Hyderabad, March 30 -- By Uma Magal

For film viewers, art direction is a much-forgotten part of filmmaking. We take it for granted when it is done well, but subconsciously sense the lack of it when done badly. Interviewing renowned art director Nitish Roy was delightful to open many types of windows into understanding the intricacy and passion behind art direction.

In Amir Khan'sFanaa, for instance, he says: "Thewhole film was shot on a set. The shots required it to be a snow-covered scenario. I asked the producer for a truckload of salt, he said, 'What will you do with it?'

I said, 'Just send it to me.' The snow was made from that salt.

In this context, he remembered with admiration Andrei Tarkovsky's cinematic masterpieceStalker: "I...