1000 VFX shots, 500-member team, and the pandemic: How team Vikrant Rona pulled off the 3D spectacle

It is quite apparent that Vikrant Rona will be a special film for all the Kannada Cinema patrons. Regardless of the outcome of its theatrical release on July 28, director Anup Bhandari & Co. would only be galvanizing the current growth of the Kannada Film Industry, especially on a global scale, and with the film coming out in 3D, the stage is set like never before.

An immersive 3D experience in store

And rendering the film as a 3D spectacle wasn’t easy by any means. Aside from the fact that the work entailed a huge volume of footage, and the high standards set by the makers, the team had to carry it out during the pandemic. Reportedly, it was the Mumbai/Kochi-based agency of RAYS 3D that spearheaded the 3D conversion for Vikrant Rona and the dedicated team is said to have spent close to 13 months on the entire process (while most 3D feature projects require only up to 4 months). Alongside, the 3D palette of Vikrant Rona (reportedly) includes more than 1000 VFX shots which compelled the agency to employ a 500-member team, spread across Mumbai, Kochi, Bengaluru, and Patna. The 3D team, in the same reports, promises an enriching and immersive experience at the cinema halls.

RAYS3D has previously worked on films like Street Dancer 3D, Rajinikanth – Akshay Kumar starrer 2.0, and has Brahmastra, Adipurush, and Shaktimaan in the pipeline.

“Creating the unique world of Vikrant Rona, a huge challenge”: Anup Bhandari

While the 3D conversion process took a lot out of the team, the task of creating the distinct world of Vikrant Rona through elaborate set pieces was a beast of its own. As revealed by Anup Bhandari himself in a recent exclusive interview, the team spent considerable time in the pre-production phase to nail the exact look and feel of the story world. Right from designing the forests to creating a massive 80x40 feet ship, and lending the unique visual tone through costumes, the production-design part, especially, was rigged with challenges for team Vikrant Rona. Sure, they had the VFX option to fall back on but with authenticity being the main priority, the hard yards had to be put in.

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“Vikrant Rona is a VFX-heavy film. We have used computer graphic extensions for the forest, but the main part of that set had to be created manually because there is a lot of physical interaction with the elements there. It is very difficult to recreate that with VFX, and if you do, those interaction points may look fake. There are sequences that are completely done on VFX or are heavily reliant on those effects, but that came along a little later when I found the right team to deliver that work and bring the kind of realism that I expect from a VFX shot” - Anup Bhandari

The team behind the striking ‘visual’ treatment of Vikrant Rona includes cinematographer William David, production designer Shivakumar, costume designer Neetha Shetty, and various other artists. Ashik Kusugolli is the film’s editor and Nirmal Kumar is VFX Supervisor.