created. Right from the blades of grass to the huge hometree, the natives and just about everything is unreal, yet so very real. There has been only one visual form where everything, right from the setting to the characters are animated, they are cartoons. But cartoons are for fun and they did look artificial. That is where Avatar becomes a landmark in the history of cinema. It is all about a completely imaginary planet and yet draws you into itself with the sheer perfection with which it has been created.

Everyone has realized and highly praised the graphic perfection of the movie. But, there is something even bigger than that. Where did Pandora first take form? The idea, the vision, the architecture, landscape and the people of Pandora had to exist somewhere before they could be translated onto screen in the graphic language. Pandora was envisioned, imagined and created in the mind of James Cameron. All movie lovers would pay obeisance to him for being able to think so vividly about a world that does not exist. Avatar would not have happened without the strength of pure imagination that existed in the mind of James Cameron. We have seen such vivid and out of the world imagination before – when JRR Tolkien made Middle Earth, when JK Rowling thought of a parallel world of wizards, when Jules Verne envisioned the center of the earth, when RK Narayan made Malgudi, when CS Lewis thought of a kingdom called Narnia hidden behind a wardrobe.

Avatar is perhaps the highest point of creativity that has been touched in cinema till now. Avatar and all the other movies and creations mentioned above are celebrations of imagination, of the fact that the human mind knows no bounds. If it is possible to conceive a whole new world only with the power of imagination then one wonders what else lies in store for us in the coming years. One thing we can hope for with a lot of assurance is that Avatar is not a one time wonder. James Cameron has already stated that if this is successful then he has a story arc that is good enough to give us two more movies. Of course, such big things are expected when a movie is born out of 14 years of planning and effort. Some of you might know this, some of you might be surprised to hear this. The truth is that James Cameron first conceived Pandora around 1994, much before he thought of Titanic. He held back his dream realizing that technology still had to progress a long way to translate his vision onto screen. That proves once again that there is no bigger technology than the human brain. The gap between his imagination and technology’s progression is 14 years. This man deserves all the odes that he is getting at the moment. And let us hope for more Avatars and other such wonderful products of human mind. One wonders how many ideas are developing in the minds of many an imaginative person while technology prepares itself to realize the vision.

So, Avatar has touched the pinnacle of imagination and creativity. What next? How do film makers get bigger and different? There is a suggestion. A world apart from ours has been the subject of imagination and fantasy many times in cinema and literature. The thought of life existing in some other part of the universe has fascinated us and we have tried to envision how that life form would be like. While there have been different takes on aliens, most of them have had similarities to humans. Well, we are not talking about the weird forms seen in Men in Black or the invaders from Independence Day. But, generally as a rule, all creative pursuits that have conjured up images of aliens have human images – two hands, two legs, a face with two eyes, two ears and a tongue to speak (even if it is in some alien language). There will be variations in the dimensions the colors and proportions to give a different look, but the difference ends there. Aliens are basically represented as humans from another planet with some differences. Even other animals and life forms are represented similarly (lions, monkeys, horses etc..), even trees. But, think of it this way. A life form in some other corner of the universe need not share any similarity to the life forms on earth. They need not have hands, legs or a face, they need not even breathe. They could be forms of life that we can scarcely imagine with our limited knowledge. Maybe cinema can explore this fascinating and eerie possibility. Yes, it will take a Herculean effort to think of a new planet and new life forms that is in no way similar to earthlings. It will take great skill to make people believe in the visual realization of such a concept, it could very easily end up looking like a cartoon. But, with directors of the caliber and patience of James Cameron around, you never know. May the dreams come true.