relationship between architecture and movies. How architecture and movies are linked with each other, how architecture influences the movies. overall the the movie is depended on architecture without architectural concept and design movies is not possible.....

1. ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCE IN INDIAN
MOVIE
PROJECT II

2. PROJECT BRIEF
➢ AIM
➔ To study about Architectural design used in the movie.
➢ OBJECTIVE
➔ To explore the architectural elements used in Indian cinema.
➔ To learn about how architectural spaces express various emotions in movies.
➔ To understand the colour, lightning, texture, furniture layout, planning etc.
➔ Those are seen in Indian set of cinemas.
➔ To summarize the learnings gained from different secondary sources.
➢ OUTCOME
➔ Change in perspective view of the movie.
➔ why the background elements are necessary in the movie.

3. ABSTRACT
Movie is the best platform to express and explore the new elements and design. In these project we
are going to learn about how architectural design are implemented on the movies.Architecture play a
vital role in making a movie. No movie can be made on vacuum space it required the architectural
element on its background to explain the scenes or stories.The architect and filmmaker have much in
common. Both the profession required combination of courage,determination and captive world.
This project is divided in three part-
➢ The first part is about “ART,ARCHITECTURE AND MOVIE” how they are related and how
architecture play vital role in making a movie.
➢ Second part of the project is on movie analysis on Indian movie"KALANK".
➢ Third part of the project is on book review of "FILM ARCHITECTURE FROM METROPOLIS TO
BLADE RUNNER BY DIETRICH NEUMANN”

4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This Project has changed the perception of visualizing the Movie with a totally different
perspective.
The experience of completing my project, “ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCE IN INDIAN
MOVIES” has been full with many ups and down.
I would wholeheartedly extend my gratitude to the teachers who guided me throughout
the progress there by giving me a deeper insight to the project development and
understanding of the topics.
I would like to extend my gratitude to Ar. Namrata Talukdar whose valuable guidance
assisted me to present and complete my Project.

5. CONTENTS
Abstract.
Acknowledgement.
1. Introduction.
2. Literature study(relation between (architecture and movie)
3. Movie Analysis on Indian movie (KALANK)
4. Book review (FILM ARCHITECTURE by DIETRICH NEUMANN)
5. Conclusion.
6. References.
12-17
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PAGE.NO
2-5
6-11
1

6. INTRODUCTION
➢ Art & architecture has influence in movie in
many ways. Both the architecture and cinema
are two distinct art form.
➢ Architecture bring out the authenticity and
believability factor needed by the director to
make his film as close to the story and setting as
possible.
➢ Cinema is a play of expression and narrative
writing.
➢ The architect and the filmmaker have much in
common. their profession demand a
combination of courage, determination, and
ceptive world.
➢ Film makers with the help of production
designer, art direction, location managers, and
countless other members of cast and crew,
insert architecture into their films.
1

7. HOW ARE MOVIES & ARCHITECTURE RELATED
➢ It is difficult to imagine cinema taking place in
vacuum. Without the scene to fill each storyline .
➢ There has always been a strong relationship
between architecture and film. Next to actually
being there video is the best way to experience
architecture.
➢ That’s because space is not static. A big part of
how we experience space has to do with what it
feels like as you move through it.
➢ Set construction is undoubtedly one of those
moment of intersection. Allowing for great
control over shooting condition, set built in
closed studios enable the possibility of getting
rid of limitation related to climate, lightning and
eventual setbacks that may occur in shooting in
"real" environment. 2

8. ELEMENTS/FEATURES TO FOCUS
➢ Time & Space
➢ Framing
➢ Structure
➢ Lighting
➢ sound/music.
➢ Angle
➢ Movement
➢ Editing
3

9. ARCHITECTURAL
INFLUENCE IN INDIAN
MOVIES
➢ Movies tell us different stories from
historical to future. They capture our
imagination and transport us to
different times and places.Sometimes
this are real and sometimes its
imagined.
➢ Indian culture being so diverse,
architecture is not and exception to rule.
➢ Most of the Indian movie are based on
Indian culture.
4

10. STAGE & SET
DESIGN IN
INDIAN MOVIES
➢ Most important facts about
Indian movies are the set design
in the movie depicting the era or
tradition of the story line.
➢ Most of the structure are either
built or shoot with the help of the
model.
➢ Mostly used material are timber,
thermocol, bamboo etc,or
sometime made with the help of
CGI effect
Set design of bahubali
The most beautiful film set of the bollywood Sheesh mahal
Jodha akbar movie set
Depicting mughal era
5

