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Last spring, the movie Ae Watan Mere Watan was released on Amazon Prime. It was produced by Dharmatic Entertainment, an the title can be translated translates to “Oh Country, My Country.” The movie follows Usha Mehta, a young freedom fighter. The movie depicts her chase with British authorities ruling India while spreading Gandhi’s ideas and his “Quit India” campaign`message.
VFX studio FutureWorks was responsible for over 700 VFX shots. Senior VFX Supervisor Ashoke Chowdhury explains that director Kannan Iye wanted to showcase many historical representations, with the goal of making the result both credible and seamless. Here are some details, followed by a VFX breakdown.
The team had to recreate Mumbai as it was in the 1940s. The work involved crowd simulations and CG elements, relying on various visual references, including photographs. Creative Director Sanjay Trimbakkar invested a lot of efforts in this process.
Here is one of the scenes the studio worked on: Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Quit India’ speech at the Gowalia Tank. The scene was shot outdoors with green screens: the locations had been modernized and could not be used as is. Therefore, set extensions and digital buildings were required.
CG Supervisor Amiteshwar Anand points out that creating CG trees was a delicate task, as they had to be animated. Cache sizes was a major challenge. The team also had to rework the lighting and textures. Additionally, trams, crowds, props, and CG vehicles had to be added. Senior VFX Supervisor Ashoke Chowdhury notes that the use of Katana was very helpful.
Above and below: set extensions and crowd simulations inspired by period photographs.
FutureWorks often had to blend real and digital elements, as seen in the final scene depicting Usha Mehta’s release from jail. A shoot at Bandra station with a real crowd was transformed in post-production into a crowd of over 20,000 people, with a much larger environment.
Finally, here is a breakdown of the VFX work done by the studio.
