After delivering large number of VFX shots on some of the fine Bollywood films of this year, Prime Focus, the world’s largest integrated media powerhouse, has delivered a comprehensive suite of VFX, DI and equipment rental services for the recent film ‘Dishoom’.
Directed by Rohit Dhawan, Dishoom which released on 29 July, 2016 has marked a decent box office collection in the opening weekend. Behind the scenes, close to 40 artists from Prime Focus VFX were working hard to enhance this action movie, delivering 900 VFX shots within a span of 45 days.
One among many such action sequences is a 12 minute long chase between the protagonists in a helicopter, and the antagonist in a SUV. Although it was filmed for real, Prime Focus recreated the helicopter complete with effects simulations for destruction and collisions to finish the scene in post. In another sequence, Prime Focus applied crowd simulation technology to create crowds and behavioural animation for the stadium scenes in the film.
Speaking about the VFX work on the film, Prime Focus VFX supervisor Rajeev Rajasekharan said, “It would have been challenging to make a live helicopter hit a moving Land Cruiser, hence to simulate the effect we devised a dummy helicopter base and later recreated the entire chopper with the help of CGI. To produce an identical CG model, we took high-resolution stills of the actual chopper from every possible angle, then seamlessly matched the lighting and surface textures, roto’d the actors’ reactions to the impact and composited all layer elements into the final frame.”
The film unfolds in a 36-hour narrative set in the Middle East, and the Prime Focus Digital Intermediate (DI) team worked to enhance the look of the exotic locations with a raw and warm tone. In addition to VFX and DI, Prime Focus’ equipment rental division provided Red Epic Dragon 6K with Master Prime and Alura zoom lenses for the shoot.