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Visual Computing Labs -Tata Elxsi rekindles the magic of old times in the film - “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”
Posted By : Animation Galaxy At 31-07-2013 22:37:07
Tags : Tata Elxsi Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
Visual Computing Labs (VCL), the VFX and animation arm of Tata Elxsi, a global design company and a part of the $100 billion Tata group is proud to announce its association with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, the chartbuster biographical film based on the life of former Indian athlete Milkha Singh.
Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the much awaited film starring Farhan Akhtar and Sonam Kapoor was released across the country on 12th July 2013.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag has extensively leveraged VCL’s VFX expertise. Given Rakeysh’s penchant for 100% accuracy in his depiction of a scene, VCL played a vital role in transforming the director’s vision into historic moments on the big screen. One of the key challenges was to take the viewers back to the historic races. This was not an easy task as most of the iconic stadiums have been modernized drastically over the last few decades. The only option was to re-create the stadiums using CGI. VCL’s talented team of artists went through a lot of reference material and original stock footage to create the environment realistically.
Another important element that helped make the race sequences look realistic was to add crowds to the stadiums. Given the dynamic camera movement the film required, the team decided that creating CGI crowds in CGI stadiums would allow complete freedom to the director and DOP to use their camera at will. VCL used its expertise in creating realistic crowds using the state of the art crowd generating software, Massive. Subtle but important details like the correct costumes and attires had to be studied. Unlike today’s matches the crowd reactions in the stadiums in the 1960’s Olympics was somewhat restrained and the animators had to keep reviewing stock footage to correctly factor in the appropriate gestures for cheering, applauding etc.
The flashback to the nightmare sequence was another key talking point of the film as it formed an important part of the narrative. This sequence relied on a different creative look which was developed over various discussions and iterations between the director and VCL’s creative team.
To deliver this scale of work in a short period of time VCL created a very efficient pipeline enabling minimal retakes and overheads. A team of 50 artists delivered over 150 VFX shots covering three important races of Rome, Tokyo and Commonwealth within a time span of 2 months.
Mr. S. Nagarajan, COO, Tata Elxsi - VCL, said “We are extremely pleased to have been associated with this prestigious biopic and to have provided different kinds of visual effects the audience will love.”
“Considering it is a biopic, a very crucial part of our work was dependent upon capturing a particular time in history which demanded the seamless integration of cutting edge VFX solutions with original shots.
Our immensely talented team of VFX artists has played a vital role in translating the director’s vision to the final film. The experience of working on this project has been enriching for all of us at VCL and we are glad about the appreciation the film has received so far” Mr. Pankaj Khandpur, Creative Director, Tata Elxsi - VCL.
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