Filmmaker Taufiq Khan's new music video enhances the aesthetics of Mumbai

The VFX-heavy music video was primarily shot at Ballard Estate to add to its visual appeal. Pics Courtesy/YouTube

It's a world of digital aesthetics out there, and to claim his share in it, 29-year-old Taufiq Khan launched his production company Wolf Bread with an eight-minute-long music video last Sunday. Shot at SoBo's Ballard Estate, this debut project rightly spells out the motto behind the start-up, "Making everything visually appealing," Khan announces.

A pack of dogs including a golden retriever, shih-tzu and beagle take centre stage, as they lead us into the well-planned heritage district of Mumbai. The video breaks away from the browns of the city as we're introduced to a sudden burst of contrasting vibrant colours in a restaurant set-up - and from that point on, the video is an audio-visual treat. Written and directed by Khan, this video was the result of nearly three years of brainstorming, with a team of over 300, and features debut of pop-music singer, Tokioplaza.

Khan, who is an award-winning filmmaker, with his short film screened at Cannes 2019, said that he felt like he wasn't doing enough with his creativity. "In short films, there is a set audience, and rules. You cannot go A, B, C, and directly jump to Z. The ‘Z' is bound to disrupt the story. That is not the case with music videos. Here, you can truly play with creativity, tell a story in a way where everyone is free to have their own interpretation, or have no interpretation at all. They could solely be watching for the visuals. Our motive is served either way," he explains why he decided to shift from filmmaking to music videos, and adds, "We had started working on this video, and the company back in 2019. We remember discussing our plan on a day prior to when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. The outdoor work had to be stopped, but we resumed our work on our CGI [Computer-Generated Imagery] characters. By 2022, most of the work was done.

But I wanted to perfect it to a level that no other music video has reached in India, hence, it finally came out on October 8." With the intent to make it a multi-media entertainment platform, Khan reveals that while they are currently focusing on music videos that offer something completely new in the industry, the platform will not be limited to the same. "We have other things in the pipeline like our own line of clothes, fashion shows, and videos based on sports and matches, etc. The aim is to set up a channel on the lines of Logan Paul in the country. Everyone loves that kind of VFX-heavy, visually-appealing, aesthetic-driven and never-seen-before, experimental videos. But nobody in India has taken the initiative to make something along the similar lines. I guess, that's beneficial to us, though," he laughs and signs off.

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