“Aircraft Carrier: Warrior of the Sea” opened at the Nehru Science Centre.

“Aircraft Carrier: Warrior of the Sea” opened at the Nehru Science Centre.

Vice Admiral Srikant, recipient of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), the Commandant at the prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi, a Navigation and Direction Specialist and an expert submariner who commanded the first indigenously built submarine, formally inaugurated our new Science Odyssey, Large Format Film “Aircraft Carrier: Warrior of the Sea” on 30th June 2018 at the Nehru Science Centre. Speaking on the occasion Srikant spoke about the history of Indian navy and the pivotal role the navy plays in the defence preparedness of our country. He highlighted the significant achievements of the Indian navy including its role during the Bangladesh liberation war that India fought with the Pakistanis.

Every six months a new documentary film is opened at the the Science Odyssey, one of the popular facility at the Nehru Science Centre. It is an unique facility which provides an immersive experience to the visitors. It uses a large format film that provides a crystal clear image that stretches to the limits of ones' peripheral vision. There are variants of the Large Format Theatre. Some screens including the one at our centre are "dome" shaped with a screen that curves around the viewers nearly 180 degrees. All the theatres have comfortable stadium-style seats and six channel digital surround sound to complement the visual experience. The images projected onto large format screens emanate from 70mm film frames that boast nearly 10 times the image resolution of the 35mm film that used to be projected in our standard neighborhood cinemas. This allows for an exceptionally large projected image size while maintaining unmatched clarity and depth of field.

Large-format or giant screen theaters use unparalleled sight and sound technologies to deliver the ultimate cinematic experience. Projecting film nearly 10 times the size of a standard movie film frame through specially designed projectors. These projectors are able to present images that span to the edges of viewers' peripheral vision with stunning clarity. Combining this visual sensation with six channel, high-fidelity digital surround-sound provides the sensation of being "in" the picture.

The Large Format Films were originally developed by the Imax Corporation in 1970, this format uses 70mm film run through the projector horizontally, so that the width of the film is the height of the frame. Each frame is 15 perforations wide, hence the format is known as 15/70 and it is almost nine times larger than the conventional 35mm frame. Imax Corp. was long the exclusive maker of 15/70 projectors and cameras, although a few other manufacturers briefly made 15/70 systems. We at the Nehru Science Centre, however, have a 10/70 system which is produced exclusively by Japan's Goto Optical Manufacturing company. Known as the Astrovision, the 10/70 format is found in theaters in Japan, China, India, and Bangladesh. Virtually all films presented in 10/70 theaters have originated in 15/70 and printed to 10/70. These films are entertaining, enriching, while at the same time provide an excellent educational value to the audience.

The Peninsular India is covered on three sides by the Arabian Sea in the west, the Bay of Bengal in the East and the Indian Ocean in the south. Navy therefore plays a pivotal role in guarding our nation. It is in recognition of the importance of naval defence that we chose the Aircraft Carrier film for screening at our centre. The film highlights how important it is to protect and defend the world's oceans, which has become far more complex and challenging in recent years, and naval aviation has become increasingly vital to its success. One of the greatest engineering feats in history, the modern U.S nuclear carrier is a masterpiece of technology and the flagship of the fleet, which is shown in this film. The exercise called The RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-
numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii. It is hosted and administered by the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet, headquartered at Pearl Harbor, in conjunction with the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and Hawaii National Guard forces under the control of the Governor of Hawaii.

RIMPAC brings together dozens of nations for a "unique training opportunity" in the Pacific Ocean. The training is "designed to foster and sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's interconnected oceans. The Indian Navy's association with RIMPAC commenced as an observer in 2006, 2010 and 2012 editions. The 25th edition of the RIMPAC exercise was attended by INS Satpura in 2016.

It is merely a coincidence that the launching of ‘Aircraft Carrier: Guardian of the Seas’ film is happening at the time when RIMPAC 2018 is taking place off the Hawaii. And this year, Indian Naval Ship Sahyadri is participating in the 26th edition of Exercise RIM of PACIFIC. Some 26 nations, 47 surface ships, five submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel will participate in RIMPAC 2018, which started on Thursday, June 28th.

This film gives us glimpse of this maritime warfare exercise very closely and provides a stunning visual context for the story. The visitor will find herself aboard the carrier alongside the 5,000 highly skilled sea and air personnel conducting flight operations in the midst of the simulated war exercises taking place in the film. There has been rarely a topic like this, which is so visually suited and compelling for giant-screen theatres like our Science Odyssey theatre. The film also gives insights about how this mighty ship runs using its nuclear energy based engines, while highlighting the highly complex technology used in the taking-off and landing of aircrafts and use of state-of-art technology in fighter planes and also in the aircraft carrier. This film also features a wide range of sophisticated equipment which are used by the navy.

The opening of the new film by Admiral Srikant was a special day for me. Admiral Srikant and I are the classmates of the batch of 1977 from Sainik School, Bijapur (SSBJ) who spent 7 momentous years of our formative years together at the historic school from 1970 to 1977 before charting our own paths - Srikant taking the path that every Ajeet (all the students of SSBJ are addressed as Ajeets) had a mandate to chart, while I choose the path as a science museum professional, after failing my medical test post the Service Selection Board with a heart murmur, which made me unfit for serving the military. Three other class mates Milind, Pradeep Talikoti and Arvind joined us during the opening of the film and so did four other Ajeets. Forty one years had passed after we had passed out of the school and here we were, five of us from the same batch, meeting at a formal function. I had a special request for Admiral Srikant. I wanted him to address the audience, who had come in large numbers, in his naval uniform so that he would inspire several of the students to pursue Naval career. It was such a great honour for the four of us to see our batchmate Srikant in Naval uniform. Srikant, the Vice Admiral and a three star General with a majestic look, for us was the same old Srikant with not an iota of any change whatsoever. We spoke and spoke at length reminiscing our days of togetherness at school and remembering most of our batch mates. What a nostalgic experience. Long live the spirit of all Ajeets “Ajeet Hai Abhit Hai”.