Technology and cinema have always gone hand in hand. What grabs most eyeballs these days is how well a filmmaker uses VFX and CGI to improve their storytelling. Back in 2011, Shah Rukh Khan starrer Ra. One was released and the brilliant visual effects created a cinematic world that was never seen before in Indian cinema.
Ra. One, at the time, was Bollywood’s most ambitious project starring Shah Rukh Khan at the peak of his game. Anubhav Sinha, on the heels of his cool, new-age caper Dus, brought the concept to Shah Rukh Khan and the actor was on-board reportedly in ten minutes.
A film, more than a decade ago, with technological resources available then, can be recalled as a seminal, superior achievement every time a VFX attempt comes to the audience whether it is Brahmastra or Adipurush.
It was Shah Rukh Khan’s passion project with director Anubhav Sinha that the film was liked by the audience. The actor-director always said that they made Ra. One for their sons. Despite Rs 130 crores domestic box office in 2011, the film had a brutally polarised response.
“It felt like the backlash was concerted. A large section of the industry wanted Shah Rukh to fail,” Director Anubhav Sinha said in an interview. But like a dialogue in the film ‘Ravan never dies.’ Ra. One keeps cropping back into discussion every now and then. The past few days it has been a center of discussion on social media.
Even some industry stalwarts suggest a sequel of the film which seems rather improbable with Director Anubhav Sinha in a new Avatar churning greatly relevant social political essays like Mulk, Article15, Thappad, and Anek. Also, SRK is in his new action avatar of Pathaan and Jawan may never cross paths with Sinha in a Superhero film. But Ra. One will live on, who knows with another Director another day.