India's Growing Might
(continued from page 2)
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Arun
Gongade's Shanti. Courtesy of the India Films Division.
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Today the Films Division has been given a
new lease on life, with its Cartoon Film Unit going full swing,
and comprised of expert animators like B.R. Shendge, Shaila Parulkar,
Arun Gongade and a host of other animators producing award winning
animation films. Thus the Cartoon Film Unit as a whole is again
humming with animation activity.
Another extremely important government organisation which has produced
a massive number of animation films is the Children's Film Society
of India set up in 1955 by the Indian Government to promote children's
films. In between 1992 and 1995 it was renamed the National Centre
of Films for Children and Young People, but now it has gone back
to its original name. Located in the same complex as the Films Division,
CFSI has produced a huge number of animation films such as Jaise
Ko Taisa by Madhab Kunte in 1988, Karuna Ki Vijay by
K.S. Bansod in 1985, Lav Kush directed by K.A. Abbas in 1973,
Adventures Of A Sugar Doll in 1966 by Kantilal Rathod, and
As You Like It directed by Sukumar Pillay in 1965. All of
which have won national awards. In fact, almost all of our great
Indian animators have worked for the CFSI at various points in their
career.
CFSI had been headed by Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi and now Sai
Paranjpe as Chairperson. Like the Films Division, CFSI has also
been organising an International Festival for Children's Films every
two years and its volume is increasing every year. The festival
located at various times in Delhi, Mumbai and now Hyderabad, is
held November 14 - 23 every year in memory of the late Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru, whose love for children was extremely well known.
Hence the festival starts on November 14, Nehru's birthday. The
festival brings in, along with other children's classics and feature
films, a lot of the best animation produced throughout the world.
This is also a competitive festival with attractive cash awards
selected by an international jury and a special children's jury.
The festival also invites foreign animators to teach children from
all over India how to make their own animation films. Moreover child
delegates from all over India attend. Thus with two such big international
festivals laying more and more stress on good animation production
and encouraging a competitive spirit, the picture for Indian animation
is bound to improve in the near future.
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R.L.
Mistry.
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National Institute Of Design: The Bedrock
Of Animation Teaching In India
The Animation Department of the National Institute of Design
came into being in the early 1970s when Disney's Weeks and UK academic
Roger Noake came to change animation by creating the necessary faculty
to teach the art. I.S. Mathur and R.L. Mistry were notable instructors
among them. Then another two year workshop programme trained by
Mathur and Mistry produced Chitra Sarathi, Benita Desai and Nina
Sabnani, among others. Then the first official two and half year
A.E.P Animation Programme started with Prakash Moorthy, Vasab Raja,
a post graduate in Illustration and Painting from the M.S. University
of Baroda, and Soma Banerjee, a science student from Delhi, as the
department's first three students, under the Faculty of Visual Communications
banner headed by I.S. Mathur. After about 6 months we joined as
the Calcutta Cel Special Programme Trainees. In the next A.E.P Programme
another batch of 6 students joined and graduated. The present department
numbers around 30.
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Patang
by Binita Desal. Courtesy of the National Institutue of Design
of India.
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With training in traditional and computer-aided
animation spanning all aspects of filmmaking, NID has produced a
huge quantity of animation films, thereby significantly contributing
to Indian animation. In addition to National Highway, a national
award winner, R.L. Mistry created Perspectrum, an abstract
study on movement and graphics. Leo Lionni, a famous animator and
designer, came to NID as a Visiting Faculty member and made his
film Swimmy using cut-outs, which to date is one of the best
cut-out animations created. Vinita Desai made Cirrus Skies,
a graphic depiction of the changes we see in the sky's cloud formations;
her other film Patang, meaning "kite," explores
the movements of a kite through the eyes of its flier. This film
won her the first prize at the 1985 "Shorts I" Festival
in Calcutta. Nina Sabnani shared this prize with Vinita with her
film Drawing Drawing based on the reactions of a child upon
seeing his drawings come to life. However, Nina Sabnani won international
acclaim with her next film which is perhaps the first feminist animation
in India. Shubh Vivah is a strong comment on the much-hated
dowry system, a social evil where money is paid by the bride's family
to the groom and his family when a daughter is married. This film
uses the traditional Rajasthani Madhubani style of painting. Other
filmmakers from NID include Nagendra Patel, Darshan Bhagat, Shyam
Patil, Shailesh Modi and Mita Bhagat who made films like Energy
Merry Go Round, Sakhi And Mukhi and Curiosity Killed
The Cat.
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Shubh
Vivah by Nina Sabnani. Courtesy of the National Institutue
of Design of India.
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Of the later students, one animator who has
distinguished himself is Prakash Moorthy. His film Jungle King,
based on a Gujrati folk tale, was selected as part of India's presentation
at the India Festival in Russia. Moorthy later made The Square
On The Hypotenuse (1995), The Progress Report (1994)
and The Protagonist (1988). In between making animation films,
Moorthy has been working as an Art Director in the Bombay film industry.
He also teaches at NID as a Visiting Faculty member to raise money
to produce his own films. Moorthy is an animator who utilizes a
different kind of abstract symbolism in his work. He has his own
way of satirizing the state of the country at various levels, including
social, political and economic. Today he is one of the best known
young animators in India.
Another important happening at NID in between 1986 and 1989 was
the arrival of Scottish filmmaker Keith Geive who, while working
on a feature, included a small piece on India using animation. This
became an Indo-Scottish venture when he asked Shoma Banerjee Kak,
by then a very successful animator who had created the title sequence
for her husband Sajay Kak's serial on India Pradakshina,
to help him out. Finally, Shoma did the entire Indian portion using
cel animation.
NID also sends its faculty for further training abroad, like in
January '86 when Nina Sabnani and Vinita Desai went to London and
Belgium on a UNDP fellowship. In London the two worked together
to create an interesting piece called Walking Feat, which
explores various walking cycles with music in varying rhythms and
beats. NID has at various times brought in foreign animators to
conduct workshops in animation, graphic design and typography. Guests
have included Saul Bass, David Tudor, Evan Chermayeff, Bob Gill,
Bruno Pfaffli and others.
Today NID's students form a massive part of the young Indian animation
community. Through them, NID has remained a path-finder and producer
of good films in the Indian animation scene. NID's excellent library
with books on every subject under the sun is another asset from
which any visitor can benefit. Plus, the Government keeps going
back to NID for its developmental films which use animation.
