L-R: Ravi Udyawar, Namit Malhotra, Allu Aravind, Madhu Mantena and Nitesh Tiwari

Filmmakers to direct a live-action trilogy in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu for Madhu Mantena, Allu Aravind and Namit Malhotra
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 8, 2019)

Mirror (May 10, 2017) was the first to report that Madhu Mantena, Allu Aravind and Namit Malhotra have joined hands to bring the Ramayana back to the screen as a live-action feature film with an estimated budget of Rs 500 crore. It will be made in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, shot in 3D, and released in three parts. Now, we have learnt that Madhu has got Nitesh Tiwari of Dangal fame and Mom director Ravi Udyawar who will be helming this ambitious project while Sridhar Raghavan is writing the screenplay. It will be made with actors from Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati and Punjabi films as the makers are targeting a pan-India as well as a global audience.

While admitting that it is a huge responsibility because the Ramayana is not just a revered ancient text in Indian mythology but also an integral part of our culture and more relevant today, Nitesh informs that they are ensuring that whatever is said and shown has the stamp of authenticity. Explaining his reasons for doing the films, he says his primary focus is the story and if it pushes the envelope while challenging him as a filmmaker further, and finds collaborators who share his vision and passion, he is happy to join the team. All three criteria have been fulfilled in this instance. “Madhu and Ravi have been friends for years, Allu sir and Namit are legends and Sridhar has fabulous credentials as a creator. All we have to do now is zap the world,” he laughs.

Ravi, not just a filmmaker but also a painter, is equally excited about the project. “I heard these stories from my grandmother and mother and passed them on to my children. Everybody knows the story of Ram, Sita and Raavan, it’s the story-telling that will make our trilogy memorable and I’m putting everything I have learnt into it to make it fun and engaging while staying true to the original,” he asserts.

The project has been a work in progress for the last three years and Mirror had an opportunity to see 100-odd intricate paintings created by artists from across the country for it. They include scenes from Ayodhya with its emblematic rosetinted tree of learning, a goldsplashed Lanka and a lush-green Mithila with Nepalese architecture, beside battles between the devas and the rakshasas and the aquatic underwater life, among others. They will serve as references for the setting, costume, cast and action.

For Nitesh, the appeal of the epic lies in its tableau of characters—from Raavan, who is a reminder to people of all that he could have achieved but because of certain actions, ends up on a stake every year during Ramlila, while Ram is an embodiment of some values that people have since forgotten. “I went with my father and brother to the Ramlila every year and though we all knew the story, it still evoked the same emotions in us when Sita was kidnapped or Raavan’s effigy burnt,” he reminisces.

A visit to Chitrakoot, where he saw Ram’s footprint and the outline of his bow, made the mythology real for the filmmaker. For Nitesh his greatest takeaway from Ramyana is Ram. “He was an ideal leader, husband, father and son. With time, I’ve realised that it’s easy for us to be a good father but so difficult to be a good son. It’s made me a better son to my elderly father, and I can only hope that my son will also take good care of me,” smiles the father of nine-year-old twins Aaradhya and Amaarisa (below). “Apart from Ram and Raavan, every character, be it Sita, Lakshman or even Hanuman, has something to say which is why we are telling the story in three parts.”

The team has yet to take a call on the filming and the release plan, but they are hoping to kick off next year and are targeting a 2021 release for Part 1, promising that there won’t be too long a gap between two instalments.

There have been various versions of the Ramayana on screen, from Sampoorna Ramayana and Ram Rajya to Lanka Dahan and Bajrangbali. Earlier, Ramanand Sagar had brought Ramayan into our homes through a long-running TV show and both directors recall how everyone was hooked to it. They are hoping for the same acceptance when their Ramayana arrives in cinemas in 3D. “Money and time are not a problem. Our producers have told us to be fearless and fly. So, we are flying visually,” says Nitesh, with Ravi adding, “There are many sci-fi films but only one Star Wars. We have access to the best technology and talent so what better time to let the world see what our country has to offer.”

Ravi points out that Namit’s studio, Prime Focus, has bagged three Oscars in the last five years and many of the technicians there have been working on A-list Hollywood films and are excited leap into the epical world. “For me the Ramayana offers magic in its shape-shifting monsters. It’s something that even a toddler will enjoy. When I told my son, Rian (right; above), who is 12 what we were doing he was jumping around all day wondering what Raavan and Kumbhakarna would look like while my 15-year-old daughter Renee (right; above) was visualising the fights between Ram and the rakshasas in the forest. Having seen animated versions on TV, they can’t wait to see it in live-action. For me the biggest thrill was when Rian told me that Hanuman is cooler than Superman. I am doing this for my children,” he exults.

