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Wish and it shall come true
Vikram’s female getup and other highlights in Susi Ganesan’s Kanthasaamy are the talk of K Town. It is not just makeup that has done the magic also the special effects by Movin Stilz. Harish, creative director of the company, throws light on the special visual effects and his journey through Kanthasaamy
How did Kanthasaamy come your way?
After doing the visual effects for Kamal Haasan’s Dasavathaaram, we got the lead for this movie but it was a challenge as it came from a big banner. Director Susi briefed us for one piece of visual effects work. It took us two months to complete this particular requirement and finally he was convinced with the output and of the fact that visual effects (VFX) are an effective alternative.
What unique visual effects have you incorporated in the movie?
The movie is based on a superhero story and this could not have been done without VFX. It was an integral part of the story. There are a lot of fantasy elements, surreal scenes and plenty of green screen shots, which helped us achieve the final look. Around 1,500 shots of VFX, much more than an average movie (which has about 200-300 VFX shots), have been used.
What were the challenges faced?
We had to create a scene of a cornfield located near an IT park. This was quite difficult to accomplish realistically as there were day and night scenes. So we had to add 3D buildings in the background in addition to the real buildings and recreate them for the night scene as well.
For the first time, we made a male actor feminine, in a sequence where Vikram appears dressed as a woman. It took us a while figuring out how to do it but it was not an impossible task. We used skin-grafting techniques by using heroine Shriya’s skin to soften his face. We also toned down his muscles and made him slimmer by around 20 per cent.
Quite a few different techniques were used to get the required effect. Like any other movie, there were last-minute changes, new requirements by the team to be delivered in short deadlines. But the whole team headed by my wife Sanjana, technical head of the company, handled it brilliantly.
How was it working with the Kanthasaamy crew?
Initially, there was a lot of confusion about certain scenes where the scenes were shot in multiple locations and had to be assembled into one seamless scene. But Susi had a clear vision and this helped us a lot. Be it balloon lights for the night shoots or even massive green screens at the corn field in Theni, the production team comprising art director Thota Tharani, director of photography Ekambaram and producer Kalai Puli Thanu discussed with us each shot and also supported us with all the requirements with regards to VFX.
Your views on the current scenario of the visual effects industry in Kollywood…
Filmmakers have started to recognise the potential of visual effects and are open to exploring it. Extensive usage of visual effects can also reduce the budget of a movie.
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