MUMBAI MIRROR (April 24, 2019)

Anil D. Ambani led Reliance Entertainment is all set to produce the official Hindi remake of Paula Hawkins’ 2015 runaway bestseller, The Girl On The Train. The book was also adapted into a Hollywood film by Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Pictures and received a warm reception at the US box office. Emily Blunt (right) received a nomination for her performance at the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as a nomination for BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, in the film. The author-backed role in the official Hindi remake will star Parineeti Chopra, who steps into the shoes of an alcoholic divorcée, who becomes involved in a missing person’s investigation. The psychological thriller will be produced by Reliance Entertainment, who have procured the rights of the book and the film and will be adapting it from an Indian storytelling perspective.

Confirms Shibasish Sarkar, Group CEO Reliance Entertainment, “Not only is The Girl On The Train, one of the best psychological thrillers but also a heartwarming story of the female protagonist and her discovery of life. We’ve procured the rights of the book and the film, and will be adapting it from an Indian storytelling perspective. Amblin will be a partner in this film.”

“We are always pleased to work with our long-time partners at Reliance Entertainment to bring the best stories to audiences around the world. This Hindilanguage adaptation of The Girl on the Train is a first for Amblin and a testament to Paula Hawkins’ incredible book and our 2016 film,” says Jeff Small, President and Co-CEO, Amblin Partners.

The yet-to-be-titled, taut thriller will be directed by Ribhu Dasgupta, who will adapt the book keeping in mind the sensibilities and grit of the characters from the source. As the film is all set to go on floors this year, National award laureate Parineeti Chopra can’t wait to start work on the film. She says, “I want to do roles that audiences haven’t seen me in before and ones that require a lot of prep and homework, which is why The Girl On The Train really worked for me. The character is an alcoholic and a victim of abuse, and I haven’t explored anything like her on screen before”.

Talking about what made Parineeti the ideal choice for the protagonist in the film, Ribhu says, “The character is edgy, dark, and gritty along with being extremely emotional. So it is great to team up with someone like Parineeti, who is an extremely sincere actor and a powerful performer.”

The casting was a beautiful twist of destiny in a way for Parineeti Chopra who related to the character at the very start. “It’s exciting because I never thought I’d actually be doing a film around a book I’ve read and loved. I relate to the character because I’ve studied and worked in London, it’s my second home…I even know the tube maps inside out. I can’t wait to start shooting the film and relive those days and I hope people enjoy seeing me in a completely new avatar in this film.” she adds.

Though details remain unknown at this juncture, Shibasish reveals, “The film is expected to go on floors around July 2019 and we expect to finish shooting by September. The film is entirely set in UK and we are in the process of locking the location. We haven’t fixed a release date yet but it will be in 2020.”


Producer Shibasish Sarkar; Director Ribhu Dasgupta

In town to give a talk on the VFX industry, shader-writer Priyamvad Deshmukh on his journey from Amravati to LA
Kunal Guha (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 21, 2015)

In 2007, Priyamvad Deshmukh, a computer engineer from BITS Pilani bagged his dream job with Adobe in Noida through campus placement. A year into the job, he felt he wanted more from life. He read a news article about a senior from college which led to a personal awakening. "It was Mahesh Ramasubramanian holding an Oscar trophy for best VFX for Shrek," recalls Deshmukh, who is in the city to talk at the Godrej Culture Lab on developments in VFX next week.

"At that point, I just wanted to be more than an IT nerd and the Oscar trophy added the much needed glamour," notes the lead shader-writer for Hollywood blockbusters like How to Train a Dragon 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Furious 7, Puss In Boots, among others.

As a teen growing up in Amravati, Deshmukh remembers being drawn to toons on television. He counts The Jungle Book and Duck Tales as his favourites. "I would rush home from where ever I was to watch Disney Hour," smiles the 30-year-old.

When Deshmukh stood first in his board exams, he had to make a career choice. "Newspapers called to ask what I wanted to be. I didn't have a plan so I checked how previous rankers had responded to that question and the decision to move into computer science came from there," says the son of an MSEB engineer.

Deshmukh's journey began with hunting for research papers on computer graphics. "At the time, SIGGRAPH (held in LA) was the biggest conference in the field. I checked for technical papers presented by the different universities and shortlisted a few," he says.

This is where Deshmukh came across Prof Ravi Ramamurthy, who was awarded the presidential honour for scientific achievements and taught a Masters programme in Columbia University. "I applied for the course, hoping to work with him." says Deshmukh, who not only got through, but also topped his mentor's class.

By the summer of 2009, Deshmukh was referred by Ramamurthy to intern at Dreamworks where he worked on Megamind, which had a huge futuristic city with a glass facade. "A crucial challenge was, how to reduce complexity while adding finer details. When light falls on a window glass, through refraction, it bends and you see the floor or people moving around inside depending on the angle," he explains. "As your perspective changes, you get a parallel axis view. I knew a mathematical way of creating that without increasing complexity or cost. I wrote a small piece of software and they loved it."

Deshmukh's ability to crack technical problems instantly earned him a full time time job with Dreamworks right after graduating the following year. His first project on the rolls was Puss In Boots, where the team was posed with another unique challenge: How to present the properties of black fur for Kitty (Salma Hayek's character). "They had done fur in Kung Fu Panda and Shrek but black fur was a challenge as the colour doesn't reflect enough light. Scans of hair follicles revealed that they have cuticles which offset the hair highlights depending on how matty the hair is. Besides, Kitty had to look slick, young and feline," says Deshmukh of the problem which he solved by coming up with a hair shading model.

Deshmukh feels his job is not to create an illusion, but something more "real". Witnessing technology evolve daily, he reckons that advancements don't dictate mastery of the final product. "Sleight of hand has always existed in films. When Lord of The Rings (LOTR) was made, we probably had half the technology that we had when we made The Hobbit but LOTR is more appreciated still," says the VFX supervisor of Hobbit 2 and 3.

Moving from animation to VFX was an impulsive move as Deshmukh was offered a role in Peter Jackson's studio WETA, where he could work along with legends in the field like Joe Letteri. "He was the one who worked on the first Jurassic Park with Spielberg and I couldn't miss the chance to learn from him," laughs Deshmukh, adding, "My parents feel that moving into VFX was a promotion as I don't work on films meant for children."

Speaking of the Indian animation and VFX industry, Deshmukh feels, they don't have an ecosystem in place as yet to have an equivalent role for him. But he's impressed by the trailer of S S Rajamouli's Baahubali. "Indian filmmakers need to have the vision to reach out to technical experts to create something unique and innovative. When George Lucas created Star Wars, he reached out to computer scientist Edwin Catmull from Standford to collaborate with artists from California," says Deshmukh, who sees the future of filmmaking as a collaborative effort between science and art.