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: warns Seshaprasad. Many of the experts that FE spoke to felt that India needs to move up the value chain. “It needs to transform itself from a destination for lower cost, labour intensive VFX tasks and it should rather focus more on the high-end, creative VFX tasks, because India will soon lose out to other markets if it tries to compete purely on a cost perspective,” he adds. All the players insist that working with a foreign studio leads to all-round efficiencies.
Says Dutt: “It has helped us gain exposure to better practices and technology trends and gather knowledge.” This translates to a more streamlined method of working even in domestic projects, which is another growth story. “Ignore the domestic VFX market at your peril,” says Gupta of Prime Focus. Having worked in 95 Bollywood films since its inception a decade ago, from Qayamat to Eklavya, Guru, Cheeni Kum, Chak De! India to the upcoming Saawariya, Indian films are working on their look and spending money on it too. Tata’s VCL is working on Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodha Akbar, Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Pe, Afzal Khan’s God Tussi Great Ho and Goldie Behl’s Drona. “We are also working on,” says Dutt, on the “hugely exciting landmark project, India’s first 3D animation feature film, Roadside Romeo, a Yashraj Films and Disney co-production.” “There’s a lot of interesting projects at hand,” admits Keitan Yadav, COO, Red Chillies VFX, which has been busy with home production Om Shanti Om.
“We did a lot of shots for Chak De, Don, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom,” he adds.
As Red Chillies VFX quickly ramps up from 50 to 150 and shifts to a bigger studio in Mumbai, it is also talking to international studios—one of the reas-ons why they are expanding capacity.
But with plenty on the plate, there’s a major people problem. Says Dutt: “There’s a tremendous lack of adequate and trained manpower.” Ask him for a solution and he quips: “Proactive in-house training seems to be the only short and medium-term solution.” Agrees Seshaprasad: “One of the challenges is finding high quality trained talent because there are very few or no long-term cour-ses in art and animation. At R&H India, we have had to grow our own artists from intelligent, enthusiastic, and passionate students whom we put through a well-structured, multi-month training programme.”...
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