Tata Elxsi arm jazzes up move with special effects
The Asian Age — February 23, 2006

Visual Computing Labs (VCL), a division of Tata Elxsi Ltd, has created special effects for the film Rang De Basanti. The company has contributed to over half-an hour of visual effects which constitutes 20 per cent of the film. "It was a challenging project, in terms of requirements. We were involved with the film's creative crew for almost a year, and a 20-man team at VCL worked on the VFX for almost four months," said Bhaskar Dutt, head marketing, Visual Computing Labs, Tata Elxsi.

VCL worked closely with the director, editor and director of photography to help detail the film's visual "look," the transitions from the 1920's to current day, and back, the transformation of the characters between the 20s and current, and the final "line blurs" sequence in the climax, when both characters (from the 20s and current) merge and become one, occupying the same "screen time". It included the opening titles, production company logo, the television image inserts throughout the film and gunshots.

Though VCL's production facilities are based in Mumbai, it draws resources from Tata Elxsi's facility in Bangalore. The company hopes to implement similar techniques to TV commercials. Plans are on to address the gaming market in a bigger way and focus on R&D for graphics applications. "We also want to move up the value chain in the creative process to continue working collaboratively and in a consultative mode with our clients in the conceptualisation stage."