Creative Recognition
The proverbial boys next door have a reason to go into a tizzy following the coveted honour bestowed (albeit incognito) upon them at the 85th Oscar Awards function earlier this week for their role in producing visual effects and computer generated imagery for the film which bagged the second-highest number of awards. Ang Lee’s Life of Pi emerged a big winner earlier this week at the Annual Academy Awards with four trophies to its name ~ Best Direction, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects.
The recognition at an international fora undoubtedly reinforces the fact that given the right direction and opportunities, Goan creative artistes can and do meet global standards. Though Alexandre Fernandes, Sean Fernandes and Ralph de Souza ~ of Rhythm and Hues Studios in Mumbai ~ were not named individually by the Academy for the awards considering that a huge team worked towards the success of the movie, the fact remains that the Award has been bestowed in recognition of the path-breaking efforts by the creative team of which they too were an integral part.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
As is evident now, Ang Lee entrusted the Mumbai-based studio to lead visual effects in the film. It was where over 75 per cent of the visual effects screenshots of the movie through the company’s artistes based in studios across continents in Los Angeles, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kuala Lumpur, Vancouver and Taiwan were fine-tuned. The team was involved in the initial stages of R&D, stereo quality control, modeling, pre-lighting, texturing, match moving, background preparation, animation, cloth/fur simulation, water simulation, lighting et al.
Of course, international glory foro Goan creativity and talent is not a new phenomenon. Laxmikant Shetgaokar’s 2009 movie Paltadacho Munis made it big, winning awards in Toronto, Hong Kong, Cairo, Berlin, Istanbul and Los Angeles. What was an even greater achievement for Shetgaonkar was the fact that the movie was not only in Konkani, but that he ultimately emerged a winner despite several rejections and bureaucratic hurdles he faced before his dream fructified into reality.
The victory at the Oscars also confirms that the Western world is recognizing India not only as a market for its cinematic goods but also as a potential storehouse of talent. After AR Rahman and Resul Pukutty’s win at the 2009 Academy Awards, the Oscar Awards have indeed returned to India in some measure. The India connection had sort of disappeared from the Oscar radar since Gandhi won big in 1982 ~ only Satyajit Ray got an honorary Academy Award in 1991 followed by awards for Slumdog Millionaire in 2008.
We are sure that after the well-deserved celebrations the team involved in the making of The Life of Pi will develop their creative talents further. We have come a long way since Steve Speilberg’s blockbuster ET the Extra Terrestrial first employed what were for then sophisticated computer animation techniques in the making of the film ~ Life of Pi too was largely dependent on computer technology in the making of a great movie.
Indeed, it is time our Konkani film-makers too make a foray into visual effects; it is likely to attract a wider audience to their films. Ever since Amche Noxib, there are only a handful of Konkani movies being produced, though one of them (Paltadacho Munis) struck gold, as it were. With film talent abounding (in 2004, for example, Herald’s graphic design chief produced a computer-animated film on St Francis Xavier) in tiatr, drama, screenplay, imagery, music and photography, there’s no reason why locals can’t make it big in the entertainment industry. But high-end specialization in this direction is a must, if those endowed with the aptitude hope to rise above the existing level.