11. MOVIE ANALYSIS
ON INDIAN MOVIE
kalank is a historical drama that goes back to pre-1947 India. It
tells the story of a well to do family and the numerous secrets
that each holds. As India draws nearer to independence and
partition, along with increasing communal tensions, each of those
hidden facts begins to unravel. The love of the four main
characters played by Varun, Alia, Aditya and Sonakshi get
embroiled in the violence and strife that is all around. With the
main theme of Kalank being red, the colour may reflect
triumph, love, bloodshed or hatred.
LOCATION OF FILM SHOOTING
The film shooting took place in locations all over India, including
Gwalior, Indore and even Kargil, FILM CITY MUMBAI.
6

12. SET DESIGN OVERVIEW
The set showcases Hira Mandi — the famous market of Lahore — in all its glory. set of Hira Mandi is a rather fantastical version of
Lahore in the 1940s, though we have retained the essence of the city as it was back then. They used a little bit of imagination and
borrowed architecture from across the globe.
About the colour palette used : shown restraint in the use of colours, so that it doesn’t look jarring.They have taken our liberties,
but well within the canvas of the film. Red colour has been used extensively in Kalank. It’s a strong colour and is pretty much there
in every frame of the film. We used various shades of it. Hira Mandi is the most vibrant of all the sets, so we used colours
depicting the same.”
About the nitty-gritties of the project: specifically mentions the pond and its hues. They had a large tank of water, and they
was clear that they didn’t want the water to look blue. That’s not the look they had in mind, as they not a fan of blue. Also, that
was not a part of the palette. At the same time, they didn’t want any other dark colour either. Another huge challenge was to keep
the water clean during the 45-day schedule of the shoot. They devised a method through which the water looked green and they
all loved it.”
7

13. ARCHITECTURE AND KALANK
The architecture of the buildings is a curious mixture of
the gothic and the sub-continental,extravagant and
unrealistic in the extreme. This movie is no period
piece.The set showed the famous Hira Mandi for itself
through built structures.This market of Lahore,they
retained the essence of Lahore City as it was in
1940s.the style of architecture of that period of time.To
this grand set VFX artist added effects to enhance the
scenes.Bringing the director’s imagination into reality
was a challenge for the set designer.
While keeping in mind the theme of the film Red colour
has been used extensively in Kalank.Red is the colour of
love, passion, power and blood; it is an emotional
colour and every frame of Kalank has this colour
extensively.VFX team used different shades of Red to
make each frame vibrant and energetic.The story of
Kalank unfolds amidst the communal tensions during
the partition so red is there in the plot and characters.
8

14. VFX IN THE
MOVIE
In Kalank Alia Bhatt as Roop arrives in a dream-like town of
Lahore.The pleasant lotus ponds with cosy boats, floating huge lotus
leaves, oversized chandeliers in the palace of Bahar Begum, lace
curtains, horse carriages, costumes with intricate details provided a
mesmerising effect on the audience.From the wide range of colour
palette VFX artist team selected the suitable colours to add extra
spark in the visuals.FluiidMask Studio located at Mumbai handled the
VFX of this movie.FluiidMask Studios VFX Supervisor shared that
“Kalank has fair amount of VFX and it will be stunning.”At FluiidMask
artists worked on the colour correction of the shots to make the
shots more appealing.VFX artists gave the colour texture to the
water and made the flowers more bright and colourful.Beautifully
designed lavish palace of Bahar Begum is a visually treat for the
audience.Lighting and texture has been applied so intricately at
every nook and corner of the palace that it left impressions on the
viewers.In the above image we can see the red colour shade at the
background wall of the palace.In the song ‘Tabah Ho Gaye’ one can
find her performing her trademark pose in anarkali suit.The First
Class song featuring Varun Dhawan and Kiara Advani had almost
500 backup dancers.Shot at the Hira Mandi set, this song showed
the narrow streets, brick staircases and houses of 1940s period.
LOTUS POND WITH COSY BOATS
TABAH HO GAYE SONG SCENE
FIRST CLASS SONG SCENE
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15. CG IN THE
MOVIE
Varun Dhawan as character Zafar played the role of Macho
Man.Varun performed all the stunts himself under the
guidance of action director Sham Kaushal Ji.The actor went
through rigorous physical training to make the body needed
for the script.The character Zafar is someone who flirts
with life and danger.The bull-fight sequence surrounded by
audience was shot for 8 days on a hot sunny day in
Mumbai.But luckily the bull was not real, it was a CG or
computer generated bull.VFX team created the bull by
using 3D model in 3d software and later added the
animation to the bull for movement.Fighting with real bull
could be life risky so the CG bull was introduced in the null
fight sequence.The bullfighting arena has partly been
crafted by VFX. The background pillars and the broken wall
structures were created with the CG tools. The use of
Chroma keying merged with VFX techniques.The snow
covered mountains has been inserted at the background
during the post production stage.As the film Kalank was
mainly shot at the Film City Mumbai so it is quite obvious
that this type of shot has been created at post production
BULL FIGHT SCENE
BULL FIGHTING ARENA
Alia Bhatt with kite in the
background of mountains
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16. USES OF BOTH THE NATURAL AND
ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS FOR BETTER REFLECTION
USE NATURAL MOON LIGHT AND DIYAS TO
REPRESENT THE NIGHT SCENE AT THE PALACES
‘LIGHTINGS’
USES IN
OF MOVIE
USES OF NATURAL LIGHT TO
DEPICT THE REAL ENVIRONMENT
11

