NASSCOM AGS '09: Imran Khan, VP of FX Labs, speaks about 'Ghajini -The Game'

By Mrigank Dhaniwala, Bollywood Hungama News Network

If you thought games based on Bollywood blockbusters were duds, think again. A 3D PC game based on the Aamir Khan starrer box-office hit Ghajini has clocked over 25 thousand in Indian and international DVD sales, indicating that the market for Bollywood games exists. Titled 'Ghajini-The Game', the action-adventure game was released with the film late last year.

Hyderabad based gaming studio, FX Labs, developed the game in consultation with the film's producers and Aamir Khan himself. The studio worked extensively with Aamir Khan for reference shots that were used in the actual game play. Vice President of FX Labs, Imran Khan said, "Aamir Khan was very excited about the game we were making and even did the voice-overs that have been used in the game." Imran was addressing game developers and executives at the NASSCOM Animation & Gaming Summit, Hyderabad.

Developing the Ghajini game involved a rigorous nine-month production schedule, with 25 highly trained artists, programmers and game testers working on making the game interesting but at the same time, compatible to the average Indian PC. "Our demographic research found that most non-gamers in India do not really care about installing high-end 3D graphic cards. So the game play was made as simple as possible and we primarily concentrated Sanjay's (Aamir's character in the film) perspective by giving the user control over him in the game," added Imran.

The first step was creating Aamir's three dimensional model, besides doing rest of the concept design for the game. "The crucial pre-production stage took us about two months. After that came the game prototype, followed by the first playable, alpha and beta stages. At the end of it all, we added security features and shipped the game," Imran added.

But the gaming studio did not stop at just that. It got Eros International and Intel for worldwide distribution of the game and sold the DVDs at Rs 199 each in order to combat piracy. For a game pegged at a ballpark figure of Rs 50-60 lakh, did they recover their monies? "Well, almost," is all Imran has to say.

We hope they do, so that we get to play many more games coming out of the Bollywood stable!

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