Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; March 9, 2018)

As Ridley Scott’s Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling-starrer Blade Runner 2049 bagged the gong for Best Visual Effects at the recently concluded Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles, media company Prime Focus celebrated the win on this part of the globe. The Indian group’s Double Negative (DNEG) was the company behind the success of the fantasy.

Prime Focus CEO Namit Malhotra sees this win as a challenge to replicate the magic in Indian ventures too. “While once dominant in the American film industry, visual effects are now used in films from across the globe. It’s only fitting that a country like India, which has a 100-year-long history in the movie business, is at par with Hollywood. India is rapidly advancing in filmmaking technology. Our artistes are capable of producing quality work that matches the kind created by the rest of the world,” Malhotra says, adding that Indian artistes can expect to collaborate with the “best in the world” in the near future.

With Prime Focus co-producing the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer superhero fantasy, Brahmastra, Malhotra says his team is already aspiring to match international standards, as far as VFX technology is concerned. “With this film, we will hopefully set an example of what can be expected from India in the future. I have been committed to creating films with such visual effects since the onset of my career.”

Subhash K Jha (DNA; October 3, 2017)

Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi thriller Blade Runner 2049 featuring Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling has got the slasher treatment from the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC). All the nude shots, frontal and back, were asked to be cut before the film was given an ‘A’ certificate.

Zip it up!
There is just one problem. All the aforementioned nudity is part of computer-generated graphics, representing artificial intelligence. Says a source, “Blade Runner 2049 is a futuristic saga where women are shown to be created through artificial intelligence. They can’t be shown with clothes on.”

Blur bottles
Apparently, the logic offered above was defeated by the CBFC guidelines, which says: Nudity in any form is not allowed. It doesn’t matter if the nude form is computer generated. However, a statue of a nude woman has been exempted from the cutting campaign in Blade Runner. Says the source, “The CBFC has showed four-letter abuses including f**k and f**ker. But no virtual nudes. The film has also been asked to blur liquor bottles wherever they are shown.”