VFX helping filmmakers to lure crowds back to the theatres

Filmmakers are increasing investments in visual effects as they try to bring audiences back to cinemas with larger-than-life spectacles. Upcoming films such as Karan Johar’s Brahmastra, which cost ₹300 crore to make, and T-Series’ Adipurush with a budget of ₹400 crore, are among several titles that are known to have spent ₹50-75 crore on special effects.

Film experts said the need for bigger investments in visual effects arises as Indian audiences seek more from their movies as they are now exposed to the big spectacles produced by Hollywood and have discovered world-class content on OTT.

“Since the start of the pandemic, viewers have been consuming more content than ever before, which is a positive development for our sector. To meet the rising demand from moviegoers for visually appealing content with high production values, studios are increasingly incorporating more visual effects and animation into their projects,” said Merzin Tavaria, president, global production and operations, DNEG, a British-Indian visual effects and animation studio that is also co-producing Brahmastra.

“Filmmakers in India are recognizing the significance of visual effects in the success of their films, resulting in bigger budget allocations for VFX. So, nowadays, VFX starts almost in sync with script writing and is an integral part of the entire storytelling process,” he said.

Writers and directors are more open to embracing VFX as a way to achieve storytelling ambitions, especially in times when travel to locations is difficult or not possible, Tavaria said. However, he sees increased adoption of virtual production techniques and technologies even when restrictions are eased across the world.

Visual effects currently account for 10-15% of the budget for an Indian movie, but this will rise to 30-35% in the coming years, Tavaria said. Additionally, filmmakers have increased the number of VFX shots they use in their movies from a few hundred to somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 for big-budget films.

Anushka Shah, founder, Civic Studios, a production house, said India has been a strong hub for VFX and animation for international movies, and that trend is slowly starting to change with a greater application and investment of the same towards Indian content. The rise of OTTs and the pandemic have further catalyzed this trend.

“The share (of VFX in the overall production budget) used to be below 10% but that has started to increase now. There is always fear of comparison, but Indian storytelling has its own quality and DNA, and the market will only continue to get more sophisticated and varied in the type of VFX and animation,” Shah said. Live Mint