When folklore meets FX

A still from the film

Producer Dinesh Vijan has been building his horror comedy universe with Stree (2018), Roohi (2021) and Bhediya (2022). Director Aditya Sarpotdar's Munjya is the latest addition. While the film stars Abhay Verma and Sharvari, one of its highlights is that the central character is entirely built using CGI, making it among the first few Hindi movies to have a VFX creation as the lead. The director says, "This idea stemmed from the desire to push technological boundaries in Indian cinema and offer a unique visual experience."

After the story was developed in 2019, the makers approached visual effects studio DNEG and VFX supervisor Brad Minnich - who previously worked on Batman v Superman (2016), Aquaman (2018), and Justice League (2021) - to create the character. Over the next six months, Munjya was built as a bald, big-eyed creature with wiry hands and rapid movements. "We used advanced motion capture technology under the guidance of Brad. The team at DNEG and Brad helped me through the entire process, which involved conceptualisation, motion capture, rigging, animation, texture, lighting and composting."

Sarpotdar with VFX expert Minnich

When the project rolled in 2023, the makers kept an actor on the set, as a proxy for the CGI-figure that would be added during the edit. While the climax of Bhediya was completely made on VFX, Sarpotdar says Munjya goes a step ahead, with a large chunk of the movie relying on it. The horror comedy is based on a famous folklore from the Konkan region about a Brahmin boy, who, after his death, becomes a mischievous spirit residing on a peepal tree. The director adds, "What differentiates Munjya from its forerunners is that it draws from cultural myths and traditions. The familiar folklore evokes a primal fear rooted in collective cultural memory."