Bollywood is in mood to 'jazz it up'

[sunilpal]

Want to make a dinosaur dance? Or, would you prefer Amitabh Bachchan emerging from a magic lamp? Maybe cycling down a rainbow is more your style. All these are now possible, at least in the movies, thanks to visual effects.


Afzal Khan’s God Tussi Great Ho and Eros International’s Drona and Aladin are some of the forthcoming releases that have incorporated visual effects in an unprecedented manner. In Drona, visual effects turn Abhishek Bachchan into a desi superhero while they enable Salman to meet Amitabh Bachchan the God in God Tussi….


According to Kavita Prasad, director, Prasad EFX, which lent a fantastical touch to Yash Raj Films’ Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, the reason visual effects are being used is also changing. “VFX is no longer used as a gimmick but to enhance realism and is integral to the story. Earlier, the effects used to be action-oriented. In Thoda Pyaar…, our aim was to create a magical effect,” Prasad says. She has a point.


Harry Baweja’s latest movie Love Story 2050 uses effects to take us into a futuristic world and God Tussi… showcases God’s miracles. In fact, Kunal Kohli, who wrote and directed Thoda Pyaar…, accepts that visual effects make it possible to weave elements of fantasy and adventure into the storyline. Pankaj Khandpur, creative director, Tata Elxsi/ Visual Computing Labs, goes a step further. He feels, “Filmmakers are getting bolder. Stories are being written to exploit the special effects.”


Visual effects help to translate the director’s vision onto the screen cost-effectively. Khandpur states that by creating virtual sets, his team has helped filmmakers cut cost. Also, shooting on the sets may not always give the desired effect. Khandpur, whose most recent project is creating heaven in God Tussi…, says, “How can you create Heaven on a set? It would look too real to be surreal.”

In the last couple of years, visual effects in Hindi cinema have taken a giant leap. “Krrish and Dhoom set off a trend in Hindi cinema,” says Prasad. Khandpur feels that “subtle” visual effects always existed. But the use of “in-your-face effects” has taken over now.


However simple it may look on screen, creating visual effects is an exacting process. Prasad says, “In Thoda Pyaar…, all the clouds and cloud sofas were computer-generated images.” For Khandpur, the challenge lies in designing something from one’s imagination so that it will match the collective imagination of the audience.


Despite all the hard work put in, critics and the audience often dismiss the effects as tacky. Adverse comparisons are made with the Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones movies. Nonetheless, Prasad is optimistic. She estimates that “the gap is rapidly reducing. What has taken Hollywood decades to achieve will take us only a few years.” Khandpur, who experienced the Hollywood way of working during Spider-Man 3, is much more cautious. “In some areas we are almost at par, but when it comes to design aesthetics and the quality of input material, we have a long way to go.”