Prime Focus is proud to announce its collaboration with Director Ali Abbas Zafar a
nd Producer Aditya Chopra on the digital intermediate services of Gunday. The film features Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor in the lead roles, while Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan appear in supporting roles. Based in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) during its most unsettled times in the 1970s, the film deals with the inseparable life of Bikram and Bala.
“The DI team of Prime Focus worked very closely with the film’s principals to achieve the stylized look, the DoP Aseem Mishra and Director Ali Abbas Zafar envisioned for the movie. It was very important for the team to understand the storyline of the film and design the sequences accordingly. As the movie is based on 1970 era, so our main effort was focused on creating a look that compliments the storyline of the film whilst bringing out the realism of the visuals. All in all, it was a very challenging film and, as always, it was a splendid experience.” said Paresh Acharya, Vice- President, DI and VFX (India).
“The idea was to enhance the colors in such a way that the DI subtly blends with the storyline of the movie and is not conspicuous.” said Sr. Colorist, S. Manoj C.P.K Verma. “Overall aspect of the movie required to be treated with a warm look bringing out the 1970s feel; keeping in mind the skin tone of the characters. Apart from that, the look of the film also varied as per the narrative. While the first part of the movie portrayed Bikram and Bala’s childhood which required a dark and desaturated look, after which the look changed as per the mood and storyline of the movie.”
Since the movie revolves around the city Calcutta, it was very important to bring about the authenticity of the premise of the location around which the story revolved. The movie has some catchy songs, and each of them was treated uniquely to correspond perfectly well with the themes of the song. For instance, the romantic song between Priyanka and Ranveer ‘Jiya’ required a glossy look to set the visuals right of a dreamy song.
Talking about the overall experience, S. Manoj C.P.K Verma, Sr. Colorist said, “It was an absolute pleasure to work with DoP Aseem Mishra again on Gunday, after Ek Tha Tiger in 2012. He has brilliantly captured every mood and emotion of the main characters- Bikram and Bala in the movie, which helped us to grade the movie better. Also it was a delight to work with Director Ali Abbas Zafar, as his clear visualization about the style, look and feel of the movie enabled us to not only match up to their expectations but deliver the movie much in advance. ”