17. Film Architecture. From Metropolis to
Blade Runner
is a beautiful book about the relationships between
Architecture and Cinema. It was edited by Dietrich
Neumann in 1999 and includes essays by Donald
Albrecht, Anton Kaes, Anthony Vidler and Michael
Webb. Through a series of contributions from
major scholars, Film Architecture Set Designs from
-Metropolis- to -Blade Runner- examines the
architectural element in films, including a look at
the original set designs used by filmmakers across
Europe and the United States. The book begins
with medievalizing, expressionistic, and
psychological sets for films such as The Cabinet of
Dr. Caligari and Algol, and moves on to
experimental depictions of the anticipated modern
city in such films as Asphalt and Sunrise and the
dark view of the future in Metropolis.
Published September 1st 1999 by Prestel
Publishing (first published February 1996).
BOOK REVIEW
FILM
ARCHITECTURE
FROM METROPOLIS TO BLADE RUNNER
BY DIETRICH NEUMANN
ABOUT THE BOOK
12

18. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dietrich Neumann, Professor of the History of Modern
Architecture and Urbanism at Brown University, concentrates on
European and American architectural production from the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—from the minutiae of
building technologies to the transatlantic discourse about
skyscrapers and urbanism. He also works on the history of film-
set design and architectural illumination. His books include Film
Architecture: Set Design from Metropolis to Blade Runner
(Prestel, 1996), Richard Neutra Windshield House (Harvard,
2001), Architecture of the Night (Prestel, 2002), and “The
Structure of Light”: Richard Kelly and the Illumination of Modern
Architecture (Yale, 2010). Two additional manuscripts are
scheduled for publication: The Barcelona Pavilion (Chicago) and
A Skyscraper for Mussolini: Palanti and Urban Planning in Fascist
Rome.
13

19. INTRODUCTION
"Throughout the 20th century, the visions of cities and
spaces shown in films are often more memorable than any
created on drafting board or construction site. However,
despite its significant role in the history of both
architecture and film, screen architecture still remains
largely undiscovered. Film Architecture: Set Designs from
Metropolis to Blade Runner examines these architectural
elements, and includes a look at he original set designs
used by filmmakers across Europe and the United States."
Film Architecture. From Metropolis to Blade Runner is a
beautiful book about the relationships between
Architecture and Cinema. It was edited by Dietrich
Neumann in 1999 and includes essays by Donald Albrecht,
Anton Kaes, Anthony Vidler and Michael Webb.
14

20. From Metropolis to Blade Runner: architecture
that stole the show
Metropolis (1927)
Fritz Lang's silent sci-fi may be best known for its wondrous female robot, Eve, but
it's the set design that really takes your breath away. It features a cloud-scraping
contemporary Tower of Babel, an industrial workers' production hell-hole, and super-
modern, master-of-the-universe-style offices – all revealing its creators' in-depth
knowledge of the very latest European architectural developments. Whether they're
interpreting Art Deco, Bauhaus Modern or Expressionism, all the buildings shown are
terrifying. The overall effect is curiously Gothic, shadowy, elongated, chiaroscuro.
And scary.
Blade Runner (1982)
Metropolis translated into another futuristic dystopia, this time a vision of LA in 2019.
The opening shots, as the camera pans over a 700-storey skyscraper and the sky
glows with industrial smoke, fire and acid rain, is as magnificent as it is disturbing.
It's another interpretation of the Tower of Babel, of course; this time the
headquarters of the company that makes the humanoid "replicants" that do the dirty
work for human beings.
A still from Fritz Lang's Metropolis
(1927). Photograph: Ronald Grant
Archive
15

