Mumbai, Nov. 3 -- In a dimly lit studio outside London, a god takes shape-not through divine intervention, but through pixels. The frame holds a shot of Ranbir Kapoor, dressed in battle armour, standing amid a cascade of digital light. Every movement of his cape, every glint on his sword, is being rendered across servers that stretch between Vancouver, London, and Mumbai.

It is here that Namit Malhotra, the 48-year-old chief executive officer (CEO) of Prime Focus Group, and its global visual effects arm DNEG, is attempting something no Indian filmmaker has done before: Stage Ramayana, India's most sacred story, as a Hollywood epic.

"This isn't an Indian film," Malhotra says. "It's a global movie told through Indian eyes."

He isn't bein...