SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus Baahubali: The Beginning changed the way movies are made in India, in more ways than one. With the emergence of technology, the use of visual effects in films has undergone a dramatic transformation. Team Baahubali is also coming up with a separate eight-minute Virtual Reality (VR) film, the first of its kind globally. Visual effects supervisor Srinivas Mohan, who’s a vital part of this VR film, says Virtual Reality is a technology which will have a huge impact across the world.
“VR is an emerging technology which has garnered a lot of interest worldwide. The quality of technology that we have used for the Baahubali VR film does not exist anywhere else in the world. This is separate eight-minute film, which we are planning to release just before Baahubali: The Conclusion hits screens,” shares Srinivas Mohan.
Mohan, who won the national award for best film ‘Best Special Effects’, says that VFX technology will have a big role to play in films in the near future. With films like Baahubali and Robot coming up, people have started liking visually strong films and more of them are being made. One major change is the technology that is available to us today. Softwares have become much more comfortable, so one doesn’t have to put in the effort to learn them,” he explains.
And while the technology at filmmakers’ disposal is now far superior than what it was a few decades ago,
“Baahubali was the biggest challenge for me as we were required to push the boundaries. Luckily it came out well and since then there has been a surge in offers. I’m not part of the VFX team of Baahubali 2, as I’ll be working on Robot 2. That will be my main focus,” he points out.
Asserting that the future of VFX in India is safe, Srinivas said that we have the potential to reach Hollywood standards.
“Whatever hard work we have put for the last 10 years, now the fruit has come. If you take any Hollywood film in recent times, all of them are visually appealing. That trend has now started in India as well. I think in the next six to seven years, VFX will rule our film industry,” he added.