Mixed in Dolby Atmos, Madras Café wins National Awards

Directorate of Film Festivals of India today announced that Bishwadeep Chatterjee, Sound Designer and Nihar Ranjan Samal, Location Sound Recordist for Madras Café have been conferred with National Awards for Best Sound Design & Best Location Sound Recordist for 2013-14 at the 61^st National Film Awards of India for their work on Madras Café.

Highlighting the outstanding work in the movie, thecitation from the official announcement from Directorate of Film Festival states, “With his competent sound design Bishwadeep adds authenticity and another dimension to the film.
Nihar has done a superlative professional job, in picking up minute nuances, covering indoor as well as outdoor locations.”

Bishwadeep Chatterjee, recipient of the award for Best Sound Design for his work on Madras Café, explains, “Dolby Atmos creates a whole new listening experience for the audience; the detailing is much more profound. At any given point in time, at any scene, there are a lot of different sounds to immerse the viewer in the scene and story without distracting him from the story. Dolby Atmos helps in creating a much more layered multi-dimensional sound pattern that and feel very realistic.”

Shoojit Sarkar, Director, Madras Café   commented, “Sound is one of the most important aspects while I plan my scenes, as my movies are heavy on content. With Dolby Atmos, the audiences are transported in to the milieu of the action packed civil war in Jaffna city. The technology gives us the ability to deliver a 3D audio experience to create a more realistic atmosphere for the audience.” He further added, “I have been extremely impressed by the powerful enhancements to storytelling that Dolby Atmos makes possible. Madras Café in Dolby Atmos uses sound to transport the audience right into the film action.”

Madras Café was among the first movies to be mixed natively in Dolby Atmos in India. A native Dolby Atmos mix radically simplifies post production work flows as it can be used to create 5.1, 7.1, or other channel based audio versions to be played back in non-Dolby Atmos equipped cinemas.

Talking about the announcement, Pankaj Kedia, Country Manager Dolby Laboratories said, “We would like to congratulate the entire team of Madras café on being honored with national award for the best design for Madras Café. We are delighted to have partnered with the team of Madras Café to create a truly real life experience for the Indian audiences that allowed moviegoers to be transported to the on-screen action of the Jaffna civil war with their favorite stars, as they revealed the conspiracies and truth behind the civil war”. He further added, “Dolby Atmos brings a natural lifelike audio experience to movie theatres, giving filmmakers creative freedom to place and move sounds anywhere in the auditorium, including overhead, for added realism and impact. We look forward to a continued association with the team in future as well. “

Further elaborating on the win, Ajit Andhare – COO, Viacom18 Motion Pictures said, “Sound design was of great significance in Madras Café given that the film had a realistic treatment and portrayed war scenes in a way that’s never been done before. The sound design greatly enhanced storytelling, rendering the feel of a war torn country. The dominance of Madras Café across most popular award functions was already gratifying. To win the National award for Best Sound Design and Best On Location Sound categories on top of it doubles our joy.”