Ra.One Leads the Industry in Visual Effects Techniques

According to SRK Times, King Kahn’s much anticipated production Ra.One promises to be a visual effects masterpiece. Nothing like it has ever been created in the history of Indian cinematography.
One of the first Bollywood films to use visual effects was Mr. India, which was released by Shekhar Kapur in 1987. After viewing the short Ra.One trailor Kapur .

Shah Rukh’s Ra.One has raised the bar on VFX technique in Indian cinema… Hope other filmmakers catch up!
Since the release of Mr. India in 1987, the use of VFX in Bollywood has been very limited. In fact, the 2008 film Love Story 2050 was the first to incorporate visual effects in a major way. Although the film did not perform up to expectations, it created a precedent in Indian film making by including over 1,200 VFX shots.
Before Ra.One, Indian filmmakers have been known to use only 10 percent of their budget on special effects. Hollywood producers sometimes allot up to 70 percent. In addition, Bollywood films generally operate on a smaller budget overall. Hollywood sometimes spends up to $250 million just on VFX.  In comparison, the entire budget of Enthiran was around $36 million.
Enthiran’s VFX supervisor, Srinivas Murali Mohan says, “We tried to deliver visual effects of international standards within budget constraints.” Enthiran was the first VFX filled Bollywood film to reach great success.  SRK Times states that 2,000 VFX shots were used in its creation. Enthiran was a box office smash bringing in over Rs 350 crore upon its release.

But Ra.One promises to rival even the Hollywood hit Avatar, which has been praised for its use of visual effects. To create blockbuster, James Cameron included around 2,700 VFX shots. Ra.One has surpassed this with a staggering 3,500 visual effects shots.

Ra.One’s VFX supervisor Haresh Hingorani says, “The most difficult of shots in Ra.One were the ones that required Shah Rukh’s ‘suit enhancement’, which means combining actual shots taken using a camera with VFX shots. There are 800 suit shots and it took us five months to develop the pipeline for them.”
Shah Rukh Khan hopes that seeing the action and VFX of Ra.One on the big screen will draw in a younger crowd. In fact, he and director Anubhav Sinha are working right now on the possibility of releasing a version of Ra.One that includes 3D visual effects. These features are sure to be a strong selling point for all ages.

Anubhav Sinha, who is the father of three children ages 13, 10, and 9, says this film is designed to be… ”a treat for our kids. Ra.One is a father-son story. We wanted to do it for our children.”

Although the release of Ra.One is still months away, there is talk about the film’s potential success. Based on the stir it has already created, sources at SRK Times predict that Ra.One will become one of the top movies in the history of Bollywood films! And one reason the movie is bound to be popular is its large use of VFX shots, putting other movies to shame.
After viewing the trailer for the film, the review site Movieline writes that the “Captain America visuals pale in comparison to the 10 second Ra.One teaser.”

Kareena Kapoor’s Ra.One Diet Secrets

With her hectic travel and filming schedule for the Ra.One video “Chammak Challo,” Entertainment.Oneindia.in reported that Bebo needed to follow not one, but THREE specialized food plans.
Voted “World’s Sexiest Vegetarian” by PETA in 2008, Kareena is very careful about eating right to maintain both her health and her looks. She gets plenty of help from her dietician, Rujuta Divekar, who was tasked with the challenge of creating eating plans for the star’s recent whirlwind schedule.
Kareena’s customized eating regime actually began with her 21-day shoot for “Short Term Shaadi” in Las Vegas, which Rujuta said was the toughest leg of the diet. As she explained in the Oneindia.in report, “We had a Mumbai diet charted out on her return to the city, one for her stay in LV, another for her 24-hour flight from Mumbai to Las Vegas via London and then back again to Mumbai after the shoot ended.”
Finding exactly the right foods in Las Vegas proved especially difficult. And many actors and actresses actually lose too much weight during intense filming schedules, so maintaining Kareena’s energy with nutritious vegetarian food was just as important as watching the scale. Rujuta included dairy products like milk in Kareena’s vegetarian fare.
At one point in the filming, Kareena needed to convincingly eat several pancakes with maple syrup, much to Rujuta’s concern, since Bebo was scheduled to wear a little white dress for the “Chammak Challo” shoot.

