Brahmastra, Baahubali, Adipurush, and tonal shift of VFX in Indian cinema

The Indian film industry for a long time has operated on a formula of one hero, one villain and a love story all rolled into one. Films that bank upon big stars and faces with an average storyline. But right now, all of it seems to go through a massive shift. They say that change is the only constant and this is exactly what seems to be happening with the Indian film industry. With the advent of OTT and the viewers gaining access to all sorts of international content, Indian cinema has no other way out but to level up and keep up with the viewers who are continuously evolving.

After the pandemic struck and the theatres were shut down, the audiences developed a certain kind of liking for the OTT platforms which gave them the luxury to watch different genres of stories from the comfort of their living room. In present times, the viewers are spoilt for choices and will only visit the theatre if the movie promises to be a visual spectacle. This is the exact thing that Prabhas and Rana Daggubati starrer Baahubali did. It widened the vision of the filmmakers, shattered the barriers between Noth and South, and instilled a belief in the audience that Indian cinema can achieve much more, can stand tall, and stare into the eyes of Hollywood. 

The Baahubali franchise was widely recognized and as a result, proved to be a game changer for Indian cinema. Seven years later, we have another visual spectacle at our disposal that is yet to be released, Brahmastra. The Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt starrer has been in the works since 2011. Director Ayan Mukerji conceived the idea of this visual spectacle when he was working on Yeh Jawaani Hain Deewani. 39-year-old Ayan admits to the fact that he had to learn his craft from scratch so that he could justify his vision. Dharma started trial runs for the movie in 2016 and after two long years, the movie went on floors when principal photography began in February 2018. The filming of the first part was halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the team somehow managed to wrap the project up by March 2022.

Tanhaji fame director Om Raut too is not that far behind. In what promises to be a very different take on the Ramayana, Adipurush promises to be a visual treat featuring actors like Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan, and Kriti Sanon. Director Om Raut started motion capture shoots for this project on January 19, 2021, and the film was wrapped up by November 10, 2021. 

These are very ambitious sounding projects considering the budget issues that Indian films have, but one can't rule out the fact that if these filmmakers end up creating a masterpiece out of adversity, it will do nothing but loads of good to the art of storytelling, especially in India.