Anirights Infomedia's Ashish S. Kulkarni finds there are two major challenges for the Indian market: the availability of feature film-ready talent and the evolution of scriptwriting for Indian animation.

Elizabeth Koshy: The film showed the success of Indian animated content. It's an eye-opener for the trade -- there is scope for animation films in India. Indian audiences will lap up anything with gods, as we are a religious country.

LG: What are the challenges of this market?

KK: The Indian market has a myriad of cultures. We have 14 official languages and more than 1,400 dialects. It is next to impossible to bind the audience to a common cultural trend. On the business side, distribution is a big problem, as the market is not mature enough.

SN: Most Bollywood producers until Jai Hanuman have had very little interest in animated films because it's four times more expensive than an average live-action film. It takes three to four years to make a good animated film vs. one year for a live-action film. Animation studio thinking has a long-term vision that is alien to producers who prefer quick cash returns. But "the times they are a changinggggg..." My film has a unique producer, Ronnie Screwvala, founder and chairman of UTV Motion Pictures, who has respect for animation as an art form and is brave enough to finance a three-year venture in the Indian market.

EK: There are many challenges in the Indian market: Human resources -- the number of films announced are more than the capacity of good animators available. Good stories -- most of the films are banking on stories from mythology. We need to step away from the realm of mythos and extend our imagination and creativity into new avenues. Getting the numbers right --since this is a new space, it will take some time for the market to settle down and for the efficiency to be increased.

ASK: The key challenge for the Indian market is the availability of feature film-ready talent. Secondly, scriptwriting for animation will have to evolve in India. It remains a challenge and will take several years before we have Indian animation scriptwriters. Thirdly, the studios are still in the process of setting up the feature film pipeline, which will evolve only through experience. The unique thing is that most Indian feature film pipelines are built cautiously, learning through mistakes. Hence, these pipelines will be robust and I am confident they will meet all the challenges we are presently facing.

Animation Dimensions has four animated films lined up, including Bombay Dogs. © Animation Dimensions.

LG: Where do you think the Indian animated feature industry is right now?

EK: Indian animation is posted for a stupendous growth. There are one billion people in this country, that is a huge audience to cater to, and there is hardly any content available out there.

SN: In 2007, the Indian feature animation industry is just a baby that's figuring out how to balance itself and walk. Sometimes it stumbles by making really bad animated films that make us cry, but by 2015, the same baby will not only walk, it will fly. It's surely growing fast.

ASK: With the present appetite for Indian animated films being so strong, this market is expected to do well. Indian animated feature films will be established on the domestic front before hitting globally, but there is a long way to go.

KK: An unprecedented 71 animated features have been announced in the past year or so. But going by past estimates and precedents, I expect only about half will make it into cinemas. They are expecting eight to10 features to be released each year in India. This past year there were about four animated feature releases. This industry is small compared to the 800 films made in Bollywood each year, which is expected to spike next year and cross the 1,000 mark.

Munjal Shroff: Indian animation is coming of age, most studios are now realizing that content ownership and exploitation through licensing and merchandising is the name of the game. The first wave in Indian animation was outsourcing, where almost all the studios were working on television series. Now with the success of Hanuman there is a boom in Indian feature animation.

LG: How do you think Indian animated features will do internationally? Will the world be hit with an onslaught of Indian animation in the same way it was with Japanese anime?

EK: Not yet. I am told that currently 72 animated movies are in various stages of production with Indian content, but not sure how many of those are for international distribution.

MS: If we go by the numbers, then yes, there are a huge number of films that have been announced. I think that Indian animation definitely has the potential to be a brand like anime. But the key to this is, like anime, Indian animation needs to find its own signature style. I believe this signature style can be evolved by marrying the unique stories from the Indian cultural treasure trove and the stunning visuals inspired by Indian art. This is the approach my company, Graphiti Multimedia, is [taking in] developing its features. We are currently developing an animated feature for Turner targeting the international market.