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The Bangalore effect
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One more thing that may soon be Bangalored is right out of Hollywood: special effects, reports ANAND SANKAR
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— Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.
Madhusudhanan L. and Barrie M. Osborne: India is the next big thing in VFX and animation.
CREDIT CARDS, insurance renewals, computer-panic calls, railway enquiries, directory enquiry, accounting... The list of things that have been outsourced to India is quite long indeed. And now you can probably add the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park to the items that have been Bangalored. Yes, the animation and visual effects (VFX) industry in Hollywood is seriously looking at India as the destination to source creative work from.
But there is a significant hurdle to be overcome. Though Indians have the know how to handle every kind of software imaginable, one needs imagination to succeed in the VFX industry, feel Hollywood VFX guru Barrie M. Osborne and Madhusudhanan N., our own VFX pro who has now made an impact in Hollywood.
Barrie is best remembered for his path-breaking effects in The Matrix, especially the scene where Neo dodges the bullets fired by the Agent, and the stunning action scenes in the John Woo action thriller Face/Off. He has also produced The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the rings: The Two Towers. He has been nominated for two British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for best film and won one of them. He has also won an AFI Film Award and has two Oscar nominations for Best Film. A veteran of the industry who started work way back in 1970, he has worked with directors such as Francis Ford Coppola and Alan Pakula.
While Madhusudhanan is probably the only one who emerged unscathed from the "technically acclaimed" Kamalahasan starrer Alavandan. He has won the President's Award for technical excellence and best visual effects in Alavandan and is the first Indian to qualify as an active member in the Visual Effects Society, Los Angeles. Though he has executed special effects in over 50 movies now, his crowning achievement has been the fact that he was part of the visual effects team that produced The Lord of the Rings in 2003.
"That was very special. Though we played only a very tiny part in it, we can always say that a part of that movie is from India," says Madhusudhanan.
In order to realise the dream of producing visual effects from India, the duo plans to set up an exclusive animation studio. Though the details of the project are still sketchy, Barrie doesn't stint praises when it comes to the local talent and infrastructure. "I saw so many CAD schools here. Pretty good. It is amazing to see so many people take up computing so seriously. The talent is definitely there but it needs to be moulded."
And Madhusudhanan agrees.
"VFX is all about imagination. You have to continuously imagine to come up with new ideas. It's one thing to have the latest software tools but you must know how to exploit them. That is what we are trying to develop among the students here," he says.
"In the good old days we used to do it with cameras and mirrors. So there you have it," adds Barrie.
Both feel it is natural that Hollywood is looking east now. "It is inevitable that one day they woke up to the enormous savings. The talent pool here is so huge. Considering the size of the population, we are only going to find more talent."
But will any of the spin-offs help our own local film industry? "The industry in India is very vast. It changes every 200 kilometres. Every language requires something different. The requirements for India are totally different from that of Hollywood," concludes Madhusudhanan.
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