Merzin Tavaria (born 15 December 1973) is the Chief Creative Director and co-founder, Prime Focus. He has been associated with the company since its inception and works in collaboration with the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and India studios of Prime Focus.
Tavaria has worked for about two decades in the media and entertainment industry and is respected for his contribution towards the use of color grading and visual effects in India. He is also a jury member at various film and advertising festivals, and has been a speaker on many industry related events.
Tavaria grew up in Mumbai and completed his schooling from St. Peter's School, Mumbai in 1991. In 1995, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Commerce from K.C. College, Mumbai.
Tavaria started his career as teacher at Compufield Computer Institute, where he met Namit Malhotra, Prakash Kurup and Huzefa Lokhandwala. In 1997, they came together and started 'Prime Focus' in a small garage in Mumbai.
Under Prime Focus, Tavaria has led teams delivering visual effects for Hollywood films such as The Great Gatsby, Total Recall, White House Down, and Brett Ratner's Hercules. Tavaria has also directed the visual effects for Bollywood films like Bang Bang!, Kick, Kai Po Che!, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Dabangg 2, Guzaarish, Housefull 2, Blue, and Ghajini.
In 2010, when Prime Focus created View-D, their proprietary 2D to stereo 3D conversion process, Tavaria set up the View-D team of 2000 professionals in India who currently operate out of Prime Focus' Mumbai, Chandigarh and Goa facilities. This team undertook the 3D conversion of Warner Bros.' Clash of the Titans â the first full length feature film to be converted from 2D to 3D. Tavaria was sought for creative leadership in the 3D conversion of films like Gravity, Guardians of the Galaxy, ', World War Z, Men in Black 3, , & , Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows â Part 2, ', Maleficent, Seventh Son, ' and Ra.One.
Tavaria launched Prime Focus World's Animation division in 2012. The division holds 100 employees and has worked on projects such as Legends of Chima. The animation division completed 4 seasons of the show and is now working on new projects.