Nevertheless, thanks to Rujuta’s coaching via Blackberry Messenger, Kareena was slim, fit, and glowed with health for the video shoot. “It was quite a tough thing to plan,” said Rujuta, “but Kareena managed everything perfectly.”

And ladies, if you’d like to know the secret to Kareena’s flawless skin, it’s walnuts and other dry fruits. Rujuta had Kareena eat those on the airplane. With their high Vitamin E content, they offset the dehydrating effects of the dry air and changing cabin pressure.
If that sounds like a yummy as well as healthy treat, even SRK couldn’t resist some aspects of Kareena’s diet. Watch this blog to find out what Shahrukh and Kareena snacked on during the Ra.One shoot!

Every Father Wants to be a Hero to His Son

Shahrukh Khan says that his superhero movie Ra.One is really a family movie – and that he wants it to be especially appealing to fathers with sons. As a father himself, SRK made the type of movie he would like to see, and he hopes fathers all over India agree.
The superstar said,

“I play a very genuine South Indian character in the movie. I’ve been thinking about the poster of the movie and I think the film can be put in one line as ‘Every father wants to be a hero to his son’.”

Shahrukh also says that he tried to keep the story simple, with real situations and dialogue. And while he has revealed very little of the movie’s plot, he did explain that the real underpinning of the story is the subtext that focuses on the family of the main character.

“Kareena (Kapoor) is my wife… we have a kid and we are a regular family – there is a lot of comedy, happiness and bonding, until all hell breaks loose. And then, there is action, which you hopefully have never seen before, at least in an Indian movie.”

The plot buzz online says that G.One, SRK’s character in the film, has a difficult relationship with his son, who doesn’t think much of his dad. In an attempt to prove himself to his son he enters the world of this son’s favorite video game, perhaps in the same way the characters enter the video game in Tron. When SRK attempts to defeat the villain in the game, the action really gets going.
And since SRK decided to do many of the film’s dangerous stunts himself, his own son should be delighted at his dad’s superhero persona!

SRK’s Filmi Future

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is as busy as ever, signing new projects and promoting home productions. In fact, he hasn’t been getting much sleep due to the intense work being put in on his pet project Ra.One. Thankfully, his other productions are being taken care of, such as how Roshan Abbas has held the reigns forAlways Kabhi Kabhi. This most recent SRK production release is about high school kids, sending SRK back to his own school day memories. His schooling at St. Columba’s in Delhi was a very strict one, unlike the carefree filmi portrayals. “When I see Aryan and Suhana, I realize schools have become easier now. You couldn’t be a badmaash (truant) in my school.”

Shah Rukh has also signed on for Yash Chopra’s next directorial venture. The film will be a romance co-starring both Katrina Kaif – her first time opposite SRK – and Anushka Sharma. Leave it to Yash Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan to bring love and romance back into Indian cinema. But would you believe it that SRK feels strange these days enacting romantic scenes? “Nowadays, I sometimes feel strange doing certain things I have done well in the past. I have to convince myself that I can still do this and pull it off.”

If Yash Chopra’s next isn’t enough to get fans excited, there are several other projects in the works. Shah Rukh has been looking into the script of Xtrme City to be helmed by none other than Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese. “Yes, I met Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio in Berlin. They, including Paul Schrader, are very happy with the script. A few days ago, I sent them a mail saying that I’m going to read it, and we hope everything turns out well.”

The other project that SRK is keen to sign – once work on Ra.One has finished – is Vishal Bharadwaj’sTwo States. At this point he is unsure who will be cast opposite him in the film, though names such as Asin and Priyanka Chopra have been making the rounds.

