HYDERABAD: In a major technological leap for Indian cinema, filmmaker SS Rajamouli on Wednesday unveiled the country’s most advanced Motion Capture facility at Hyderabad’s Annapurna Studios, revealing that crucial sequences of his upcoming film ‘Varanasi’, starring Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, were shot using the cutting-edge technology.
Christened the A&M Mo-Cap Lab, the facility marks a collaboration between actor Akkineni Nagarjuna’s Annapurna Studios and producer Shobu Yarlagadda’s Mihira Visual Labs. The lab is powered by Hollywood-based Animatrik Film Design, a global leader in motion capture technology.
The unveiling signals what industry insiders describe as a defining moment in India’s creative and technological evolution. Rajamouli, who previously launched India’s first Dolby cinema processing facility at Annapurna Studios, described the Motion Capture lab as a long-awaited milestone for domestic filmmakers.
“India has always had some of the world’s best technicians contributing to major global productions, but what we lacked was an advanced facility right here at home. When I look back at some of my previous films like Bahubali, Ega etc., I reminisce how I could have made them even better if I had access to motion capture technology back then in India,” Rajamouli said, in a press statement.
“With the introduction of A&M’s Motion Capture technology, that gap has finally been bridged. This will change how Indian filmmakers envision and execute their stories as we will no longer need to outsource. I have visited several Motion Capture facilities across the world, but what A&M offers is the perfect blend of precision and performance. We utilized this facility in the making of crucial sequences in Varanasi, and the results were simply fantastic,” the filmmaker added.
