So how was Modi’s 3D rally? Saying it candidly …

This is exactly how Modi’s image appeared at the rally. We have not photoshopped the picture and kept it as it was so to give you a clear idea.

By Rupang Bhatt, Ahmedabad, 19 November 2012

So how was Narendra Modi’s 3D rally yesterday?

While on social media it’s being described as a super-hit, the mainstream vernacular media in Gujarat has left no stone unturned in criticizing the attempt.

The idea itself of addressing rallies through video is a good one. It is about using the latest technology, it is about saving the time of a popular leader, it is about cutting the cost of travel to far-flung venues, it is good for security reasons as the leader does not have to move from place to place.

Then comes the execution part.

Until now, at most we could have imagined that such an idea could be executed through live video projection on LED screens. But Modi brought something newer than most of us had ever heard about.

During the new year lunch hosted for media persons in Amdavad, BJP leader Purushottam Rupala announced that the party would hold 3D rallies live, at venues in four cities simultaneously. Rupala added that one would not need to wear glasses to enjoy the 3D effect in these rallies.

Rupala and Jaitley didn’t discuss technology related details, but DeshGujarat published a detailed report on holographic projection technology that was to be used in the rallies.

So here was ‘holographic projection’ – a completely new thing, which very few people were familiar with.

Four major cities of Gujarat – Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara, Surat were selected for the first set of rallies.

Now following is my personal experience at the Amdavad rally:

-Chairs everywhere, no need to sit on the ground. According to reports there were around 7,500 chairs. All were occupied by 7.00 pm.

-Navjot Sidhu’s entry energized the audience immediately. People stood up on chairs to get a glimpse of Sidhu and shouted out loud with joy.

-A small group of youths were spotted holding a placard with a message: Target 150 seats.

-A box shaped black stage (magic show style) was covered with a black curtain. Darkness was maintained around the stage. No lights were facing the stage.

-A couple of residential buildings next to the ground at a little distance away from the stage were also in the dark. The nearest building had at least six flats on the backside. Lights were off in all of them. People were there on the top of the building to watch the rally.

-The declared time of the rally was 6.00 pm, but the projection technology requires darkness. The sky was completely black by 7.00.

-Media persons were requested on the mic not to use flash lights while clicking the pictures of Modi and the stage.

-The people sitting next to me were discussing Modi’s ‘imminent arrival’ among themselves . They had no idea that this was a video rally, and that Modi was not going to be present there himself.

-Then at 7.12 pm, the curtain was raised. There was a blue curtain on the backside of the stage, on which an image of a chair and table could be spotted.

-Then Modi arrived, and sat on the chair. People started screaming.

-I was standing at a little distance away from the stage where the public was sitting. I neither felt the 3D effect, nor even found the projection of Modi clear enough.

-Modi’s image was covered by black/blue shade. No real skin color, kurta color.

-Standing in the first row in public, I couldn’t feel any 3D image. It was like his image was projected onto a blue black curtain.

-The real fun of 3D is when the picture comes out of the screen, but here it was looking like the picture was projected on the curtain, and it was there itself.

-In the era of high-end productions and enchanting projection on multiplex screens, people prefer high-quality video in real colors, but here was a dark stage, darker Modi, no lighting and no real colors, forget 3D.

-Next was Modi’s walk “onto the stage”. He waved his hand looking around on all sides and sections of the audience. Now he was actually doing this in a studio or rather at a makeshift studio in Adalaj (Gandhinagar district) based Shantiniketan farm of BJP man Utkarsh Shah. So what an acting!! Very good.

-And then started the speech of a popular leader.

-One thing worth noticing was that the audience connected to Modi very well, even when he was there just virtually. So when Modi attacked ‘Kendra sarkar’, people screamed like any other rally where Modi is physically there. People were laughing, screaming, watching him (his image) attentively – everything was the same!!

-This is not entirely a new thing. I have seen Pakistan’s MQM leader Altaf Hussain’s rallies on T.V back in the 1990s. Even though Hussain addressed MQM rallies in Karachi via the phone sitting in London, but the connection between the leader and his people was tremendous. Due to his poor-health, in last Dusshera rally in Mumbai, Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray addressed Shiv Sainiks through a pre-recorded video, but the connection was the same, the feelings, the response, a touch – everything was almost the same. Even when Modi addresses the NRIs in America through live video, the connection between the leader’s mind and the audience’s hearts has been excellent.

-Generally, hologram speeches are pre-recorded, but Modi’s speeches were live. And therefore this was a unique attempt. And because of that the audio problem occurred twice during the speech. Even when the audio was absent, Modi continued to address his audience as he was in a studio. This was looking odd. Some people left the public meeting after the sound failed to reappear. If this was Modi’s pre-recorded speech, this could be avoided. Perhaps the next time.

-The rally ground was so long, that towards the back they had installed a few LED screens. The picture on those LED screens was clearer then the hologram on the stage.

-Overall the attempt was good. But if there is no or little feel of a 3D effect, and such a dark stage and image is the result at the end, then a big size LED and pre-recorded (say just recorded) speech seems a better option.

-In any case the people I met at the end of the rally were happy. I met half a dozen people of all age groups in the street-side parking. They were happy, barring the couple of sound goof ups.

-Having heard their opinions, I concluded that content is king, and Modi’s charisma works in video format too, but then the video and audio should be of better quality, and such rallies should be held only occasionally. Physical presence has no substitute.

-Modi in his rally said that 3D video raths would explore 2000 villages of Gujarat covering all districts. He carefully added that rallies with him physically present will of course also take place.

The attentiveness, the connection, the response of the people was the same even when Modi was present in a rally just virtually.