Pi Patel and Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger, in ‘Life of Pi’. Pic: 20th Century FoxPETALING JAYA: Malaysian talent has helped Ang Lee's blockbuster movie Life Of Pi win an Oscar for Visual Effects, thanks in part to the work of international visual effects studio Rhythm & Hues' local branch.

The Academy Awards are currently underway at The Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.

The golden statuette will travel from the main office in the United States to every branch: India, Canada, Taiwan and of course, Malaysia.

The Kuala Lumpur branch of Rhythm & Hues worked mostly on the ocean and the tiger Richard Parker.

As the film was shot primarily in a water tank, the local team had to remove the backgrounds and the divers before replacing them with computer-generated oceans and skies.

Rhythm & Hues KL was set up in 2009 as a Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) company, and boasts a team made up almost entirely of Malaysian talents from local universities and colleges.

Senior manager Hasnul Hadi Samsudin said the win proved that home-grown talent has "world-class" ability and artistry.

- The Star

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