Hindi GEC Colors is known to serve a variety of shows to its viewers, right from social issues to reality shows. The latest in its portfolio is a historical year long daily series Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat that premiered on 2 February at 9:00 pm.
Riding on VFX as one of its key elements to achieve the ancient era look of the show, the story has a CG lion that will be visible throughout the series and forms an important aspect of storytelling. While GECs have delved into epic tales of the Ramayan and Mahabharat, Colors tries out different tales such as Veer Shivaji and now Ashoka.
“Colors has always looked for meaningful content, something which engages all kinds of audiences. The reason behind launching Ashoka was in fact the realisation that the story of this great emperor has never been dabbled before on Indian television. Ashoka and Chanakya’s life story has so much appeal and relevance in the contemporary era that we concluded that this story needs to be narrated to the world,” said Colors programming head Manisha Sharma.
The channel is expecting the epic saga to be one of the most nuanced shows ever on the Hindi GEC space. “Dramas and period pieces have always had mass appeal compared to daily soaps. The show will definitely satiate the rising intelligent viewers who are always on a lookout for differentiated content,” she says.
A 12 member team has executed the VFX for Ashoka that mainly consists of set extensions, crowd multiplication, animation and 3D modeling. Manisha admits that computer graphics have contributed heavily to the making of the series. “Thanks to technology, we are now in a position to make our shows even more visually stunning and delightful. Ashoka has gone techno-creative with the usage of high-end VFX,” she says.
In an earlier interview, production house Contiloe Films’s CEO Abhimanyu Singh had told AnimationXpress that the quality of the lion will be unlike any other seen on Indian television before. Manisha adds on to it that the lion will be a prominent figure and hold synonymous appeal with late emperor Chandragupta Maurya. “The insightful and intense visuals have been captured with a film camera, which is probably one of the firsts in the Hindi GEC space. Superior VFX quality has been used to highlight even the minutest of details appropriately,” she says.
The background effects have tinges of blue and yellow depending on the time of the day and Manisha says that this creative choice of colour play has ‘been woven beautifully to enhance the storytelling.’ The channel also says that it has left no stone unturned to make the show gripping and compelling.
Using Autodesk, Photoshop and Maya, the show has ventured on a path to take viewers into a long lost time using the art of VFX.
The channel has also launched a 3D adventure based shooter game called Ashoka: The Game has been developed by Vroovy, a joint venture between Hungama and Gameshastra.