Spellbound Creation’s spellbound VFX for 7 Khoon Maaf

If you remember the crazy and off beat films Omkara and Kaminey, both directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, one would know what to expect from his new film 7 Khoon Maaf. Apart from the right cast, power packed performance by Priyanka Chopra and some smooth direction by Vishal Bhardwaj, Read More">what adds a zing to the storyRead More

If you remember the crazy and off beat films Omkara and Kaminey, both directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, one would know what to expect from his new film 7 Khoon Maaf. Apart from the right cast, power packed performance by Priyanka Chopra and some smooth direction by Vishal Bhardwaj, what adds a zing to the story and narration is the VFX, executed by Mumbai based studio Spellbound Creation.

The film based on Ruskin Bond's book, 'Susanna's Seven Husbands' has Priyanka Chopra as protagonist. With a negative shade in her role, Priyanka is an Anglo-Indian woman who goes on to kill all her seven husbands.

Speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Spellbound Creation's Govardhan Vigraham, the VFX supervisor for 7 Khoon Maaf, shared about the pipeline of the VFX work, "A major chunk of VFX given to the Spellbound studios was also sub-contracted to lot of other facilities as well like Pixion, Reliance Adlabs, EFX, Image Devices, and freelancers for the smooth execution of work."

In this Bollywood Hungama special, we bring you some of the behind-the-scenes of VFX making from the movie, courtesy, Spellbound creations.

House on Fire Another major scene required Susanna’s (Priyanka) ancestral home to going up in flames. Since the scene was shot on a real property, it was not possible to set it on fire. The creative arm of visual effects was used again to execute this scene. Govardhan adds, Read More">“A normal approach would have beenRead More

House on Fire

Another major scene required Susanna's (Priyanka) ancestral home to going up in flames. Since the scene was shot on a real property, it was not possible to set it on fire. The creative arm of visual effects was used again to execute this scene.

Govardhan adds, "A normal approach would have been to shoot random plates of fire and multi-layer them over the live shots, and hope it would work. It won't. I realized that we will need to CLEARLY see several structures and objects burning. For this I requested the Art dept to make black dummies of numerous structures, and objects. With the help of the stunt Dept., we then set these objects on fire, and shot them as plates, individually for every shot of the house plates."

During compositing, at Reliance, each shot had several layers of fire to be utilized, and this was a daunting yet effective task. Plenty of smoke was also added to blend the flames with the objects.

The Panther Sequence Govardhan briefed and guided the VFX team at Pixion on the level of detail of the panther. Looking at various references they started modeling the panther, the details of the anatomy was taken into account while modeling. Textures were painted for the teeth, Read More">gums and the tongue and applied on the 3DRead More

The Panther Sequence

Govardhan briefed and guided the VFX team at Pixion on the level of detail of the panther. Looking at various references they started modeling the panther, the details of the anatomy was taken into account while modeling. Textures were painted for the teeth, gums and the tongue and applied on the 3D mesh of the panther. To add more credibility to the shots, the saliva was made in CG. For the team, the most challenging process was the animation as the muscle movements on the panther's body was complicated. After brainstorming with Govardhan, Pixion created a complex rig wherein they could accommodate the various muscle and secondary movements of the body.

The look of the panther too played a vital role as the fur on it had to interact with the moonlit environment. The key was to give the fur a good shine and integrate it well into the live action environment.

John’s Head Replacement This sequence according to the script required John Abraham to be shown as a drug addict. John is well known for his strong, muscular frame, but in these critical shots he needed to look weak, and fragile. To achieve this, Read More">VFX was used to augment the narrative of this scene. Vishal agreedRead More

John’s Head Replacement

This sequence according to the script required John Abraham to be shown as a drug addict. John is well known for his strong, muscular frame, but in these critical shots he needed to look weak, and fragile. To achieve this, VFX was used to augment the narrative of this scene.

Vishal agreed to Govardhan's suggestion of going with a body double with John's head fused over. Several body double prospects were auditioned, and an actor who matched Vishal's imagination was chosen.

Several tests were carried out with John and the double to understand the challenges and limitations the team faced before the actual shoot. In the final shots, John's head was motion tracked over this body double to achieve the desired effect.