IIT Madras to honour A.R. Rahman for his VR film ‘Le Musk’
New Delhi, 16th November 2024: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Madras’s centre of excellence in virtual reality and related fields, eXperiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC), will present its prestigious ‘XTIC Award 2024 for Innovation’ to the legendary music composer Dr. A.R. Rahman on Sunday, November 17.
The Award is being given to him in recognition of his work on the virtual reality (VR) film ‘Le Musk’ (2022). It is a 37-minute VR thriller that integrates multiple sensory elements, including scent, motion, and music, to deliver a deeply immersive cinematic experience. The film follows the journey of Juliet Merdinian, an orphaned musician and heiress, as she sought to uncover the identity of individuals who changed her life, guided solely by the memory of their scents. An unique feature of the film is that it combines jazz, orchestral and world music, composed by Dr.Rahman to elevate its sensory storytelling.
The Experiential Technologies Innovation Center (XTIC) at IIT Madras is a global research hub dedicated to advancing VR, AR, and haptics technologies. It fosters interdisciplinary innovation and collaboration between academia and industry.
Prof. M. Manivannan, Head, XTIC, noted, “Le Musk is a bold and innovative experiment that successfully showcases the potential of XR and multi-sensory storytelling. Its reliance on specialized technology poses challenges in accessibility and scalability. This is where research and innovation can play a major role. The XTIC, our global center with global leaders, is planning to address these challenges in the coming years.”
The award will be presented as part of a two-day XR summit of academia and industry working on VR and related fields The XTIC will also recognize XR Startups, honoring them with awards in different categories as part of the award ceremony.
The Summit, which began today, among other things, features the launch of a ‘Game Jam’ on XR Readiness, which will showcase the evolution of XR technology through the display of XR devices and gamified parameters that influence the adoption of this technology across multiple industries. The key objectives of the meet include creation of a roadmap for a XR corridor in India.
