Check out how VFX and CG were used to shoot SRK’s sequences in Billu

Red Chillies Entertainment’s social comedy Billu, believe it or not, used visual effects to aide in the storytelling. Mumbai-based visual effects major Redchillies.vfx executed all the shots, including crowd replacement, extensive chroma jobs and compositing. Bollywood Hungama met up with Redchillies.vfx Creative Director Arjun Mitra, Read More">who explained various shots in the film. Here’s a lookRead More

Red Chillies Entertainment's social comedy Billu, believe it or not, used visual effects to aide in the storytelling. Mumbai-based visual effects major Redchillies.vfx executed all the shots, including crowd replacement, extensive chroma jobs and compositing. Bollywood Hungama met up with Redchillies.vfx Creative Director Arjun Mitra, who explained various shots in the film. Here's a look at a few of them.

Fight sequence

This sequence was shot on location with Shah Rukh Khan and required a lot of work in post-production. The weather was unpredictable, resulting in some of the shots being taken when it was raining, and others when it was sunny. Thus 3D rain was generated and composited in the dry shots. Storm clouds were added in all the shots to get a uniform look. Plus the Redchillies.vfx team had to colour correct a lot of shots before they were finalized. The sword held by Shah Rukh was given a green glow, a computer generated (CG) globe was added to a few shots and basic wire-removal was done.

Chopper sequence Shah Rukh’s arrival in a helicopter was shot against blue screen in a studio and this was later composited with crowd shots done separately. In another shot, CG birds were added in the post production stage.

Chopper sequence

Shah Rukh's arrival in a helicopter was shot against blue screen in a studio and this was later composited with crowd shots done separately. In another shot, CG birds were added in the post production stage.

Crowd sequence Shots in this sequence have used crowd multiplication where the number of people in the crowd has been increased manifold by compositing new layers. All the layers were shot separately, Read More">masked and composited. No crowd generating software was used. In one of the shots a burst of firecrackers was added in the postRead More

Crowd sequence

Shots in this sequence have used crowd multiplication where the number of people in the crowd has been increased manifold by compositing new layers. All the layers were shot separately, masked and composited. No crowd generating software was used. In one of the shots a burst of firecrackers was added in the post production.

Bike and fire sequence Here, the Redchillies.vfx team added CG fire to the whole sequence meeting the director’s requirements. Care was taken to have the fire burst into sparks and dissipate on contact with the ground. Besides, the supporting hind tires from Shah Rukh’s bike were also removed.

Bike and fire sequence

Here, the Redchillies.vfx team added CG fire to the whole sequence meeting the director's requirements. Care was taken to have the fire burst into sparks and dissipate on contact with the ground. Besides, the supporting hind tires from Shah Rukh's bike were also removed.

Wire removal and screen replacement This song sequence was shot using chroma screen and ropes in a specially built set. In post production, wire removal was carried out. A couple of shots in the film were shot with green screens and television footage was later composited into the frames.

Wire removal and screen replacement

This song sequence was shot using chroma screen and ropes in a specially built set. In post production, wire removal was carried out.

A couple of shots in the film were shot with green screens and television footage was later composited into the frames.