From fireballs to gunfights, Bollywood special effects master Vishal Tyagi continues to create cinematic chaos the old-fashioned way, convinced that artificial intelligence cannot match the unpredictability of real fire, smoke and explosions.
The climax of his latest action film, “Dhurandhar 2”, involved a tanker explosion created with 500 litres of petrol and explosives in a carefully controlled stunt featuring star Ranveer Singh.
“The fragments and fires were 100 per cent real”, the 48-year-old said.
The sequence reflects growing interest among Indian filmmakers in practical effects that give action scenes an authenticity computer-generated imagery may struggle to reproduce.
Tyagi’s team used a real train as the base and constructed the tanker from acrylic panels mounted on a metal frame. The material created the appearance of fragments flying through the air during the explosion.
“Sometimes, to give a real look, we have to use something artificial”, he said.
Tyagi is also an arms specialist. His warehouse in suburban Mumbai is filled with prop rifles, sniper weapons and rocket launchers supplied to productions in India and abroad.
His company’s credits include the Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire”, “Zero Dark Thirty”, Netflix’s “Extraction”, Salman Khan’s “Tiger” franchise and Shah Rukh Khan’s “Pathaan” and “Jawan”.
“Our core expertise lies in executing real, controlled effects, from firearms to large-scale explosions”, Tyagi said.
He inherited both the profession and his enthusiasm for it from his father, Mahendra Tyagi, who moved to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh in the 1970s. After taking small acting roles, the elder Tyagi established a business supplying prop guns to the film industry.
Growing up around film sets, Tyagi became fascinated by the equipment and its operation. Even after his father died in a studio fire, he remained committed to the profession.
“I wanted to pursue this career in the correct manner”, he said, adding that limited budgets sometimes mean he is paid less than the work deserves. “But I never compromise on quality. It’s my passion”.
Despite rapid advances in AI, Tyagi does not believe technology threatens his craft.
“AI is not creating anything new. It will show you only what you feed into the system”, he said. “Technology cannot compete with nature because nature is unpredictable”.
That unpredictability, he believes, is precisely what audiences value. Yet Bollywood crews are often expected to achieve Hollywood-scale results with far less preparation.
Tyagi cited the explosion in the James Bond film “Spectre”, which required weeks of planning and testing. Indian productions rarely offer similar lead time.
“We don’t get that kind of time here”, he said. “Here we are always on gas”.
His crew follows strict safety protocols, including controls on electronic devices that could accidentally trigger detonations, but the work remains hazardous.
Tyagi recently injured his hand while staging a large explosion for Shah Rukh Khan’s forthcoming film “King”. He stayed in position until the blast was complete to ensure the shot was not lost.
For Tyagi, experience remains essential to balancing cinematic spectacle with responsibility and precision.
“Every day is a learning process”, he said. — AFP
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