Of course the Baadshah’s fans have a lot to look forward to at the end of this year with the release of bothRa.One and Don 2. “While Ra.One is very technically slick, Don 2 will be very tough, and I call it a macho film.” And what about rumours about Ra.One’s skyrocketing budget? “There might be a year when my big films don’t do well, so I won’t have money to produce smaller films. But if a big one like Om Shanti Omdoes well, I can produce Billu, which in a way did well for us in terms of money too. As long as I have that freedom, I will continue this way.” SRK fans surely have no complaints to make with that!

SRK In High Gear

With promotions for Ra.One kicking into high-gear and its first promo garnering intense curiosity, superstarShah Rukh Khan is in high demand. In fact, five months before his home production’s release King Khan has set off on a multi-city campaign, as he feels a technologically advanced superhero film such asRa.One merits similar promotional techniques as those that are typically only seen in the West.

And as everyone knows Ra.One is a project very close to Shah Rukh’s heart. Whether it was Spiderman, Batman or Superman, he has always loved superheroes and getting the chance to play such a role himself is exciting. And he certainly wants to do it right, as the film itself has been six years in the making.

With Bollywood being the first topic on everyone’s lips, can cricket be far behind? Shah Rukh Khan has had his share of cricket controversies with his IPL team the Kolkata Knight Riders. Karim Morani faces charges for filching money – an action SRK has openly derided in the past – yet Shah Rukh does not feel his friendship with Morani should allow the media to pin him as a culprit in the same crime. He feels his proximity to Morani does not automatically implicate him, but that the media will make such a connection whether it is true or not. Shah Rukh is adamant that news coverage has strayed from presenting the facts and reporters are now too often merely expressing their own opinions.

Where the media is concerned, Shah Rukh’s various personal rivalries cannot be far behind and this is another topic which SRK feels is tired. Whether it is questions about his relationship with Saurav Ganguly, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar or anyone else, he has been asked it all time and again. Though he admits that he has learned to deal with it over the years, he does worry about comments his children hear from classmates at school and its effect on them. As usual, Shah Rukh is a family man – “keep the families out of it, yaar.”

With so many controversies popping up week after week, year after year, how does the Baadshah of Bollywood cope with it all? “I’m strangely detached, increasingly so, and it’s good…I think you need to be detached to be such a big public figure.” He may need to separate himself from the ever-tumultuous relationships in tinsel town, but we hope he never loses his passion for cinema!

Shahrukh Khan Likes Bebo’s Healthy Snacks on Ra.One Set

Rujuta Divekar, Kareena Kapoor’s dietician, told Entertainment.Oneindia.in that Bebo’s healthy snacks were a big hit on the set of Ra.One, and that even Shahrukh Khan enjoyed eating them.
Tasty Lotus Seeds Were a Hit!
Rujuta said, “On the Ra.One song shoot, I gave Kareena makhaana [lotus seeds] to eat as they are very nutritious and rich in minerals. She’d eat them roasted in ghee flavoured with pepper and salt. Even Shahrukh Khan liked it and would eat with her.” We can’t blame SRK, they sound delicious!
Lotus seeds, also known as hasu and renkon, are available all over Asia and  have a sweet, mild flavor.
Entertainment.Oneindia.in also recently reported on the special diet plan Reujuta Divekar developed to keep Bebo fit and healthy during a grueling travel and filming schedule. Here are some highlights of the lacto-vegetarian diet (dairy is eaten but no eggs):
The “Las Vegas diet” used during the 21-day “Short Term Shaadi” shoot included a breakfast of bananas, cereal and milk; an afternoon snack of cheese; and a healthy pizza, pasta, or risotto plus a vegetable soup (such as tomato).
For the long flight to and from the USA, Bebo ate parathas, daal and rice, a banana, walnuts and dry fruits, and plenty of water to offset the dehydration from the dry cabin air.
Finally, there was the food plan Kareena used in Mumbai to stay fit and beautiful on the sets of Ra.One. This diet included parathas and puris, pulao with raita, the lotus seed snack described above, grilled vegetable sandwiches, and a dinner of rice and dahi (yogurt).