21. Film Architecture largely achieves these ambitious goals, though it
lacks the comprehensive introduction that would enable readers
to understand fully the significance of much of its intriguing
material. The decision to provide five introductory essays on five
different subjects rather than a single overview means that
readers may be puzzled by what they encounter, despite the
excellence of some of these essays.In "The Explosion of Space:
Architecture and the Filmic Imaginary," Anthony Vidler usefully
differentiates the "fiat space" 115 of Von Morgen bis Mitternachts
from the "geometrical space" of Algol, and the "sculptural" or
"solid space" of Der Golem. In "Sites of Desire: The Weimar Street
Film," Anton Kaes suggests how this group of films offered a
"form of compensation, the site of a possible, fuller reality that
could not be had in a life dominated by bureaucracy and
instrumental reason" (27). In "Before and After Metropolis: Film
and Architecture in Search of the Modern City," Neumann sets out
a series of antinomies that characterize the architectural debate
about the urban future: should urban living embrace
industrialization, Americanism, and blocks of skyscrapers.
OVERVIEW
16

22. Throughout the 20th century, the vision of cities and spaces shown in films are often more memorable than any
created on a drafting board or construction site.However, despite its significant role in the history of both architecture
and film,screen architecture still remains largely undiscovered.Film Architecture :Set Designs from Metropolis to Blade
Runner examines these architectural elements, and includes a look at the original set designs used by the filmmakers
across Europe and the United states.
This book is fully illustrated with many memorable backdrops to famous movies.It combines original set designs with
publicity stills and prints from actual footage.It elucidates the role of both the set designer and the architect in the
creation of a movie, documents the process from the initial sketch to the final product, and highlights the diverse and
complex relationship between two leading artforms of our century,film and architecture.
“... a fascinating study of movies as the launching pads of avant-garde style.”-- New York Times
“... a handsome and valuable contribution to this inexplicably neglected field.”--World Architecture.
This is a very heavy going book there are no two ways about it.There is a very heavy going book there are no two
ways about it. There are essays about film making and architecture which are either reproductions of an exhibition on
the subject or are notes and observations taken from the films and the contributors, however it is a fascinating insight
in to the creative drives of the people who helped shape some of the people who helped shape some of the most
influential films of the genre.
SUMMARY
17

23. CONCLUSION
We cannot talk about culture without human existence. The human existence cannot be
comprehended separate from its habitat. To exist, to separate one from the other is equal to be
defined as an individual. The most basic definition of space as “the convenient space that
separates a man from his environment to a certain extent, and allows him to maintain his
deeds inside”, (Hasol, 1998) clearly exerts the relationship of space with the being, that is;
human. While man creates a space, he, in one sense, creates his own being as well; and he
cannot consider the space he created separate from the culture he possesses. Therefore it can
be said that, culture is a significant factor in the formation of space. Architecture, defined as
the art of creating space, takes its place within the constituents of culture, and so the space
reflects its own culture. As well as architecture, this phenomenon also applies to the field of
cinema. Throughout the history, just like architecture which had seen formal and expressionist
changes, the architectural space too, experienced several changes. It was highly influenced by
technical innovations, sociopolitical revolutions and philosophical changes; experienced sudden
alterations; demonstrated developments in time. Just like the space we have come to observe
in cinema.
18

24. REFERENCES
● https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/nov/05/architecture-film-riba
● http://katfilm.blogspot.com/2010/11/throughout-20-th-century-visions-of.html
● https://www.academia.edu/519631/Film_Architecture_Set_Designs_fromMetropolis_toBlade_Runner
● http://cinej.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/cinej
● https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/3178618
● https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/472092.Film_Architecturehttps://www.missmalini.com/2019/04
/06/all-you-want-to-know-about-the-elaborate-sets-of-kalank-from-art-director-amrita-
mahal-nakai/
● https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/amrita-mahal-
nakai-kalank-is-not-one-persons-effort-it-requires-an-army-of-people-to-create-
something-so-grand/a
● https://bollyy.com/kalanks-art-director-amrita-mahal-nakai-talks-about-what-went-into-
the-making-of-the-period-dramas-grand-sets/
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalank
● https://www.desiblitz.com/content/kalank-is-a-period-drama-of-eternal-
love#:~:text=Sajid%20Nadiadwala%20became%20part%20of%20the%20team%20as,came
%20to%20a%20finish%20on%20May%207%2C%20
● https://www.animationkolkata.com/blog/2019/05/10/kalank-vfx-rich-movie-know/
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25. ABOUT MYSELF:
SUBMITTED BY-
ALKA PRAKASH
B.ARCH 7TH SEM
ROLL.NO-02
GCAP
BATCH OF 2017-2022