N Venkateswaran, May 20, 2011, 12.17am IST

CHENNAI: It's the third time that V Srinivas Mohan, CEO of visual effects company Indian Artists, will be stepping up to receive the national award for best special effects. This time, Mohan has bagged the award for Enthiran', directed by Shankar.

This is the sixth film directed by Shankar to get the award. No wonder then that Mohan considers Shankar the "visual effects guru" of the country. "Most of his films have got national awards, and I am lucky to be part of his team. I am happy to have got a chance to bring the latest technology to India and thankful to Shankar for backing me budget-wise and in other ways too," Mohan said on Thursday after the award was announced.

Indian Artists won the national award for best special effects the first time in 2003 for the stereoscopic 3D movie Magic Magic', and again in 2008 for Sivaji'.

The Tamil industry has been at the forefront of special effects having bagged awards earlier for Kaadhalan' (1995), Kaalapani/Siraichaalai' (1996), Indian' (1997), Jeans' (1998), Hey Ram' (2000), Aalavandhaan' (2002) and Anniyan' (2006).

Thanks to all these awards, there is a lot of awareness in the industry. "Earlier, directors would call us just two days before the shoot. But now, visual effects people are part of the film from the planning and visualization stage itself," he said.

Mohan, who is now working on Shankar's Nanban' and K V Anand's Maatran', said, "Enthiran has given me a lot of exposure and awards too. It has set a standard. Things are only going to get better in the industry. Nowadays, even if there is only one VFX shot in the movie, the directors are keen that it is of international standards," he said.

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