After its cutting edge CG & VFX work on cult hit Rang De Basanti, Visual Computing Labs (VCL) has recently added to the thunder of the new Thums Up TVC.
Besides its Hollywood and International VFX and animation assignments Commercials and Bollywood are a thrust area for the studio.
Shot by an international crew (led by Ram Madhwani, Equinox) in Cape Town and Mumbai, the commercial stars Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar sporting a dynamic, cool look complete with long hair and evolves around the eternal Thums Up theme of Thunder!
The TVC begins with the actor discovering that his bottle of Thums Up is empty. What follows is an engaging chase; the commercial portrays the indomitable masculine spirit, which drives him to go to any lengths to get a bottle of Thums Up.
His chase, including the actor’s stunts on the dune-buggy, his chase to the top of a light-house etc. are few of the stunts portrayed.
Speaking to Animation â€?xpress, VCL Creative Director Pankaj Khandpur, shared,â€? The biggest challenge was the sense of increasing the ‘storm’ through the duration of the film. Increasing the intensity of the storm/clouds, in a consistent and proportionate manner, so as to create an environmental ‘build-up’ was a challenge, as multiple ‘thunder clouds’ were being created simultaneously. It would’ve been much, much easier if we’d done one ‘storm’, and then built upon that in a linear manner; that route however would have taken 4 weeks longer!”
VCL Marketing head Bhaskar Dutt, added, “The effects had to communicate the mystical eternal promise of the brand (Thunder in abottle). The clouds depicted in the commercial are CGI (Computer Graphic Images), as are the lightning flashes, sparks, flames etc. The atmospherics are also generated. Our VCL team did all of the CGI in a matter of 2 weeks.”Interestingly even as one reports about the Thums Up Thunder TVC, one cannot but help draw a comparison to the kind of thunderous anticipation that Indian animation is generating in the Indian mainstream…..