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.”

Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 12, 2014)

Alfonso Cuaron’s Sandra Bullock-George Clooney starrer space drama Gravity, which has recieved 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, was partly shot in 3D, but chunks of it was converted to the format from 2D by Prime Focus India.

To make the space spectacle look as astounding as it does, about 400 technicians from the Indian branch of Prime Focus, a company that specialises in rendering visual effects, animation and 3D-conversion, worked in tandem with teams from London and Los Angeles.

Before it came on board, Cuaron asked the team here to do test-runs, and impressed by the results, Prime Focus was aboard the space mission. It helped that the VFX firm enjoyed tremendous goodwill in LA circles, having worked on the visuals of Avatar and on the 3D conversion of Clash of the Titans in a record-time of eight weeks.

Says Merzin Tavaria, Chief Creative Director, “Gravity was a major challenge as its visual treatment is unlike any other film you’ve seen. Although Maya 3D is generally used, we developed a software called View-D, which not only enhanced the conversion process, but also accelerated it.”

Working with technicians based in LA and London meant juggling multiple time-zones. But rather than it being a hindrance, the team made optimum use of it. “We would get a detailed update from Framestore, London, which did most of the visual effects. This included the number of shots to be converted, the treatment, and also the sense of distance that had to be created between the foreground and the background. While they’d sleep, over 100 programmers worked on it and packed it off to LA, before these guys woke up and punched in a feedback.”

The final output of this relentless research, complex coordination and constant sharing of programming data concluded to extravagant results. “The long, unbroken, floating camera-shots which Cuaron worked on translated spectacularly well in space, and led to us producing the longest continuous shot that we believe has ever been converted – 15,531 frames, or 10 minutes 47 seconds of screen-time,” he proudly says.

Tavaria says the film is a big leap for several Indian technicians as it breaks the West’s stereotype of India just being a hub of cheap labour. “Gravity and the other films we’ve worked on prove that we’ve artistic merit and creative capabilities, not only technical prowess,” he says, adding, “Our next big project is Sin City 2. Watch out for it.”

Till a few years ago, visual effects ( VFX) was used largely by Hollywood and a handful of big- budget Hindi films. But after the recession, 2013 saw a steady rise of VFX in Bollywood. SHAKTI SHETTY tries to understand why it has now become the ultimate technology for all kinds of Hindi movies
Shakti Shetty (MID-DAY; December 22, 2013)

It's easier to identify computer-generated imagery (CGI) when a movie belongs to the fantasy genre. But then, what about those scenes in a film which appear totally natural, but aren’t? For example, in Aashiqui 2 , actor Shraddha Kapoor is shown facing a roaring crowd at a concert. During the actual shoot, the whole stadium was empty and she was standing alone in front of the microphone.

Similarly, the bridge scene in Gori Tere Pyaar Mein shows a gently flowing river when, in reality, the water body was far from enchanting. Ditto with the sea adjoining Diu Fort into which the three boys from Kai Po Che jumped. It appeared greener than it actually was.

Nothing is what it seems in cinema. If one digs a bit deeper, the deception is far more intriguing.

And this mystique has a lot to do with visual FX (visual effects or VFX, as it’s called) generally applied in the post- production phase. Forget technologically advanced endeavours like Avatar or The Hobbit , even low-budget movies owe a lot to the magic of VFX nowadays. In layman terms, it has become the ultimate Photoshop for moving pictures.

There’s hardly any film that rolls out of Bollywood without being subjected to VFX. In Bollywood, except for rarities like RA.One or the more recent Krrish 3, VFX is rarely a design element in the narrative process. So the economics boils down to necessity and thus provides scope for special effects on a smaller but broader scale.

Before VFX came along, Digital Intermediate (DI) was the big thing. However, the general perception about that motion picture finishing process was that it was gimmicky. But that was then. As of now DI has become a standard format: every movie goes through a DI process.

