'Man proposes but god disposes' would be the apt phrase to describe the way Mr.V.V.R Choudary's life has shaped up. Like a river, he has flown with the tide, taking the plunge when it was called for. One would wonder why a successful cinematographer would change tracks and take up repairing of camera lenses as a full time job, and a deglamorised one at that, well that's the man, Mr.V.V.R. Choudary for you. Daring to do what no one has attempted before, has made him the most sort after man in the business.

After his stint with cinematography, he was appointed as the chief of the special effects department at Prasad Productions Pvt.. Ltd, special effects department by Mr. L.V. Prasad. It was here that Choudary realized that there was no one repairing lenses with factory trained knowledge professionally, therefore he decided to learn the technique of repairing and cleaning camera and projector lenses, from the manufacturing units itself.

So with the help of generous friends and benefactors like Mr. L.V. Prasad, Choudary went to Arnold & Richter manufacturing unit who manufacture world famous Arriflex cameras in Germany, and Angenieux factory in France that supplies 99% of their zoom lenses to movie cameras in India. He had the training at Switzerland in Bolex factory to repair 16mm cameras when moved to Los Angeles and had the training in Mitchell camera corp. who were the pioneers in most standard cameras. During the training period Mr. Choudary noticed that women are attending lenses service and necessary repairs, because it needs patience where "woman's job" is more fit, for such jobs.. He learnt the working and repairing of cameras and lenses after which he came back to India and started his own services.

He was made to understand that women were better skilled for the job because women are known to be more patient than men, and have a natural caring instinct that gets reflected in the cleaning process of a delicate lens. Nimble fingers of a woman are apt for the job in question and thereby Choudary says that they have a natural aptitude for repairing lenses. Thereon went on to teaching his wife the camera tricks of the trade after she expressed her willingness. And he proudly goes on to state that today her work is far more effective than his.

Forty years is a long time in the business. And all that experience reflects in his bagful of trivia on cinematography - then and now. Mr. Choudary makes you see the art through his viewfinder. And would explain in the simplest terminology, cutting out the jargon. He can talk at length about why film- makers today prefer cinemascope to 35mm, and how 400ASA has come a long way from 16ASA facilitating shooting in lesser light than before.

He can talk about the disadvantages of new technology as well." if you see images in cinemascope, you will find that the edges will be comparatively less sharper. Whereas in 35mm flat screening, the images are sharper throughout" says Mr. Choudary.

"Picture quality depends a lot on the lenses used, more than the camera used. And, hence, the need to keep lenses in good health. Due to aging, the colour coating on the lenses may develop patches. Because of erasing or discolouring or noticeable patches of fungi on the surface. We remove that and recement it." he explains, elucidating why the job requires a skillful mix of art and science.

"The lenses are very expensive. It is a reputation at stake. We cannot risk imparting the skill to a third person-" So the family secret will stay with the kin, he says quite assertively. "Even if you buy new lenses in the world, you don't get a guarantee. But when people come to us for service, we give them a minimum guarantee of one year, to five years depending on the type of lenses" says Mr. Choudary.

Cleaning about 20 to 30 lenses a month, the couple are an industry of a kind, running the family business together, popularly known as Kamal Cine Service. Operating out of, oddly enough, a bedroom cum mini-lab complete with the requisite apparatus and dark room fixtures, they work alone with no assistants or successors in sight, creating a perfect picture.

Today the Choudarys are a house hold name. Ask any cinema hall owner in the country, more particularly in south India and Bombay and they would vouch for the services rendered by them. They have an indeed become a force to reckon with, excelling in their chosen field beyond doubt.

Mr. V.V.R. Choudary has become indispensable to the world of cinema where camera lenses play a pivotal role. After all at the end of the day a movie is seen through a lens literally and that lens has to be cared for eventually.

The world comprises of different kinds of people, you have some who follow trends, some who set trends, some who just flow with whatever life has bestowed upon them, but it's a rare occurrence that you have a trend setter in one of the most uncommon and unheard of professions and it becomes all the more surprising when the one in question is a woman. Well the trendsetter we are referring o here is none other than Mrs. V.Arunakumari of Kamal Cine Services.

