Laraib Atta Internationally Dominating the Word of Visual Effects

Laraib Atta, visual effects artist and daughter of renowned folk singer Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi, I currently based in London is corresponding to The George Lucas Company. She has worked on various internationally celebrated films, commercials and documentaries including the famous movies like No Time to Die, Fast and Furious Nine, Tenet, Chernobyl and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, among many other projects. Atta has also been nominated in many awards including Oscars, Ames, BAFTA as well as the Visual Effect Society Award for her great work on series Alter Carbon on Netflix. On the other hand her brother, Sanwal Esakhelvi conducts concerts in Punjabi and Seraiki artist abroad.

My team and I are introducing Pakistani culture to the world,” she said. “Children are not bound to do what their parents do,” added Laraib. I’ve been interested in toy stories and technology since I was a kid. So, when at 19 I moved to London, my brother suggested that I take a visual effects course. I liked that idea and it was something I wanted to do so I guess I succeeded in it.”

“Moving from Pakistan to London was never easy for me, there were plenty of challenges. Not only did I face these challenges but I worked tirelessly to overcome them,” Laraib Atta told Independent Urdu in a recent interview. “That is why today, I am one of the few women in the world working in the field of visual effects while I am probably the first female visual effects artist from Pakistan.”

She explained on how all the digital effects applied through varying softwares during post production during any video, commercial or film is part of what she does. “During post-production, various tools and editing softwares are used to change backgrounds of a film. There are different areas to oversee and work on. We prepare several variations to send to clients. It is a time-consuming process because we often end up redoing everything. Just because we worked hard on something and liked it, doesn’t mean it’ll get approved. It has to be improved again and again. You have to work until the customer is satisfied,” shared Laraib.

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The creator admitted that how it takes several days or months just to complete a few seconds and minutes of film. She told that she has worked on various Oscar nominated films and each project is much difficult and none of them is easy to accomplish but when they form a team then every member of the team has a different job and role. She told about her success because her work is her hobby and how she had loved technology from the very beginning. Laraib also shared about her experience in this male-dominated field of visual effects that how difficult it was to create space in this fraternity as a woman, which already comes with fair share of challenges. She told that how women have to be brave enough to consider stepping in in this field and the real test as a woman began when she returned to work after her maternity break.

Laraib recalled getting married and becoming mother after which she had to be on break and when she returned to London how no one wanted to give her work inspite of her glorious past. But she never lost hope and finally met a female producer who acknowledged her womanhood and gave her work in her Oscar winning company. This is how she overcame many challenges without getting disappointed and in finally successful.