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It’s no secret that science fiction isn’t one of Indian cinemas favourite genres. In the world of Bollywood, outside of the rare blockbuster - Ra.One, Mr. India, Koi Mil Gaya, and so on - sci-fi is seldom explored. Meanwhile, regional cinema industries from the South have dipped into the world of unknown technologies and far off planets from time to time. In particular, the Tamil film industry has been a major contributor to India’s canon of science-fiction - the genre made it’s Indian cinema debut in 1952, when American filmmaker William Berke partnered with Tamilian T. R Sundaram to create Kaadu (The Jungle) and space first appeared as a sci-fi theme in Kalai Arasi, a 1963 Tamil action-drama about alien abductions and space technology. And this year, Kollywood has continued to improve the world of Indian science fiction with Tik Tik Tik, an action-drama set, for the first time in Indian cinema history, almost entirely in space.
Directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan, Tik Tik Tik is an action thriller about a misfit team of escape artists and astronauts who launch into space to try and prevent a giant meteor from destroying the Earth. The film stars Jayam Ravi in the lead role as M. Vasu, an escape artist recruited by the government to help with the meteorite - Ravi joined the production after working with Shakti Rajan on Miruthan (2016), another sci-fi venture about a zombie apocalypse. The film began production in 2016, and was initially set to be released this January, but the release had to be delayed due to a strike by the Tamil Film Producer Council. Eventually, Tik Tik Tik was released in June, bringing in almost 13 crore at the Tamil Nadu box office on opening weekend.
While critics’ reviews of the film have been mixed, there is one thing about the film everyone can agree on: the VFX and CGI are fantastic. A whopping 80 minutes of the film’s 130 minute runtime is VFX based, featuring the characters suspended in dynamic space vistas and brilliantly animated space ships. Unlike most Indian films involving VFX, Tik Tik Tik’s computer-generated imagery was not designed by multiple vendors; instead, a contract was signed with Chennai-based Ajax Media Tech, which has worked on a multiple other Kollywood films, including Vishwaroopam 2 and Seema Raja.
Ajax Media Tech’s work on Tik Tik Tik is a phenomenal feat, especially given their time constraints and the film’s comparatively lower budget. Though they were offering their services at a lower than usual cost, the company was determined to provide top quality effects. The film’s epic teaser was produced in a week, the final trailer within a month, and the overall effects for the entire film were created in about five months by a team of around 200 people.
“Post the film’s release, starting from the audience to media and all the film fraternity, everyone is completely appreciating the VFX work in the film. We are happy that we have now given the confidence to many in the Indian Industry that we can do VFX in a required budget. Let’s hope for the best,” Ajax Media Tech’s chief of sales told Behindwoods.
You can watch the film’s trailer here. Tik Tik Tik is unfortunately no longer in theatres.
It’s no secret that science fiction isn’t one of Indian cinemas favourite genres. In the world of Bollywood, outside of the rare blockbuster - Ra.One, Mr India, Koi Mil Gaya, and so on - sci-fi is seldom explored. Meanwhile, regional cinema industries from the South have dipped into the world of unknown technologies and far off planets from time to time. In particular, the Tamil film industry has been a major contributor to India’s canon of science-fiction - the genre made it’s Indian cinema debut in 1952, when American filmmaker William Berke partnered with Tamilian T. R Sundaram to create Kaadu (The Jungle) and space first appeared as a sci-fi theme in Kalai Arasi, a 1963 Tamil action-drama about alien abductions and space technology. And this year, Kollywood has continued to improve the world of Indian science fiction with Tik Tik Tik, an action-drama set, for the first time in Indian cinema history, almost entirely in space.
Directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan, Tik Tik Tik is an action thriller about a misfit team of escape artists and astronauts who launch into space to try and prevent a giant meteor from destroying the Earth. The film stars Jayam Ravi in the lead role as M. Vasu, an escape artist recruited by the government to help with the meteorite - Ravi joined the production after working with Shakti Rajan on Miruthan (2016), another sci-fi venture about a zombie apocalypse. The film began production in 2016 and was initially set to be released this January, but the release had to be delayed due to a strike by the Tamil Film Producer Council. Eventually, Tik Tik Tik was released in June, bringing in almost 13 crores at the Tamil Nadu box office on opening weekend.
While critics’ reviews of the film have been mixed, there is one thing about the film everyone can agree on: the VFX and CGI are fantastic. A whopping 80 minutes of the film’s 130-minute runtime is VFX based, featuring the characters suspended in dynamic space vistas and brilliantly animated spaceships. Unlike most Indian films involving VFX, Tik Tik Tik’s computer-generated imagery was not designed by multiple vendors; instead, a contract was signed with Chennai-based Ajax Media Tech, which has worked on multiple other Kollywood films, including Vishwaroopam 2 and Seema Raja.
Ajax Media Tech’s work on Tik Tik Tik is a phenomenal feat, especially given their time constraints and the film’s comparatively lower budget. Though they were offering their services at a lower than usual cost, the company was determined to provide top quality effects. The film’s epic teaser was produced in a week, the final trailer within a month and the overall effects for the entire film were created in about five months by a team of around 200 people.
“Post the film’s release, starting from the audience to media and all the film fraternity, everyone is completely appreciating the VFX work in the film. We are happy that we have now given the confidence to many in the Indian Industry that we can do VFX in a required budget. Let’s hope for the best,” Ajax Media Tech’s chief of sales told Behindwoods.
You can watch the film’s trailer here. Tik Tik Tik is unfortunately no longer in theatres.
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