In contrast, VFX requires allocating funds smartly. Besides, why would a cinematographer shoot in the night for three weeks and increase the production cost when he or she can use visual effects to get the same effects without compromising on any aspect? Prime Focus, one of the key players in the field, makes life easier during a time-crunch. This year, the company played a significant role in successful films such as Aashiqui 2, Kai Po Che and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Currently working on Salman Khan’s Jai Ho, its co- founder and chief creative director Merzin Tavaria throws light on the rise of visual effects with respect to cost. “In Bollywood, 2008- 2009 saw some movies such as Ghajini, Raaz 2 and Chandni Chowk to China embrace VFX like never before. But it fizzled out with the global recession. As a result, smaller movies such as Aamir and Dev D started to bloom. For VFX, it was an interesting trend because we later noticed that the ratio comparison between small as well as big- budget movies is almost the same.” Compared to Hindi filmmakers, their southern counterparts are more innovative vis-à-vis VFX. For them, it is a creative tool for innovative storytelling as evident from blockbusters such as Robot, Eega (Makkhi) and Magadheera. Turns out they have not let their imagination suffer due to budgetary restrictions.

But money isn’t always the issue. Approach is.

Vamsi Ayyagari, general manager of Moving Picture Company, points out the misconception. “It is a mistaken belief that VFX is expensive. Yes, it may comprise 20 per cent or even 50 per cent of a movie budget but in such cases, the film can’t be made without VFX. Moreover, it saves money that otherwise will be spent on other elements of filmmaking,” says the Bangalore-based professional who has earlier worked on Koi Mil Gaya, Aladin and Where the Wild Things Are. Both filmmaking and VFX, are creative processes that require streamlining and foresight.

Reliance MediaWorks knows a thing or two about both. It recently delivered a whopping 750-plus shots for the Imran Khan-Kareena Kapoor Khan-starrer Gori Tere Pyaar Mein and was in a position to help shape the overall aesthetics of the film set in a rustic part of Gujarat. The aforementioned bridge forms a crucial element in the storyline. The structure was a textured computer-generated representation of a real bridge. It had to be highly detailed as a large number of close-up shots were supposed to be filmed on the bridge. For the river, various shots of a lake were taken which were then given depth and magnitude using the VFX technology.
Venkatesh Roddam, CEO of Reliance MediaWorks, adds, “Most of the VFX in the film is not even visible. However, the elements that have been created as part of the VFX for the movie play an essential role in the plot, thereby making the task of handling the VFX that much more creatively challenging and significant.” For the film’s director Punit Malhotra, the marriage between the storyline and the technology available at hand mattered the most. “Neither does the storyline indicate special effects nor is that highlighted in the communication. So, the transition of the VFX into the frames had to be seamless and almost invisible for the viewer.”

Alert: Bumps ahead

When there are so many advantages of a technology, wouldn’t there be some demerits as well? Tavaria affirms and belts out a few. “VFX is a cinematic trick so we don’t like to reveal what we do. But at the same time, its strength has become its weakness. We like to exceed expectations but sometimes, there’s no need to alter anything. Also, it’s often misunderstood that visual effects is a part of post-production when it’s actually a part of filmmaking in general. VFX ought to come in at the beginning of the film when the script of the movie is being penned, which is not the case yet,” he elaborates.

Ayyagari, too, sheds light on what needs to improve with respect to global competition. He maintains that VFX has always been a low- margin business and excessive undercutting has stunted the industry’s growth. “Also, Indian companies need to work on design, quality and execution. In future, technological innovations such as Performance Capture and Cloud Computing will be differentiators and such tools will help tell bigger stories. However, the domestic Indian VFX Industry has to start respecting itself.”

What the future holds According to Keitan Yadav, CEO of Red Chillies VFX and Harry Hingorani, creative director, VFX will only see growth in Hindi film industry. He explains, “One of the main reasons for increasing use of VFX in Bollywood is that writers, producers and directors are increasingly touching upon new genre and stories which are impossible to make without extensive involvement of VFX professionals. Krrish 3 is a testimony to the increasing use of VFX in Bollywood where almost every shot in the film utilised VFX to make the movie visually stunning and appealing. With the help of a talent pool, at a fraction of Hollywood budgets, Bollywood is bound to use it extensively.” Pankaj Khandpur, creative director of Tata Elxsi — Visual Computing Labs, echoes similar sentiments. “Over the last few years, one change that we have observed is the mindset of filmmakers and their openness to experiment with new VFX technology. They are now writing stories that integrate VFX in the creative process from the script stage itself. What also helps is that we get involved in the project right from the script stage. This has enabled us to use some of the most cutting- edge and path-breaking VFX technology for our recent projects such as Dhoom 3, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Ek Tha Tiger ,” he says.

Despite the endless possibilities ahead, the rise of VFX is a noteworthy change in Hindi cinema.

But going by the experts in the field, it requires the combined mastery of mind and art — and musn’t be treated like just another step in the assembly line of filmmaking.