Dubai sequence of Pathaan were very difficult: Sherry Bharda - Exclusive

Aditya Chopra is the man backing some of the biggest hits of Indian cinema like Pathaan, Tiger franchise, Sultan, Dhoom series and even the evergreen romantic saga Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. He is also responsible for introducing the studio system in the country, along with launching a music label, distribution network and a dedicated VFX section too.

Sherry Bharda who heads the vertical for the studio called yFX, shares her association with Aditya Chopra, which goes back to the time he made 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge'. She says, "We've been working together for a while, the first ever VFX we did was the logo for DDLJ, then we did the iconic leaves for Mohabbatein. Aditya had a vision for an epic scale, high octane action and it just made sense to have all creative stakeholders on the same table including VFX, which is today an integral part of all filmmaking and helps in discussing innumerable possibilities.”



Pathan is by far the biggest hit from the YRF stable and its release completes a year this month. Sherry states that nothing could have prepared them for the epic entertainer and adds, "Every film we do is a building block for the next one." Pathan was a very VFX heavy film and Sherry reveals that all the sequences were being worked upon simultaneously. Recalling the action sequence shot on ice with Deepika Padukone, John Abraham and Shah Rukh Khan, Sherry says, “Our director, Siddharth wanted this beautiful ice for the sequence but when they came back from the shoot it was not as beautiful as they would have liked so the VFX team had to step in and change it.”

Reminiscing the challenges, she adds, “I think Dubai was tough because it was planned to be on location and then it had to be moved to a stage. So a lot of the action was shot and then we had to figure out the building parts of Dubai because we didn't have the footage. There were sequences which we shot live with the actors, but there were other sequences that had to be wrapped up separately because of the pandemic. So those had to be repurposed and fleshed out when they were shot against chroma."