The 1,300-strong Rhythm and Hues (R&H), the visual effects company, is no stranger to awards, but when it bagged the second Oscar for Life of Pi for the Best VFX in Motion Pictures, it was with a sense of déjà vu that they received the news. In 2008, the VFX wizards in the company got an Oscar for Golden Compass .
About 650 associates logged in from R&H facilities at Hyderabad, Mumbai, Malaysia, Taiwan, Los Angeles and Vancouver worked for nearly 30 months on the project. And at the end of it every one of them is basking in the glory, in the knowledge that it was a ‘job well done’. For the record, about 75 per cent of the award-winning blockbuster film comprised VFX.
Saraswathi Balgam, also called Vani, who is Managing Director of R&H (India) and oversees operations at the Hyderabad, Mumbai, Malaysia and Taiwan facilities describes it as a humbling experience, working with the likes of Ang Lee, the man who put together Life of Pi .
Two nominations
Of the five nominations in the VFX category, R&H was nominated for two films -- Life of Pi and Snow White And The Huntsman . “If there were two awards, we would have bagged both,” she said.
“It was hard work and we were involved in Life of Pi from the research and development stage, studying the characters, going through the script and a lot of planning even before we started on the drawing board,” Ms. Vani told The Hindu . “Rhythm and Hues has once again proven that given the right environment, we can create Academy Award-winning VFX,” she added. R&H is currently working on a half-a-dozen Hollywood films including RIPD , Percy Jackson 2 and The Seventh Sun .
