The technical crew members are the ones who are the backbone of any film. They do not come on the forefront and never take the centre stage of popularity, but provide the prerequisite support in all stages of film making. The technical crew members of any film mainly comprise Sound Designers, Cinematographers, Costume Designers, Art Directors, Background Score composers, Action Stunt directors, Editors and Special Effects supervisors. Indian Cinema has been privileged some of the most recognised film technical personalities.
Resul Pookutty is an internationally acclaimed Indian film sound designer, editor and mixer, who along with Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing for their work in the Academy Award-winning "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008). He has worked in Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam cinemas, engineering sounds for films like "Traffic Signal", "Saawariya", "Enthiran", "Ra.One", "Kochadaiiyaan", "Highway" and the upcoming sequel to "Enthiran", "2.0".
Nadia, more popularly known as Fearless Nadia, was an actress and stuntwoman, most remembered as the masked-cloaked adventurer in "Hunterwali" (Hindi for "woman with a whip") that released in 1935 and was one of the earliest female lead in Indian films. The legendary Nadia was Indian Cinema`s earliest and most popular stunt actress who performed all her stunts herself.
Another popular contemporary action director/stunt coordinator is Allan Amin, who has worked in Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam cinemas and won Filmfare Awards for films "Mission Kashmir", "Qayamat: City Under Threat" and "Dus".
Bhanu Athaiya is a noted Indian Costume Designer who has designed costumes for characters of over 100 films since the 1950s. She has worked with noted filmmakers like Guru Dutt, Yash Chopra, Raj Kapoor, Ashutosh Gowariker and international directors like Conrad Rooks and Richard Attenborough. She won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the 1982 film "Gandhi" and National Film Award for Best Costume Design for Hindi films "Lekin…" and "Lagaan".
Bedabrata Pain is a technical genius who worked in National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), representing India and eventually became the inventor of active pixel sensor technology (CMOS image sensor) in modern digital video camera. He became popular in India after he directed a historical war drama film with this technology, "Chittagong", released in 2012, and won the National Film Award for Best First Film of a Director. The scientist is today a film producer and screenwriter as well.
Anil Mehta is an acclaimed Indian film cinematographer who has shot popular films like "Khamoshi: The Musical", "Lagaan", "Saathiya", "Veer-Zaara" and "Jab Tak Hai Jaan". He won the National Film Award for Best Cinematography for his work in the 1999 successful film "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam". He is also a writer and director in Bollywood films.
