FutureWorks brings bold colour work to Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bloody Daddy

FutureWorks provided all colour work for Jio Studios’ action thriller Bloody Daddy, working closely with the directorial crew to produce a visually striking movie. The company also delivered rental, sound and VFX services.

Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, action thriller Bloody Daddy is now streaming exclusively on Jio Cinema, a major Indian OTT platform well known for its IPL cricket coverage. The Hindi-language movie is an adaptation of the 2011 French film Sleepless Night and stars Shahid Kapoor as a narcotics officer on a mission to rescue his son from a ruthless drug lord.

FutureWorks graded the entire movie ahead of its release on Jio Cinema. Filmed in just 36 days during the pandemic, and graded over the course of several months, Bloody Daddy has a bold, distinctive look characterized by deep blacks, paired with bright, saturated hues.

“The film has a rich, dark look with lots of color and contrast so maintaining the continuity was especially difficult,” says Rahul Purav, Head of Color at FutureWorks. “The black levels are very dense in this film and much of the action takes place at night, but we didn’t want the images to look too processed as that would distract the audience. Balancing the color and luminance contrast was especially challenging.”

As an action film, Bloody Daddy is packed with movement, while the condensed timeline of the plot means that there’s a frenetic pace throughout. One of the most remarkable scenes is a kitchen fight. “For this, I created a palette with orange and teal blue,” explains Rahul. “I had to maintain those ratios and cancel out various colors to make it work. I designed a contrast curve which was sustained throughout the entire film. As the film is shot at multiple different locations, I didn’t want to alter the contrast too much for the audience, or it would take them out of the action.”

From the warm orange and yellow tones of the kitchen, the action moves into the freezer room. “This had a very cold, dry and neutral look, while still retaining a very similar contrast in the ratios,” says Rahul.

Another visually dazzling scene involves an altercation in a dark arcade, packed with brightly lit slot machines. “Here the challenge for me as a colorist was maintaining the right level of color with the contrast, and balancing that with how the camera was moving and how the light was coming through, while still maintaining those deep blacks”.

With much of the film shot on live locations, there were certain parameters and limitations that needed to be considered, so the definitive look of the film had to be designed with that in mind. Delivering high-quality results with this level of complexity wouldn’t have been possible without the close collaboration between Rahul and cinematographer Marcin Laskawiec.

“We worked very closely together to ascertain the best approach,” explains Rahul. “Marcin told me all about the specific conditions that they would be shooting under at certain locations, and how they would control them, so I was able to take this into account when grading the film to bring the look together in a cohesive way”.

For much of the project, Rahul worked with Marcin remotely using Colorfront’s Remote Streaming Solution and Adobe’s Frame.io in live grading sessions where he was able to give his feedback. Marcin explains: “I completed color grading for my first film in India at FutureWorks with Rahul, and since then, whenever I come back here to Mumbai to finish another project, this team is my first choice every time. I trust them completely — thanks to them, my films look exactly as I imagined them. In addition, when I’m not there in person, we can conduct a full session remotely via the Internet from any place where I am at the moment.”

Director Ali Abbas Zafar adds: “Bloody Daddy is a story of one night and one location. It required very distinctive looks between each of the sub-locations, yet with a unifying factor, along with a raw and edgy look.

“Colorist Rahul Purav and DoP Marcin Laskawiec collaborated closely, and sometimes remotely, to achieve the distinctive visuals.

“With its remote grading setup and workflow, Futureworks facilitated seamless collaboration between Marcin, Rahul, and my team which enabled us to make the best decisions for Bloody Daddy.”

FutureWorks’ CEO Gaurav Gupta says: “Our work on Bloody Daddy shows how strong collaboration between our experienced colorists and the directorial team can bring exciting stories to the screen in a  visually stunning way.”