Mrs. V.Arunakumari can be proudly introduced as the first and the only Indian woman who has taken up the repairing of sophisticated glass lenses as her profession. It is indeed amazing to see an Indian lady encroaching upon a predominantly male domain. Thanks to her husband Mr. V. VTR. Choudhary who first exposed her to the "fine art of lens servicing', and goaded her to observe and practice the skill.

After having started assisting her husband in the profession, Arunakumari being a woman had to deal with the apprehension of the customers who began to doubt her skills and lack of formal training in the specified job. Hence on the advice of the late L.V. Prasad, former president of of The South Indian Film Chamber Of Commerce, she underwent two week training at the Carl Zeiss Institute in Germany and the Angenieux factory in France. And thereby became the first Indian woman to have trained at the Carl Zeiss Company, home to some of the best lenses in the world.

Angenieux has a huge factory in which the various steps like cleaning, cementing, coating and painting are done by separate groups of woman employees. They looked surprised when Arunakumari told them she would do the entire process singlehandedly. When they asked her to assemble a set of lenses, she did it immediately and correctly, much to their amazement.

The most important thing she learnt was the manner in which lenses were to be handled. The caution and precision with which these sophisticated glass lenses were cared for there, was an eye-opener for her. And she also found many women working in the factory unlike in India where women are not known to enter this profession.

This Certificate she obtained from these two companies helped her launch her career. But this daring woman will tell you , after much persistence that it doesn't take a city education or a degree in physics or chemistry to master " the delicately intricate art of chemically cleaning a fat slab of lens and grading it on an auto-collimator after", but loads of patience and a sharp mind, sharp enough to cut glass.

Repairing a wide range of lenses from simple photography lenses to heavier cine lenses, video camera lenses and complicated operating microscopic lenses, Arunakumari states that she takes care of only the "mechanical aspect of repairing glass lenses, since she's not an expert in the electronics department. Even with an increase in sophisticated digital and electronic inputs into new cameras, her concern lies with the care of the actual lens of these sophisticated cameras.

She says, she has to exercise extreme care, while separating the glass from the fixture, as these shooting camera lenses are really expensive and cost as much as 12 lakhs. "Correcting and assembling, the lens can be painstaking, tedious and time consuming depending on the defect at hand, but I don't give up till I have finished, even if it means sitting late into the night "says Arunakumari.

The defects on a lens vary from "dust, glue, fungal spots, abrasions and discolouring to construction displacements", each calling for a separate set of skills, instruments and cleaning agents, she adds. On the whole she sums up the job as one that requires immense patience, a calm temperament and perseverance.

Arunakumari explains that she has so far avoided having assistants, since most of the lenses she handles are imported ones and are very costly. Wrong handling could prove disastrous. Though her son Kamalakar has been trained in the craft he runs his own web design company Deqube Technologies and chips inhelp to his parents whenever needed.

Arunakumari runs Kamal Cine Service as a full-time business. The service is done at her residence itself, where an element of secrecy is preserved. "There are two reasons why we don't allow people to see what we do," she explains." The first is obviously because we don't want to share our expertise. And the second is because people rarely like to see what we do to their lenses. It's like opening up a body for a customer who has given his lens for cleaning. So, it's best not to see how the surgery is being performed," she says good humouredly.

In the beginning, she serviced only Arriflex cine cameras manufactured in Germany, but when theatre owners started pestering her to repair projector lenses, she was able to remove the fungus formed in the joints of projector lenses in the projector, which could not be done even by the manufacturers themselves.

Today Arunakumari boasts of a large and elite clientele, which doesn't confine itself to the biggies in India, but also spreads across neighbouring countries i.e. Bangladesh, SriLanka.

Well it is time to raise a toast, to this woman of high caliber. Arunakumari a tenth standard drop out has gone to prove through her deep sense of conviction, that nothing is really impossible. After 12 years of mastering the craft she still continues doing so with the same vigour and passion or should we say much more?