India's Expanding Animation
Horizons
by Jayanti Sen
PART I
 |
|
Gayeb
Aya, or Gayeb Appears, is
India's first animated television serial and features a friendly
ghost. Courtesy of and © Doordarshan.
|
Indian
animation has grown in size and production volume over the last
few years. One of the most important trends that we see emerging
is an effort toward making animation for adults rather than simply
narrative fiction for children. India's young animators are creating
thought-provoking, mature films on the state of the world around
them. Animators are moving from animated shorts to full animation
serials, plus a whole range of animated commercials is by now a
very important part of the industry. An interesting phenomenon is
also happening -- animation is being handed down from father to
son as an art form, comparable, in the Indian tradition, to so many
other art forms such as music and theatre. Indian animators, like
Ishu Patel and Manick Sorcar, are working outside India as well.
There are also various efforts being made to create full-length
feature animation, another important way of expanding India's horizon
to the world cinema.
India's First Animation Serial and The Role of Television
From 1960 onwards, Indian animation has been steadily growing in
terms of production volume and International standing, but still,
Indian animators restricted themselves to creating animated shorts.
It took another thirty years for the first animation serial to be
created by a young Bengali artist who had migrated to Delhi in search
of a living in 1981. The man was Suddhasattwa Basu, and the serial
was a 10 part animation series called Gayeb Aya or Gayeb
Appears. Telecast first in 1990 on Doordarshan, India's official
premier government TV channel, the serial became immediately popular
with children of all ages and has had repeated telecasts ever since.
Basu debunked the myth that India's Eastern Region could not produce
world class animators. Before he had earned his name as an animator,
Basu had already become one of the best illustrators in Delhi, creating
illustrations for various newspapers and books. But after rigorous
training in formal art from the Government Art College in Calcutta,
this young boy, hailing from the then French occupied Chandannagar
region, decided to take a step that would change his entire life.
Along with two friends from the Art College, he took a big risk
and plunged into being a painter in Delhi. Delhi, along with Bombay,
has always been a good market for Indian painters. To keep himself
going he had to join an ad agency. However he felt the ad culture
had its own bindings on his artistic freedom, so he moved on to
a large newspaper publishing group, The Delhi Press. From there
he moved to Thomson Press to work on the children's magazine, Target.
It was here while working as an illustrator for Target that
Basu decided to become an animator. The then editor of Target
the late Rosalind Wilson, gave him much encouragement. While Basu
did not have an institute like NID to teach him animation, books
on animation were of course readily available, and he made full
use of them. With his consummate knowledge of drawing and extreme
skill as a painter/illustrator, animation came almost naturally
to him. In an exclusive interview with this writer he reveals, "You
will, if you study the series of Gayeb, practically watch
my own animation skill developing from episode to episode, so the
last episode of Gayeb, the tenth part of the ten piece series,
is much better animated than the first. One book that has particularly
helped me in my own animation training is John Halas' Timing
In Animation, to which I keep going back." The making of
Gayeb also makes for a great story. Working with just two
assistants and an antiquated 16mm camera, Basu designed his own
animation stand. The series was completed on a budget that could
not even be classified as "shoe-string" - "no budget"
would frankly be more accurate.
Based on short stories published in Target, Gayeb
is the story of a friendly little spook, who can appear and disappear
at will, hence his name, which means "vanish" in Hindi.
This spook is always nice to children and helps them out, but for
the naughty he is there to teach a lesson. Each action-packed adventure
story of 12 1/2 minutes has very little dialogue written by Bijoya
Ghosh and others, and music by Shyam and Sudip Banerjee. Work started
for the serial when Basu found two interested friends Bizeth and
Ashok Talwar. When the trio joined to create this series, Raikhik
Films, Basu's production company, was born. Although made under
difficult conditions, this serial earned national and international
acclaim immediately after it was telecast. Now Basu's name is there
to be found as India's first animation serial director in the Limca
Book of Records and TV's own list of achievements book. The show's
bright, beautiful colour and movement attracted the attention of
even international companies. Finally, Basu was commissioned to
direct a 12 minute short Rakhi And Mausi, encouraging the
education of an older child who is always deprived of social and
legal opportunities. The film was produced by the Sakura Motion
Picture Company, and the Japanese Organisation for International
Cooperation and Family Planning. There has been no stopping Basu
since.
