Bhuj, scheduled for I-Day opening, still racing towards finish line; release date uncertain due to coronavirus outbreak
In an interview with Mirror (May 7), Bhushan Kumar had revealed that 90 per cent of the shoot on his upcoming war-drama, Bhuj: The Pride of India, had been completed. While there is a lot of uncertainty around the film’s August 15 release, with theatres across the country still shut, the post-production team has been working from home through the lockdown.
Naveen Paul, VFX supervisor and creative head of NY VFXwala, informs that the film is set against the backdrop of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, so visual effects play a significant role in taking the story forward. “It’s like a grandmother’s interesting war story, with every sequence designed to make the visuals look seamlessly photo-real,” he points out.
Having worked on a period drama like Padmaavat, as also the stylish actioner Shivaay, which won the National Award for Best Special Effects, Naveen insists that Ajay Devgn’s next is unlike any other film seen before. “It’s not visually spectacular like some of the period epics. Instead, the VFX has been used to showcase what happened during the war.
Creating the era of 1971 was challenging. We had to go back 50 years to recreate the infrastructure,” says Naveen who has been working closely with director Abhishek Dudhaiya and director of photography (DoP) Aseem Bajaj. “The war scenes have been designed to take the audience into the battlefield.”
The war scenes have been designed to take the audience into the battlefield–Naveen Paul
Besides Bhuj, a team of 300 people from Mumbai and 100 more from Hyderabad are working from home on several other films. “We are giving finishing touches to Sooryavanshi while it’s work in progress on Radhe, Ludo, The Big Bull, Mani Ratnam’s upcoming period film and Shankar’s Indian 2,” informs Naveen, adding that the biggest concern is confidentiality and safety of data. “We have developed a proprietary way of sharing film clips for approval with the makers and the DoP.”
He believes that with travel restrictions and social distancing, they have to come up with creative solutions to make virtual sets possible. “Also, shooting schedules will be tight, so post-production will probably start sooner and last longer. And yes, overall production costs will increase too,” he concludes.
Ajay Devgn Birthday: 10 defining roles of the actor in pics
Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn has almost completed 29 years in the film industry. Amid the glamour and glitz, Ajay, however, has been one of those actors or the only actor to maintain an intense persona. For those who have grown up seeing Bollywood films throughout the '90s, will be well aware of his power-packed and most remarkable performances. Contrary to the kind of films with which he made his Bollywood debut, the actor has proved his mettle with regards to versatility. He has mastered varied genres – action, comedy, drama and even romance. One of the most bankable actors, Ajay has developed a set of fans for his performances in comedy films like Golmaal. From playing the role of a Police Inspector in Singham to essaying the role of Tanaji Malusare in his latest film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, Ajay Devgn has been winning hearts time and again. As the actor celebrates his 51st birthday, here’s a look at his top 10 defining roles from the three-decade-long career:Ajay Devgn's recent role in the film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior has received great response from the audience. The historical action-drama, which was also Ajay's 100th film, is based on the story of Maratha hero Tanhaji Malusare, who was a trusted confidante and lieutenant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The film grossed Rs 332.73 crore nett in India and Rs 34.85 crore overseas, becoming the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2020.Singham is one of the most known films of Ajay Devgn with director Rohit Shetty. In fact, Rohit’s cop universe began with him introducing the no-nonsense policewala Bajirao Singham to the audience. Ajay plays the role of an honest police officer who has been transferred into a new city that is controlled by gangsters. Destiny sets him up against a corrupt politician who challenges his ethics. The film turned out to one of the biggest hits of the year 2011 and the success forced Rohit to make its sequel titled Singham Returns. Since then, Rohit Shetty's cop universe has seen Ranveer Singh and now Akshay Kumar join in. The latest film in the cop universe has been indefinitely delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.Ajay Devgn’s Golmaal has a different set of fans altogether. The entire series of Golmaal, again a Rohit Shetty directorial, is loved by the audience of any age group and fans are indeed hungry for more. This was the only hit film after Ishq, starring Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla and Kajol, which saw Ajay playing a comic role. After the initial success of the film, it has turned out to be a wholesome franchise. The comic series has enjoyed an enormous fan following for more than a decade and each part promises to be bigger and better than ever before.Drishyam is the Hindi remake of the 2013 Malayalam and Tamil language films of the same name. It was quite a task for Ajay to do justice to his role as it was already played by Mohanlal in the Malayalam original and Kamal Haasan in the Tamil remake. But, no doubt, the actor lived up to the expectations of the audience beautifully. In the film, directed by Nishikant Kamat, Ajay plays the role of Vijay Salgaonkar who takes desperate steps to save his family from getting caught.Who could have played the role of Sultan Mirza so brilliantly other than Ajay Devgn? The film was inspired from the life of mafia gang leader Haji Mastan. Unlike other films, the actor managed to diligently portray action, romance, comedy, drama and emotions together in a film, which is now remembered as one of his iconic performances.The film, as well as Ajay Devgn’s performance, was highly acclaimed by the critics and audience alike. He also received his second National Film Award for this film. He is one of three actors who played Bhagat Singh on screen in 2002. However, this film stood out particularly because Ajay managed to portray the emotions of the legendary freedom fighter brilliantly. It also helped the audience to connect with the film.Directed by Prakash Jha, Gangaajal is a 2003 crime drama which is based on the story of a heroic IPS officer who motivates and leads a corrupt police force of Tezpur to fight against a corrupt politician. He plays a crowd-pleasing role in the film and tries his best to bring a change in the system and instill the values of honesty and courage in his subordinates. This is also one of the most intense roles of the actor in his acting career.2002 film Deewangee saw Ajay Devgn playing the role of an unpredictable and dangerous sociopath. It is, without a doubt, Ajay's best negative turn till date and he has also received the Filmfare Award for the Best Actor in a Negative Role for his character Tarang Bharadwaj. Anees Bazmee was also in talks with Ajay for the remake of this film.In this film, also starring Raveena Tandon and Suniel Shetty, Ajay’s character remains the most memorable one. He played the role of Arun Saxena who is madly in love with Raveena and can cross all limits to be with her. Ajay managed to portray intense love and passion through his character in the film. Dilwale was also one of the most successful films in the ‘90s.In this film, Ajay Devgn made a solid entry by arriving atop two bikes. The scene from the film had created history and is still cherished by his fans. This action-packed film became a huge hit. Also, in his very first film, the actor took a huge risk of playing the role of a husband as well as a father. But since then, there’s been no looking back for Ajay.
