package Smoke, gives it an edge over traditional film institutes. "We wish to make ZIMA the IIM of media arts," declares Arun Khaitan, CEO, Zee Network Education Group.

Both newcomers expect to make the most of the booming demand for such education. FTII admits only 12 students for its film courses, eight students for its television courses and 20 in its acting course, so plenty of aspirants are left looking elsewhere.

But then, almost none of the film legends had any formal education in the field. "Film-making is teamwork. So skills aren't as important; team spirit is most important. Anyway, everyone picks up skills on the job. So courses aren't that important," says Pritish Nandy, chairman, Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC), warning students not to expect jobs with the production houses.

Also, the field's technical barriers are falling fast. A passionate film aspirant may simply use a cellphone for a short Blair Witch Project kind of effort, edit it on a laptop, and post it on the Internet. Content rules, at the end.