Brahmastra: For many years now, Hindi Cinema lovers have craved for Bollywood to go up a notch higher and rub shoulders against the biggest movies in the world. The Hindi film industry has been operating on set patterns and doesn’t seem to get rid of it anytime soon. With OTT platforms gaining huge popularity in a short period and the Indian audience having unprecedented access to worldwide content, it is high time that the Hindi film industry picks up itself and starts telling stories that have more meat in them.
Unfazed by all the white noise and the happenings around Bollywood, director Ayan Mukerji seems to be focused on just one thing. His Brahmastra trilogy. Fortunately for Brahmastra, it has always been in news for all the right reasons, be it because of the VFX, be it about the magnitude of the trilogy, or be it about the concept, the Brahmastra trilogy is something that has kept the audiences waiting and huge things are expected out of it.
Seeking major inspiration from money-minting fantasy tales such as Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Avengers, and many such movies, director Ayan Mukerji first conceived the idea in the year 2011. To his dismay, film production in India lacked the goods and services to bring this kind of movie onto floors and turn it into reality. Unlike English, Hindi is not a global language and this restrains Bollywood to spend a large amount of money on any project. Movie making is a business after all and the producers certainly do evaluate the project before investing their money in it. Mukerji went ahead and made Yeh Jawaani Hain Deewani, a movie widely regarded by an audience of all ages. Without any further delay, Mukerji shifted his focus to the Brahmastra trilogy, a project that was deeply ingrained in his mind and heart.
Standing head-to-head with Hollywood Biggies
The first screen tests of Brahmastra were conducted in 2016 with concept arts taking the shape of reality. Director Ayan Mukerji was very quick to understand that he had no options but to outsource the project to a visual effects company that was extremely adept and spot on in their craft. Dharma Productions approached DNEG to design the visual effects for their most ambitious project so far. Recipients of seven Academy Awards, the British-Indian visual effects, computer animation, and stereo conversion studio liked Dharma’s pitch and agreed to latch onto the project. The visual effects company is a key player in the market and has projects like Black Adam, and Shazam lined up for release. DNEG has also received BAFTA awards for Inception, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049, Tenet, Dune, and Black Mirror’s “Metalhead. Founded in the year 1998, DNEG has its headquarters in Fitzrovia, London with additional locations in Vancouver, Mumbai, Los Angeles, Chennai, Montréal, Chandigarh, Bangalore, and Toronto.