Indian-led London-based Company Wins Oscar for Visual Effects for ‘Dune’
- Namit Malhotra is the CEO of visual effects, and animation studio DNEG which was also nominated for the same category for “No Time to Die.”
The science-fiction film “Dune” received six Academy Awards, including an award for Best Visual Effects, which were done by the London-based DNEG (Double Negative). The visual effects and animation studio is headed by CEO Namit Malhotra. Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer were at the Oscars to receive the award on behalf of DNEG. The company was also nominated in the VFX category for the James Bond film “No Time to Die.”
Malhotra is the eldest son of Bollywood director and producer Naresh Malhotra who made the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer “Shahenshah,” among other films. His grandfather, M. N. Malhotra, had studied cinematography in London and became India’s first color cinematographer. He conducted Bachchan’s screen test which eventually led to his debut film “Saat Hindustani.”
Malhotra spoke with India Today after the win. “‘Dune’ to me is an incredibly valuable film because it characterizes the next version of how visual effect and storytelling has merged,” he said. “I believe we will have a time of before ‘Dune’ and after ‘Dune.’”
India’s Minister for I&B and Youth Affairs & Sports Anurag Thakur congratulated Malhotra. “India is leading the way in the AVGC sector, we’re geared up to meet the global demand w/ our innovations & talent,” he tweeted.
Malhotra grew up in Mumbai and got a bachelor’s degree in commerce from HR College of Commerce and Economics. After learning computer graphics, he co-started Video Workshop, an editing studio that began to work for serials on channels like Zee Entertainment and Star Plus.
He then merged Video Workshop with his father’s business Video Works and created Prime Focus, a company that provided technological creative services like visual effects and sound for films. Prime Focus then went global (Prime Focus World), with over 8,000 professionals across 16 cities, and started converting hugely successful films from 2D to 3D.
In 2014, Malhotra merged Prime Focus World with DNEG, which has made its way to several Oscars, including “Tenet,” “Blade Runner 2049,” “First Man,” “Ex Machina,” “Interstellar,” “and Inception.” DNEG is also known for movies and TV shows like “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Dunkirk,” “Altered Carbon,” “Chernobyl,” “Last Night In Soho,” and “Foundation,” among others.
“Dune” is based on Frank Herbert’s celebrated sci-fi classic novel of the same name. The film boasted a starry ensemble cast of Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa and Javier Bardem were part of the movie.