The acute water crisis in parts of Tamil Nadu has had a cascading effect on the much used "rain effect" shots in Tamil cinema, prompting producers to either avoid such scenes or go in for miniature shower techniques.
"Rain effect shots are now avoided," film maker G Dhananjayan said, adding water tankers do not cater to the film industry, given the acute shortage situation.
"Using so much water is also a criminal waste and people realize it. There is awareness," he told PTI.
Still, if showers are indispensable for the movie,"rather than showing rains drenching a whole building, the same effect is now created by producing a spectacle of rain through a window. This may only require a bucket of water," the film maker, who is also the director of Blue Ocean Film and Television Academy (BOFTA) here said.
On rain effect shots, he said "it sets the tone, creates the mood and it is a character by itself in movies."
General Secretary of the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation, E Thangaraj said, "If you show rain effect today in a Tamil movie, people will laugh at you and I understand that it is being avoided by film makers."