Mangaluru/Moodbidri: One year after Cottalango Leon won the Academy Award for scientific and technical achievement, another person from Coimbatore has reportedly won an Oscar in the same field.
He along with three others will receive the award at the presentation ceremony to be held at Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills on February 11 for the design and development of ILM Facial Performance-capture solving system.
Kiran, 41, an alumnus of Stanes Anglo Indian School in Coimbatore, completed his dual degree in mechanical and electrical and electronics engineering at Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani. He then pursued his doctorate in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, US.
Around six years ago, Kiran, along with his colleagues Michael Koperwas, Brian Cantwell and Paige Warner from ILM developed the facial performance-capture system.
"This was first used in Avengers for the character Hulk where we captured the expressions of Mark Ruffalo. A helmet fit with two cameras was placed on Ruffalo's head when he acted on the set. With this, we transferred Raffalo's expressions into the digital character," said Kiran through video-conferencing.
The technology was also used in other movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Warcraft, Star Wars Episode VII and Star Wars Rogue One. While in Avengers, Hulk was created with Mark Ruffalo, a person who is alive, in Star Wars Rogue One, Peter Cushing was recreated. "We sought help of Guy Henry who studied Peter Cushing's work. He enacted like him and we captured his expressions," said Kiran.
On January 4, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced 18 scientific and technical achievements represented by 34 individual recipients who will be honored at the annual scientific and technical awards presentation on February 11.
Kiran’s father Srinivas Bhat Kadandale hails from the family of priests of Kadandale Subrahmanya Temple while his mother Jayashree is from Kalianpur. Srinivas Bhat has an industry in Coimbatore. Kiran Bhat’s wife too is a doctorate degree holder. and his sister, Preethi, work in USA.
Asked if he would be working with Indian cinema industry anytime soon, he said, "We are working on something, and you will see some results in a year or two."
Bhat is the eighth Indian to have won the prestigious Oscar award.