Mumbai: Now you can get life-like 3-D hologram images of yourself to wow your family and friends. Welcome to the futuristic and exciting world of wizardry at India's - and Asia's - first 3-D hologram studio for recording live subjects in Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram.

The studio has been set up by Light Logics, India, under the guidance of world-renowned holography scientist P.T. Ajith Kumar and supported by NRIs from the US, Britain and the Middle East.

"Holography is a technology to record and reconstruct light with its full information content, meaning light from a scene or a subject, which contains intensity and depth information. Unfortunately, in conventional photography, we can record only the intensity information of the light," Ajith Kumar explained to IANS during a recent visit to Mumbai.

Holograms and 3-D holographic images are recorded with laser light and with specialized equipment. "This can record the whole information of the light field coming from a scene and recreate it elsewhere, virtually transporting space or a subject to a different location," Ajith Kumar said.

Having perfected the technology, Ajith Kumar is now keen to set up 3-D hologram studios on a franchisee basis in all the metros, followed by all state capitals, with investment partners. The studio, copy studio and the technology package costs around 2.5 crore (25 million rupees).

Despite the seemingly high investment, the break-even point could be achieved in less than a year, Ajith Kumar said. "This technology is available in a handful of countries such as the US, Britain, Russia and France. But the price per hologram is the most cost-effective here, say, around one-third of the US. With awareness, it can be even cheaper," Ajith Kumar said.

A 3-D hologram studio, requiring 220 sq. ft. of space, would include a main camera, copy cameras and the studio system and the actual technology. Most of these, except the lasers, are manufactured in India. "I am hopeful that soon, 3-D analogue holograms will become a mass consumption product, especially in India, South Asia and the Middle East," Ajith Kumar told IANS.

He also said that mass copied holograms of historical personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, mythological and religious personalities (Lord Ram, Mother Mary, Sai Baba), sports icons (Sachin Tendulkar, Sania Mirza), film-stars (Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif) would be a major draw for fans, devotees and commoners alike.