This story is from April 25, 2003

Desi SFX: Will the formula work?

THE 'O' SPOT/OMAR QURESHI / TNN / Apr 25, 2003, 10:25 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

MUMBAI: Indian special effects, till recently limited to TV mythologicals and Ramsay horror flicks, are becoming more polished and slick with a host of movies out to shock and awe the audience.

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">MUMBAI: Picture this: Kishore Kumar and Madhubala seated in an old Dodge car in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi; or Kishore Kumar and Pran hanging from a helicopter in Half Ticket; or Shammi Kapoor whizzing down a slope in Teesri Manzil.Likewise, Mithun whizzing across rooftops on a mobike, Dharam wooing Hema in Jugnu from a plane and the world just goes by... All the above-mentioned are mostly shot in a movie studio, without any of our precious stars ever having to undertake any precious risks. But the back projected so-called Special Effects (SFX) were tacky to say the least. In fact, even in recent movies like Ganga Jamuna Saraswati and Coolie, not to add, The Burning Train, the back projection was almost an embarrassment. At least, even our Satyajit Ray movies, with their focus on reality and not effects, were technical marvels compared to the slipshod techniques of the modern gizmo-wannabes. Till recently, the special effects feature was solely restricted to mythologicals and Godly advents on television. With arrows and chakras flying around demolishing the bad guys. And that slow-motion shot of weapons of bad-guy destruction, frozen in mid-air like a surreal screen shot, before good arrow destroys evil arrow. It was a great showcase of special effects, on TV and in theaters showing, Gods and the supernatural. But for normal screen stories, well, it left a lot to be desired. I mean to see Mithun on a mobike, surrounded by goons with AK-47s, and he knocking all of them over with the front wheel, doing stunts even Daredevil would shy away from. Or to see Rajnikant shooting at a bullet fired at him by a goon, and the bullet breaking into two pieces and killing two goons. Or even the one where Rajni catches a bullet fired at him, in the empty chamber of his revolver, and shooting the bullet right back; it would wow even a Superman. To match the skill, sophistication and the sheer expertise of the SFX used in a volley of shock and awe by the wizards of Beverly Hills is another ball game. The mind-blowing stunts of Terminator 2 and the incredible stunts of Daredevil simply take the breath away. Even the imagery of Cliffhanger, Superman, and Jurassic Park rock the creative content of our upper storeys. The recreation of animated dinosaurs and even animated characters like Shrek and various other toons for the celluloid are brain rockers. And mind you, these are not all recent movies, some being as much part of the eighties as our Mithun and Rajni and Govinda starrers. The newest ones, The Lord Of The Rings and the Harry Potter series are in a different league already. And the upcoming Matrix Reloaded and Terminator 3 are supposed to set new benchmark of SFX. But we can at least give our new bunch of moviemakers credit for trying. Mani Shankar gave us a reasonably successful FX story with 16 December, and he''s promised another extravaganza with the Sunjay Dutt-Suneil Shetty starrer Rudraksha, where the effects are all digitised. Even Sunny''s recently released The Hero, had plenty of digitised effects, and all were well done. Chhotta Jaadugar marked a welcome return to the world of 3D cinema and Badhai Ho Badhai Ho Badhai at least tried the ''Klumfs'' look of The Nutty Professor, though the movie flopped at the box office. Movies like Bhoot and Sandhya are set to bring back the genre that SFX loves to be part of most - horror. At least here, unlike in the Ramsay flicks there are laughable zombies and hilarious (cut-off) hands walking around on their fingers in a bid to frighten. Those fingers tickled more than terrified, for sure. Even Raj Kumar Kohli''s recent Jaani Dushman with its snakes galore and its futuristic monsters were more comical than creepy. But that''s because RKK chose the old methodology over the new SFX. The two Indian movies, which hold at least some promise of ''no-embarrassing'' special FX, are the soon-to-be released Jajantram Mamantram (J2M2 if you please) and Koi Mil Gaya. While J2M2 will be a pure fun and fantasy, digital extravaganza, a remake of Gulliver''s Travels (with Javed Jaffrey playing the giant); the Rakesh Roshan produced Koi Mil Gaya (with Hrithik and Preity) is being whispered of as being an ET remake. And if it is to capture even an iota of the appeal and the magic of ET, it will have to be a notch above the SFX we currently employ. If that happens, who knows, J2M2 and Koi Mil Gaya may well be the Sholays and the Hum Aapke Hain Kouns of the magic generation. Or else, Ramsay brothers may well unleash a few more mummies and monsters upon us. Ho hum.</div> </div>

End of Article