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68 THE WEEKJUNE 29, 2014 CINEMA shots, followed by ABCD, Kai Po Che!, Aashiqui 2, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Wizards of VFX Lootera, Ram Leela, Gori Tere Pyaar Mein and Grand Masti. Digital clones and virtual filmmaking to be the Khandpur calls it narrative effects. norm in the coming years "It could be as simple as fixing the shadow under an actor's eye, the view outside the window or creating BY MONTY MAJEED look real." Cut to 13 years later. Khan's an SMS that comes on a phone," says last film—Dhoom 3—had 1,500 visu- Khandpur. "Such effects are meant to amir Khan loves to tell al effects (VFX) shots delivered by be subtle and the audience is not sup- the story about how a ball Khandpur's studio. posed to react to it." drove director Ashutosh From the much-talked about shot of Filmmakers resort to VFX mostly AGowariker and him nuts Khan's bike converting into a jet-ski to on three occasions. First, when it while filming their Academy Award- the logic-suspending stunt of the actor is impossible to physically create a nominated film Lagaan. Gowariker riding a superbike on a tight rope, the sequence, like the superbike stunt was bent on shooting the sequence film relied heavily on visual effects. in Dhoom 3. Second, when the scene in a particular way in a single shot. Apart from Dhoom 3, the last year requires places or things which are no But because the actors were not pro- boasted another VFX spectacle in longer present, like the forts in Jodhaa fessional cricketers, the whole unit Hrithik Roshan-starrer sci-fi Krrish 3. Akbar. And, finally, when it involves spent a large part of a day trying to get Although VFX have been part of our huge expenses. the shot right. When they showed the films for some time now, the past few In the 1950s, VFX shots were limited final shot to Pankaj Khandpur, cre- years have seen a sudden increase in to painted backdrops and rear projec- ative director of TATA Elxsi Visual terms of both quantity and quality. tions (the video projection of a road, for Computing Labs, he laughed out loud. It is not just the action films or example, in scenes where someone is "They were dumbstruck when I the sci-fi thrillers that are using it. driving). "VFX is an extension of this, told them that the shot could have Almost every Bollywood film uses just that it is done on the computer," been easily created on the computer," VFX in some way or the other. Last says Nishit Shetty, vice president, recalls Khandpur. But Khan dismissed year, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag topped the operations, Reliance Media Works. the suggestion saying, "It wouldn't list of films that used maximum VFX When it comes to action sequences, MID-YEAR SPECIAL THE WEEKJUNE 29, 2014 69 For a scene that would require employing a huge crowd, visual effects come in handy. Like in the scene from Aashiqui 2, an empty stadium was filled up using VFX. the most important use of VFX in its outcome will be on the big screen with ins and with the help of a bit of anima- initial stages was to hide the wires and theatre-like lighting," says Tavaria. tion, it becomes a pre-visualisation. cables that were used while perform- The first step of the VFX process Makuta is now working on what is ing the stunts. This made filmmakers is research, which could go on for touted to be India's biggest VFX film, rather lazy, says Merzin Tavaria, chief months depending on the kind of shot director S.S. Rajamouli's Bahubali, creative director and co-founder of they are working on. Viral Thakkar, which boasts more than 5,000 VFX Prime Focus World, a leading player head of VFX at Pixion, whose team shots. Starting with this project, in the industry. "There was a film in designed all the mutants in Krrish Draper is introducing a new step in which we had to remove wires from 3 and is now working on Raj Kumar the VFX process, which he thinks will almost 50 shots when the real action Hirani's Peekay, says that a VFX art- be the trend in the coming years. "It was in only less than 20 shots," he says. ist should have an understanding of a is called post pre-vis, that is when the Now, the VFX studios get involved variety of subjects ranging from phys- VFX supervisor on the set does a quick in a film right from the scripting ics and architecture to geometry and rendering on the live footage so that stage, says Pete Draper, co-founder of biology. "To create the stadia in which the filmmaker has an idea of the out- Hyderabad-based Makuta VFX, which Milkha Singh ran his races, the only come," says Draper. won a National Award each for the reference we had was the black and As of now, Bahubali is the costliest Telugu films Eega and Magadheera. white images of some of them taken VFX production in the country, with "There is a misconception among during that time," says Thakkar. 085 crore being spent on the effects the audiences that it is an easy task to While creating the Eega fly, it took alone. "But these are exceptions," says create things on the computer," says Draper's team—three concept artists, Tavaria. The biggest hurdle that the Draper. "For a project as big as Eega, three modellers, two shader design- Indian studios face today is of low there are about hundreds of people ers, two hair and fur designers, three budget, he say. "Hollywood spends working on a single shot sometimes." riggers and numerous animators— an average of, say, 0300 crore for a In the Goregaon office of Prime nine months to finalise the design. film like The Avengers. Unfortunately, Focus World, there are about 3,500 art- After research, the next step is sto- we do not make films on such a scale ists working on different projects at any ryboarding. "Putting a shot down on and also our films do not call for such given time. Their work units look like paper increases clarity of thought for extensive effects," says Shetty. a maze of computers and they mostly all the stakeholders involved," says Another big challenge is to get work in the dark. "This is to make sure Shetty. When the storyboard is recre- trained hands. "There is a huge gap that they have a clear idea of what the ated on the computer using live stand- between the demand and supply of MID-YEAR SPECIAL 70 THE WEEKJUNE 29, 2014 CINEMA used more intelligently in the coming years, says Tavaria. For instance, take Olympian boxer Mary Kom's biopic starring Priyanka Chopra. The film, which is being handled by Red Chillies VFX, is rumoured to have taken digi- tal cosmetology (altering facial fea- tures digitally) to a whole new level. "Earlier, it was done using lighting. Now, we can fix wrinkles and spots and even make people appear young- er or older through VFX," says Shetty. "It is, however, not always done for cosmetic reasons but technical, like for maintaining the continuity. For example, if an actor had a beard and he shaved it, we can fix that. We can fix a six-pack body. But we are under a confidentiality clause, so we cannot take names." The possibilities are endless. In the west, technicians have already brought dead people alive on screen. Case in point is the Galaxy Chocolate commercial which features a digital Filmmakers resort to VFX when it is recreation of legendary actor Audrey Hepburn. The sudden death of actors impossible to physically create a sequence Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul like the one in Kai Po Che! where a crack Walker has made Hollywood try out ways for creating their digital clones, in the surface was widened to show the but an ethical debate has put the pro- devastation caused by an earthquake. posals on hold. In the next ten years, Bollywood, too, will be able to recreate some of its VFX artists who are 'production- "The last six years saw a massive legendary stars given that the "digital ready'," says Thakkar. "The tools of movement in the VFX sector which double process has been kicked off VFX may be taught in the many insti- is expected to snowball in the coming with Dhoom 3", says Khandpur. tutes around the country, but the art years," says Tavaria. "If Bollywood is The availability of techno-creative is not inculcated." It takes at least six ready to take the leap in terms of con- expertise of Hollywood technicians months to make a new recruit indus- tent and budget, it will be a win-win for Indian films will be a key develop- try-ready. "This takes a lot of effort, situation for everyone." ment that Shetty foresees in the com- time and money," says Tavaria. "So, in The studios are gearing up for the ing decade. The way ahead is to invest a way, we are creating the industry." change by equipping themselves with in research and development. "Virtual Unlike countries like Canada, China the latest technological advance- filmmaking with minimal controlled and New Zealand that provide grants, ments. "For Dhoom 3, we did a com- shooting on live sets will be the order labour tax credits and subsidies to ani- plete face and body scan of Aamir of the day,” says Tavaria.

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