India's Expanding Animation Horizons
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His latest film, One Day In MD's Office,
is reminiscent of Mrinal Sen's Bhuban Shome, and is the story
of a boss who imagines his office is a playground when a balloon
accidentally floats in through a window. When the balloon suddenly
bursts, so do his dreams, as he is back to the mundane realities
of the office and his workload. The film's inherent social satire
somehow reminds us of Chaplin's famous sequence of Hitler's ball
game with the globe in Modern Times. The director probably
never intended to involve these classic comparisons, but a work
of art if it is of the best quality will always bring its own associations
to the collective conscious. This film was widely acclaimed and
screened as part of the competition at MIFF '98, as part of the
Indian animation showcase at Hiroshima '98, and also as the Indian
entrant at the Melmon Film Festival in France. Basu has now created
innumerable ad spots, works for other filmmakers on their films'
animated sequences and so on. His next film, The Cage, has
already been made into a wonderful 2 1/2 minute pilot which he presented
at Hiroshima. We will now have to wait with baited breath for the
completed film! Already marked as one of the best illustrators in
the country by art historians, Indian illustration has also been
immensely enriched by his work. Furthermore, throughout all of his
trials, he has been greatly inspired by another wonderful illustrator
who is also well known outside of Delhi -- Kalyani Basu, Basu's
artistic wife. Basu admitted to me, that without her constant and
patient support, he feels he would never have achieved what he has.
An important result of Gayeb's success, was that it
made Doordarshan realise the importance of telecasting animation
serials. Hence later Bhimsain's serial Vartaman and Lokgatha
were telecast, and foreign animation series were televised dubbed
into local languages. In this context, we must acknowledge the role
of Doordarshan, which commissioned the series and many other animated
films, thereby playing a huge role in the propagation of animation
in India. Animation serials, foreign animation serials dubbed into
Hindi, short animated feelers, and animated fiction is all being
telecast in dedicated afternoon children's slots and in a regular
Sunday morning slot. So despite the popularity of Cartoon Network,
Doordarshan is an able competitor as it is a television channel
which can be viewed by poor and rich alike, i.e. anyone who possesses
a television set. Even Ram Mohan, frequently called the father of
Indian animation, hails Doordarshan's role. "It is very important
that our kids are getting a taste of such excellent foreign animation
like Jungle Book," he explains. Now Mohan's famous UNICEF
series on the girl child, Meena, is being telecast. We welcome
these good efforts by Doordarshan.
India's First Animation Feature
India is now making its own animated features at Silverline Industries,
which is headed by V.G. Samant, a veteran animator who retired as
chief animator from the government's Films Division to join a software
export company Seepz, and then to head the animation department
at Silvertoon. In the making is Hanuman, which will be released
in London by Karma Productions. The film is being made in both Hindi
and English and is tentatively set to be released in October. ZICA
graduates are working on the film. With the paper work complete,
production is going full steam ahead using TICTAC TOON for the sound
mixing, colouring and compositing. In-betweening is being done by
hand to maintain the elegance of motion. Hanuman is important
because the work is being done entirely in India by Indian talent.
Sayoko Kinoshita's Visit
The month of March, 1998 was an important one for Indian animation,
because Ms. Sayoko Kinoshita, Festival Director of Hiroshima '98,
decided to visit India to select films for her "India Special"
programme. This decision was a critical one for us because for the
first time all animators, young and old, were getting a chance to
show our work to the huge gathering at a festival as important as
Hiroshima. India made her mark in the live-action arena years ago
but in the world of animation we needed this opportunity. The time
of the visit was also significant, as the all-important Mumbai International
Festival was being held then, showcasing the best in Indian animation.
On her visit, Sayoko went to all of the major animation producing
cities --Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta and Hyderabad -- and selected 50
films to be screened in two consecutive sessions on the opening
days of Hiroshima '98. Being one of the most important animation
festivals, it was a great opportunity for the three younger animators
who attended -- Suddhasattwa Basu, Prakash Moorthy and myself. Ram
Mohan also graced the occasion with his presence. For us it was
a fantastic situation -- dazzling, exciting and inspiring. For the
first time we realised, Indian animation does not have a face on
the world map, and we have now firmly vowed to work toward that
goal. Another important offshoot of attending this festival was
the decision to form ASIFA India. Moreover, now I am dedicated to
organizing the first animation festival in Calcutta in the coming
Millenium. We are all deeply grateful to Sayoko Kinoshita for giving
us this all-important exposure to the animation world.
Animating Generations
Just as in music and other performing arts, we are seeing an interesting
trend emerging in Indian animation, which is an integral part of
Indian culture. Following the teacher-disciple tradition is known
as the "Guru-shisya" parampara, and the tradition of animation
is also being handed down from father to son in more than one case.
Two of the most important examples of this is R.L. Mistry, Dipu
Ramambhai Mistry and Bhimsain-Kireet Khurana. Both R.L. and Bhimsain
belong to the oldest generation of animators now working in India.
R.L. Mistry is an animator and professor at NID, which was the only
place in India to gain animation training for a long time. Bhimsain
was among the first generation of animators, along with Ram Mohan
and others, trained by Clare Weeks at the Films Division in Mumbai.
Both of them have achieved a very high national and international
status as animators and they have handed over their mantles to their
sons. This is a very good sign for Indian animation as a whole.
