A Visit to A Film Studio

Travelling has always been considered an important part of education. Educational Institutions have also acknowledged the role that it plays in enhancing a student’s knowledge and experience. That is why they plan different tours to explore different parts of their own country or of other countries.

During our last autumn vacation, our college authorities planned a tour to Hyderabad. A group of seventy students headed by six teachers had to go there. We visited the whole city and the places worth seeing in it. But I was specifically excited to visit the famous film Studio Ramoji Film City situated near Hyderabad.

Ramoji Film City is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex. It is a very popular recreation centre and attracts huge tourist crowds every year. It contains both natural and artificial attractions including an amusement park.

Situated near Hayathnagar in Hyderabad – Vijaywada highway Ninc and spread on 8,000 acres of land, Ramoji Film City was opened for the general public and tourists in 1996 by the head of the Ramoji group, film producer Ramoji Rao. Our guide told us that the film city was created as an outcome of the Group’s association with Indian cinema through Usha Kiran Movies, its dedicated film production house. It has produced over eighty films in various languages such as Hindi, Malayalam, Telegu, Tamil, Kannad,a and Bangla, etc.

The Film City has pre-production, production, and post-production resources. It has over five hundred set locations. There are gardens of different styles, various outdoor locations, more than 50 studio floors, digital film facilities, high-tech laboratories, etc. There were different departments in the film city. There were fixed sets comprising hospitals, roadways, airport interiors, street scenes, etc. Our guide told us that twenty international films and forty Indian films could be produced simultaneously in the complex. It has attracted not only filmmakers from the country but also producers from around the world including Hollywood.

Our guide took us to a large pool, artificial waterfalls, intricately carved caves, an airport terminal, hospital setting, churches, mosques, temples, and madrassas. We also visited the set of palace interiors, chateaus, rural regions, city lanes and a winding highway. I felt as if we had reached another new country or another new world with good infrastructure and a scope for ideal life. The fixed sets gave the look of real-life things. I wondered how these artificial objects seemed real and created a real effect on the screen world. I also marveled at the inventions of science and technology with which man, like God, can create a world as he likes.

The film studio had a special shop named ‘Parade’ where costumes of actors can be ordered. Such a place is heaven for the diehard fans of movies who can get the look they like similar to the actor they adore. The studio also has ‘Ramoji Film Magic’ which showed the behind-the-scenes activities involved in the making of a movie.

The visit to the studio gave us a glimpse into the making of a film. The film that the spectators enjoy cr criticize has much more to it than just the actors, songs or story. It has a great crew of a good number of persons behind it. The editors, the costume designers, the make-up artists, the spot boys, the stuntmen, etc. every single person has a big role to play in the making of a film.

According to our guide’s opinion, a great credit for the making of a film studio goes to the engineers or the architects and the artists who create the artificial world. There is an important role played by the technicians who technically edit and enhance the effects in a movie,

My visit to the film studio has proved to be an eye-opener to me and has clarified various doubts related to the preparation of the movies. I treasure the time spent by me there as quite precious.