What are the highlights of your experience working with ReDefine on the VFX for the show?
As this is my first film as a director and I have limited knowledge of VFX, there were a number of areas that I was a bit tentative about at the start. I wanted to ensure that our most important CG assets – Meera (the ghost) and Sea Bird (the dead ship) would look real and that Aksa Beach would resemble Juhu Beach.
Thanks to Sunil Kamath and the entire team at ReDefine, we achieved all of this. They understood exactly what I wanted and patiently guided me throughout the creative and execution process. Considering the time frame we had, the quality of the VFX shots that were presented to me for approvals were very close to what I had envisioned and this made me more and more confident. I truly believe we have pushed the envelope technically with this project, which breaks new ground in Bollywood cinema – the horror genre.
How did ReDefine help to fulfil your vision to present a particular scene through VFX effectively?
The story of ‘Bhoot’ revolves around a haunted dead ship that ran ashore on Juhu beach. Now shooting on Juhu beach, which is the most popular and busiest tourist beach in Mumbai, is next to impossible. We needed a dead ship on this beach. This had to be done using CG and Visual effects. So we shot on a beach called Aksa Beach, which is on the outskirts of Mumbai and more shooting friendly, then the CG ship was added and the background plates of Aksa beach were replaced by Juhu beach plates. This achieved the exact effect I wanted.
Now coming to the ghost – Meera – I wanted her to crawl on the ship’s walls. The crippled body had to perform bone breaking before getting into a scary stance. This was possible only by CG and animation which gave me nightmares. But when the ReDefine team started showing me the grey scale models, the look and textures on the model, the animation of the movement and facial expressions along with the ReDefine artists adding their creative touches, I felt a lot more confident. I was just amazed at the final product as it was pretty much what I had imagined.
The only thing that helped us cope up with the situation was our fantastic teamwork and dedication. We all got together and created a plan to catch up on the deficits within a month or two, and worked hard towards making it a success. This gave our clients confidence in us as well. The only thing we should remember is that nothing in this world is permanent and things change. We should embrace this and keep up the good work. In today’s crisis when our world is shrouded in uncertainty, I urge everyone to be resilient.
Anything else you would like to share about the collaboration with ReDefine?
Neeraj and Grib were very supportive and made sure the entire project was delivered on time. Sunil Kamath, Somesh, Bakshad and Ritu who worked closely with us on the entire project were extremely talented, creative and super-efficient.
The ReDefine team in Montréal did great work with asset build.