In the year 1919, Dada Saheb Phalke surprised audiences worldwide with his silent blockbuster Kaliamardhan, packed with visual effects. The technology was quite basic compared to that which was being experimented with in Hollywood at the time.

But since then, Bollywood seems to have pulled back from the VFX race. Following the tech boom of the 1970s in the west, the advent of computer graphics in its cinema dramatically accelerated the hand-on experience their animators got with VFX technology.

VFX in India

Although the Indian VFX industry  is yet in its nascent stage, much has been done in Bollywood to catch up with its western counterpart. In fact, most of the mainstream popular movies today provide a healthy dollop of action-packed special effects. Now, not only do blockbusters like Chennai Express, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Ready, Krissh and Robot invest heavily in VFX animation, but so do small-house productions such as Makkhi. A lot of multimedia work for Hollywood is also done in India, with films such as Skyfall and How to Train Your Dragon 2 outsourcing their work.

Collaboration with western production houses to create stunning visual arts is a new, and yet unexplored channel. Yet, the Indian movie industry is slowly moving in that direction. YRF Productions teamed up with Disney in 2008 to deliver a fully animated movie called Roadside Romeo. No expense was spared in bringing in some of the best VFX  talent in the country. The animation was designed, created and rendered on Tata Elxsi's EKA, one of the world's fastest supercomputers. The minute detailing went to the extent that fur was given to the characters and animated pot-holes and garbage cans in the background were created to make a realistic environment.

The migration towards large-budget, feature length VFX

Come 2015, S.S. Rajamouli will be releasing the most expensive special effects thriller ever to be produced in Bollywood, Baahubali, with a whopping budget of Rs. 85 crores just for VFX. Set in the medieval period, the project will design and enhance the fictional kingdoms, forts and palaces in all their glory, along with creating beautiful landscapes. The film will contain many realistic action sequences. The movie plot also involves animals, which requires a familiar hand with apps such as Maya.

Background and detailing are just some of the solutions that a special effects team has to offer to the movie industry. Now it also plays an important part in the preservation of brand names as more and more people are demanding visual effects to create that which is difficult or impossible to shoot.

With the high demand for quality visual effects, the demand for skilled and trained professionals is also on the rise. And in the current scenario it is not very difficult to develop the required skills and learn the software. Institutes  offer planned curriculum to train you through industry-relevant courses and make you job-ready, along with a professional portfolio. All you have to do is make the right choice.