OREANDA-NEWS. May 24, 2012. Visual Computing Labs (VCL), a division of Tata Elxsi and a leading player in the animation and visual effects space, announces its association with the animation movie, Arjun – The Warrior Prince, presented by Walt Disney Pictures and UTV Motion Pictures, scheduled to release on May 25, 2012. VCL created all visual aspects of the film and provided all facets of animation production.

This animated mythological action film is the untold story of Arjun, hero of the Mahabharata. A precocious talent plunged from boyhood and innocence into a murky world of deceit and betrayal, coming of age to become the most powerful warrior of his time. Spanning the dusty plains of Hastinapur to the icy peaks of the Himalayas, Arjun – The Warrior Prince is the story of a man discovering what it takes to be a hero.

VCL has leveraged cutting-edge technologies to enhance the complete look and feel of the animated movie. The project was completed in the time frame of 14 months, with 70-80 artists working on the creative as well as technical aspects.

“We are proud to be associated with UTV Motion Pictures for this very special and interesting project. This project has given us another opportunity to showcase our expertise in the VFX and animation space to a much wider range of audiences in India and globally. We are confident that we have been able to produce content that will provide viewers a world-class experience that matches international standards,” said S Nagarajan, COO, Visual Computing Labs, Tata Elxsi.

Talking about the release of the movie, Pankaj Khandpur, creative director, VCL, Tata Elxsi,  said, “Arjun is arguably one of the finest and richest action-based animated movies produced in India. As the movie is about Arjun coming of age as the warrior prince, a lot of our effort went into conceptualising and planning around each frame and character.  I am sure this movie would appeal to a wider audience, who would be able to relate to the story and characters.”

Special consideration went into the look and aesthetics of the film in order to make it a piece of art. The movie has some intricate scenes like the chariot race, the fire sequence, Mahabharata scene and the demon sequences which involved a lot of meticulous planning, conceptualising and art designing at pre-production stages. The film requires the use of large-scale sets, massive backdrops and close to 20 primary and around 100 secondary characters, keeping in mind its ambitious nature and look.  VCL used software which are considered as gold standard in animation, such as Maya, Renderman, Massive (for crowd multiplication) and fume effects (for fire sequences) to achieve the desired result.

Shots of real actors engaged in a sequence depicting war, fighting and racing were taken as referrals and replicated in animated versions to get a real-life look and feel to the scenes. In addition, each frame was also executed with painstaking attention to detail, to showcase the location and surrounding. Having the capability to produce such a large-scale, rich, action-oriented movie, VCL executed this colossal project in record time without compromising on its quality.

Commenting on the project, Arnab Chaudhari, director of Arjun – The Warrior Prince, said: “VCL has worked very closely with us for the movie from planning and end-to-end execution. The movie has several exciting scenes, such as breathtaking backdrops, chariot races, fire sequences, etc that come very close to reality in terms of their look and feel.”