Interview: Nikhil Patil and the future of VFX in India

James Cameron's "Avatar" put India on the movie map, with Mumbai-based Prime Focus doing much of the incredible work to make Cameron's dream turn real. But according to one of the country's hottest young graphic designers, it's in India's TV commercials where the creative talent gets to really showcase its skills. 

Thirty-three year old Nikhil Patil, computer graphics designer, heads a team of 14 at Pixion and was up for three awards at the 2009 24fps Awards, presented by MAAC. He’s modeled nearly every familiar product you see on TV: Pepsi, Coke, MTV, MacDonald's, 7up, Videocon, Liril, and keeps himself busy with 80 to 100 commercials a year. 

Building his client list and referral base from the ground up, Nikhil started as a trainee at Digital Canvas back in 1997, becoming senior animator/compositor at the FIX, and finally the creative head of the CG Commercials department at Pixion, Mumbai, one of the leading post production studios in India.

The field of post production in India is fraught with tight time lines, requires intense research and unbelievably refined detailing so that you fail to distinguish between the created work and the live shots. But suspending people's belief is what Nikhil does best, as he explains.

CNNGo: How did it all begin and why work in commercials?

Nikhil Patil: It all began with computers and my love for them. My Dad got me a Sony Hit-Bit in the early 1980s. I used to make small graphic programs on it using GWBasic. Plus both my parents are trained artists; Dad was in advertising, Mum looked after two kids. 

CNNGo: Would you call yourself a self-taught CG artist?

Patil: Self-taught? I think the term is an oxymoron. I am what you might call a self-discovered CG artist.

CNNGo: Does working in the commercial mainstream brand space, limit you in any way?

Patil: The reason it is called commercial is because it has a commercial value. We are called commercial artists, as opposed to fine artists. When you are creating something, you always have a brief. For us it is most obvious and comes from the client, for fine artists it comes from their heart and their own minds. Take the example of the Sistine Chapel, great artists like Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini and Botticelli worked on it under a brief from Pope Julius II. Today we consider their artwork on the Sistine Chapel to be one of the world's finest. Believe me, when someone asks you to make a tornado and replicate reality, or make it look like it was something else altogether, it makes it even more challenging.

CNNGo: Which are your favorite graphic softwares, post-production tools and plug-ins?

Patil: These are my favorite but only because I know how to use them! 3D Studio Max, After Effects, Rhinoceros 3D, Photoshop.

CNNGo: How have CG commercials evolved in India?

Patil: As with all things technology based, CG commercials in India have evolved over my career. My inspiration to come into this field (as with most of my peers) was the early 1990s Bajaj commercial where a bike transforms into a cheetah (or the other way around). Compare that with the level of sophistication we have in contemporary commercials, it's really amazing what we've managed to learn and still need to learn to start creating our own intellectual properties.

CNNGo: Are CG films next on your agenda?

Patil: I’ve wondered about that myself. Two reasons. First, I have never had the opportunity. Second, and more importantly, there's not enough exciting work happening out there. Most feature film work in India involves clean-ups and wire-removals. Of late though I’ve seen some work coming out of Tollywood (the Telugu-language South Indian film industry) that is very impressive. Unfortunately international artists have executed it. I think we have a long way to go before feature film VFX comes close to TV commercial VFX.