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What is Masking ?
Matte split-screen cinematography
How was the Madan and Raju Mirror Illusion Scene shot in MMKR
This Scene was made possible with matte split-screen cinematography as modern visual effects tools were not easily accesbile at that time.
The centre part of the camera lens was covered with a black matte frame to shoot Madan(right) so that only madan and his reflection would be shot, then the matte was inverted to shoot for Raju and his Reflection.
In most movies of that era you can notice the characters stand few feet apart so that it is easy to mask and stitch those shots together
You can notice Madan’s hair being masked out because of the limitation of the technology
Madan and Raju shaving scene
Madan (Teal shirt) is shaving Raju. In this over the shoulder shot a body double is used for Madan
In the next shot Madan is the one who is played by a body double.
The next shot both characters are acted out by Kamal Hassan. You can notice that the mirror in Madan’s hand is surprisingly still. This is because the mirror is fixed. Raju’s character will play his part without anyone sitting in front of him looking at the mirror. A small gap was left from his head’s top to the mirror’s frame so that Madan(Teal Shirt) can act his part without anyone in front of him by placinghis hand on the mirror which was fixed.
If the mirror wasn’t fixed Raju’s reflection won’t synchronise with the footage.
Madan handing towel over to Raju
To sell the illusion that Madan(Teal shirt) and raju are 2 different people the hand of a body double wearing a teal shirt is shaving Rajan.
A shot of Kamal Hassan in Teal shirt which was shot later was added to show continuity wher he pulls back the razor.
The Third shot was really tricky as both characters not only appear at the same time, but have physical interaction which is almost impossible to act with perfect synchronisation even for a great actor like Kamal hassan. In this shot Madan(Teal Shirt) is actually a body double and his head was replaced with that of Kamal Hassan’s.
Notice how the movement of his head is different from his body.
This shot is very short but highly impactful to sell the illusion and a very time consuming task