Deconstructing VFX of Zoya’s ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’ in Bombay Talkies

The Katrina fairy scene in Zoya’s segment of the film required VFX to augment the narrative. This scene shows a boy watching TV and suddenly hallucinates that Katrina Kaif, in the form of a fairy, Read More">is hovering over him. This was one of the biggest challenges in the film as the action team found itRead More

The Katrina fairy scene in Zoya's segment of the film required VFX to augment the narrative. This scene shows a boy watching TV and suddenly hallucinates that Katrina Kaif, in the form of a fairy, is hovering over him. This was one of the biggest challenges in the film as the action team found it difficult to rig up a harness in the small room. This scene involved multi layer composites, where-in we planned on shooting the scene using 2 plates. One plate would be of the boy sitting in the house watching TV, and the other of Katrina shot in a studio against a chroma background.

I think it’s always exciting to work with directors and technicians who are amenable to experiment. Zoya was very encouraging with the designs of the wings. She gave us the creative freedom to design something unique. Attention was given to the details on the surface of the wings right from the shimmering particles, Read More">to theRead More

I think it's always exciting to work with directors and technicians who are amenable to experiment. Zoya was very encouraging with the designs of the wings. She gave us the creative freedom to design something unique. Attention was given to the details on the surface of the wings right from the shimmering particles, to the pixie dust falling off as she flutters her wings. We also created some light textures running through like veins inside the wings giving the extra magical touch.

We had a body double for Katrina to match the boy’s eye line as a reference point, while filming the house plates. One interesting layer was the light pass, Read More">which we shot by rigging up a trolley track with a set of Kino Flo lights. We did this as Carlos the cinematographer of the filmRead More

We had a body double for Katrina to match the boy's eye line as a reference point, while filming the house plates. One interesting layer was the light pass, which we shot by rigging up a trolley track with a set of Kino Flo lights. We did this as Carlos the cinematographer of the film wanted Katrina to have an angelic look emitting white light, this would emulate the light affecting the walls and other objects in the room. We moved the rigged up lights on the same path as how Katrina would hover after she plate would be composited. This made the lights and shadow interact with the room. The Kino Flo light pass was used only for effect of the light on the walls and other objects in the room. All relevant information such as lens data, camera height, focal distance etc. was recorded as we had to replicate the camera's positions for shooting Katrina's plate. Our compositors were present on set to match the plates and get approval from Zoya, this was important as the Katrina's dimensions were to seem credible enough like she was actually in that room. Once we filmed all our plates, we digitally created fairy wings using CGI and made sure she had the right angelic look which Zoya had visualized.

Pixion Studios, one of India’s largest post-production houses has executed the visual effects for Zoya Akhtar’s Sheila Ki Jawaani segment of Bombay Talkies. Collectively, the film is an anthology of 4 movies directed by Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar, Read More">as an ode to Indian cinema reaching its centenary this year. OutRead More

Pixion Studios, one of India's largest post-production houses has executed the visual effects for Zoya Akhtar's Sheila Ki Jawaani segment of Bombay Talkies. Collectively, the film is an anthology of 4 movies directed by Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar, as an ode to Indian cinema reaching its centenary this year. Out of the four segments in the film, only Zoya's film called for visual effects to augment the narrative. It took a force of 15 artists to accomplish the VFX process in a little over two months. Talking about the intricacies involved, VFX supervisor, Viral Thakkar says, "The work encompassed cleanups, digital matte paints and a sequence where the boy imagines Katrina as a fairy talking to him." Bollywood Hungama's Philip Bode gets Viral to talk about how the action team found it difficult to rig a harness, Zoya permitting creative freedom and the overall challenges in making Bombay Talkies - 'Sheila Ki Jawaani' segment glitter.