TV throws new challenges at you every single day - VFX artist Hardik Gajjar

Hardik Gajjar better known as the VFX man of the television industry currently working on Life OK’s best properties Devon Ke Dev …Mahadev and The Adventures of Hatim (produced by Triangle Films Company) believes in staying upgraded and growing with every single show. After having churned out 40 shows on TV he is now aiming to make it big in Bollywood. We spoke to this very man in our Behind The Lens. Tell us a bit about your journey working as a VFX artist? I started with movies where I worked from 2001 to 2005, after which I moved to TV in 2006. To name a few movies I was associated with Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Dhamaal. But in films there wasn’t much to do apart from cable removing, patch-up and clean-up in scenes. However, I wanted to do something new; hence I ventured into TV as there is more scope here when it comes to VFX. One can work on set and scene enhancements. Have you always been a part of mythological and fantasy shows? I started with Zoran a fantasy show on Hungama. My first mythological show was Colors’ Jai Shri Krishna. I’ve worked on Mahavir, Dwarkadheesh, Naagin and many more. I also worked on a daily soap Sasural Genda Phool. How much time do you spend working on the mythological and fantasy shows before they go on-air? The pre-production of such shows takes at least three to four months as creating a virtual set takes quite some time. We usually try and understand what the producer and the channel wants and then we execute it. The execution is always 40 to 50 percent better than the description, as what we get from the producer or channel is just a one liner. Do things get tough at times as you’re in TV business where things get changed overnight? We are usually mentally prepared for most of it as we have the back grounds (BG) of these sets and locations that we would need on the show. For example we are currently working on Mahadev and whenever we have to show kailash parvat we can as we have the BG ready. There are times when we have to create a new location in four to five days and that’s not easy. Hence, we try and use the existing BG and make certain changes in it to make it look different. Any difficulty that you have come across in particular while working on a TV show? I think TV throws new challenges at you every single day. There have been times when we have delivered in just four to six hours time. There is too much of pressure in such a situation but one has to maintain his calm. Do you keep updating yourself as far as the latest technologies are concerned? Yes. I’ve done 40 shows on television so far and I can tell you that it’s been an upward graph throughout. You’ll see a lot of difference in the graphic work of Mahavir Hanuman and The Adventures of Hatim. We keep upgrading ourselves. What we did with Mahadev is Mac painting and BG. But, when it came to Hatim we chose to move a step forward and work on 3D. The Hatim graphics are three dimensional. Thus, when we create a city or anything for that matter on Hatim it is 360 degree. What’s next for you? I am looking at getting into film production with my partner Nikhil Sinha. The idea is to grow in the field of VFX and we are working towards it.