Tech for filmmakers: Mani Ratnam launches software tool to streamline production workflow

What happens when a group of tech-savvy people collaborate to make a full-fledged feature film? They encounter all the challenges that come with putting a project together.

The team behind Tamil film Vishamakaran faced all that and in the due process, discovered that they could put their tech background to good use. Today, they have come up with a software called Honey Flicks, which hopes to streamline production management workflow. “Our robust software platform, with a requirement-driven approach, helped us complete Vishamakaran,” said Vijay Kuppuswamy aka V, “This platform helped the team to revise the call-sheets from 19 to 13 which resulted in 40 percent cost saving. If an indie filmmaker was able to achieve this, then imagine what an experienced team can?”

“Cinema is an expensive artform. It’s important to be as effective as possible,” said director Mani Ratnam, who launched the software along with veteran producer TG Thyagarajan and actor Prashanth, “Movies are not completely works of art as it also involves a lot of man-management and commerce.”

Mani Ratnam and TG Thyagarajan had collaborated on the director’s debut flick, Pagal Nilavu, way back in 1985, . “In the past 40 years, I have seen so much change in the ways of the film industry. Back then, scheduling and accounting were done manually. Such advances in technology will help film production a great deal,” said Thyagarajan, who will be using the software for his next project that kickstarts soon.

Commenting on the success of other language films like RRR and K.G.F: Chapter 2 in Tamil markets, Mani Ratnam said, “We did a film like Chandralekha (1948) that made a mark even in the Northern states! It’s just that the frequency of such releases have increased now. A film garnering attention is a positive trend. When we watch Tamil dubbed versions of Hollywood films, why can’t we not watch Kannada films?”