Shivarajkumar on his de-aging in Ghost: I did not want to reveal that look, but doing so turned out to be good

One of Shivarajkumar's looks in his upcoming film Ghost has him look at least 30 years younger, which was achieved through visual effects

Fans are amazed at the quality of the digital de-aging done on the Century Star

MG Srinivas had a certain idea when he wrote a portion of his film Ghost – he wanted his leading man, Shivarajkumar to look young in a particular portion. Makeup and prosthetics alone would not do the job, he thought, and decided to shoot the portion and then digitally de-age the 61 year old, with the help of a Tehran-based VFX firm. The end product is something that everyone was anxious about and when Srini decided to show his audience a glimpse of what they’d achieved in the trailer, they were more than happy with the output. Seeing Shivarajkumar like that evoked nostalgia in some of his long-term fans, who said that it reminded them of the Century Star in films like Samyukta, for instance. A few felt that Srini could have maintained that as a surprise element to be revealed in the film only, a sentiment that even Shivarajkumar carried for a while.

De-ageing Shiva Rajkumar in Ghost a very 'big responsibility' on my shoulders, says MG Srinivas

“I was keen to maintain it as a suspense element to keep audiences wondering how the de-aging looks. But Srini wanted them to know and decide whether they liked what he’d done or not. Turns out, he was right in revealing it, because everyone’s very happy with how it looks,” he said speaking to a Kannada digital publication. The Century Star then went on to elaborate on what appealed to him about the film and the role, like, for instance, the attitude and swag that he carries in one look. For his audience, the Century Star feels that the thriller elements, action blocks and the overall entertainment factor will be the selling point.

Shivarajkumar on Ghost: It’s not a never-before-seen story, but the way it’s been told is new

Ghost, produced by Sandesh Nagaraj, will release in theatres on October 19 in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi. The Telugu version will be delayed by a week on account of the fact that there are two major Telugu releases in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, owing to which Ghost may not get enough screens.

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