Start a project
Sculpture & prosthetics design — Punjab, India
Dhuriz is the studio of sculptor Gurpreet Dhuri. We make hyper-real figures, monuments and prosthetic effects for Indian film and television, in a small studio on the outskirts of Chandigarh.
( 01 ) The studio
Before a single gram of clay goes on the armature, we study the person. Every wrinkle, pore and scar is there to tell their story, so the audience never sees an effect. They see someone real.
( 02 ) Film & television
Directors including Anand Gandhi, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Rahi Anil Barve have come to us for the work they couldn't fake. It all started with Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur.
Keep scrolling →
Selected credits
From the workshop
( 03 ) Hyper-real figures
A hyper-real sculpture of the late Punjabi singer, sculpted from photographs, finished with hand-punched hair and painted skin.
A life-size figure, now at the Swami Chinmayanand Ashram in Powai, Mumbai.
A portrait of the creator of Chandigarh's Rock Garden, where our work is also shown.
A metal portrait: full regalia, every jewel and fold of fabric worked in by hand.
A portrait of the former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.
( 04 ) Monuments & clay modelling
Two martyrs, sculpted full-size in clay at our studio and cast for public display at Seeba International School, Lehragaga, and in Samaon village, Mansa.
Bronze & metal portraits
Clay is where it starts. Bronze is how it lasts.
We cast in silicone, in bronze and in other metal alloys. Our relief sculptures stand at the Attari–Wagah Joint Check Post and the Birsa Munda Museum.
( 05 ) Process
"When I design a character, I always keep in mind the story it is meant to tell. The character should not only look good but also evoke the right emotions."Gurpreet Dhuri, to IANS
More than a brief. Photographs, drawings and conversations: we study the subject until the character is understood, not just measured.
Every form starts in clay, by hand. Likeness, anatomy and expression get resolved here, before any material is committed.
For prosthetics we take measurements and life-casts of the actor, so every appliance fits their face and body exactly.
Silicone is cast, painted in translucent layers and punched with hair one strand at a time, until the skin reads as skin.
Our team fits and maintains the work on the shoot when it's needed. Unlike makeup, prosthetics don't have to be made on the spot, so productions in Mumbai work with us remotely.
( 06 ) Where to see the work
( 07 ) The artist
A sculptor from Ghanaur Khurd, near Dhuri in Sangrur district, Punjab. Known for clay modelling, portraiture and prosthetic FX design.
Gurpreet grew up in a working-class family, which taught him to work hard and passionately. He studied at the Government College of Arts, Chandigarh, where in 2008 he received the Rabindranath Tagore Scholarship from the Lalit Kala Akademi. A trip to Pune led to his first film, Gangs of Wasseypur: a severed head in silicone and Richa Chadha's prosthetic belly. There has been a steady stream of work ever since.
Stan Winston is his inspiration, and his rule is to keep experimenting. Dhuriz is the only studio in the region offering FX and hyper-realism in sculpture, and the whole team trained at the College of Art.
In the press
( 08 ) Start a project
Films, series, ads, museums, memorials and private commissions. Send us the character and we'll come back with a plan.
