When you ask visual effects artistes about the film(s) that inspired their career, you’d expect a list that includes Jurassic Park, Star Wars or a superhero movie from Hollywood. If you persist and ask specifically for an Indian film, you’re still assuming they’d reply with a Shankar or Rajamouli blockbuster or Kerala’s own My Dear Kuttichathan. But for Kushan, the youngest of the two brothers who founded Digital Turbo Media, the answer is very obviously Punyalan Agarbathies. Neither is Ranjith Shankar’s 2010 comedy heavy on VFX, nor is it a fantasy that evokes wonder. “But it’s a film about real entrepreneurship, right?,” asks Kushan, quoting his favourite line from the film. “You’re either going to marry a millionaire, or a madman,” he laughs, referencing what Jayasurya’s character Joy Thakkolkaran tells his future wife when they meet for the first time.
It is this go-for-broke entrepreneurial spirit that has fuelled their journey from struggling freelance VFX artistes, fresh out of Kodungallur, to the founders of Kerala’s most prolific visual-effects startup, having completed more than 300 films. The fact that they could foresee a CG wave, even before most could, is among the reasons they’ve been able to establish themselves, back when computer graphics was seen as a monopoly for artistes from the West. “As a kid, I remember watching an advertisement for a Thrissur-based jewellery in which people turned to gold as a model touched them. This concept was a ripoff of Michael Jackson’s Remember The Time video but the fact that a local jeweller was able to create that effect, showed us that even we could do it if we learnt it,” says Lavan.