ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.02 - MAY 2000

India's Expanding Horizons
(continued from page 3)

Today a lot of these ads are using computer-aided animation to save on time. Studios in Mumbai like Crest Communications, CMM, Climb Films, 2NZ and others are all creating a massive amount of such ad spots. Although all of these studios and individuals were approached to get a clear picture of commercial animation, strangely enough, only Suddhasttwa Basu of Raikhik Films and Kireet Khurana of 2NZ responded. So we must restrict a more detailed analysis to these two filmmakers only.

Trade by Kireet Khurana. Courtesy of Jayanti Sen. © Kireet Khurana.
Suddhasattwa Basu’s Rakee and Mausee. Courtesy of Jayanti Sen. © Suddhasattwa Basu.

When we study the works of these two filmmakers, we see that they are working in two different styles altogether. Kireet follows a simple narrative pattern in his work. For instance, an ad for a detergent shows a lot of hanging shirts coming to life and talking to one another about their brightness. On the other hand, in Basu's work one feels the presence of a painter. Although he has to work according to the needs of the client, the artist within him shows through in the jazzy brilliance of the colour scheme, the elegance of the colour-movement and the total quality of the film. Both Kireet and Basu are ad-filmmakers who can churn out films of the highest international standard. Kireet opens his demo-show reel with an extremely interesting piece of animation where we see papers flying out from a light table to become live drawings. Both Basu and Kireet's ad-spots bring out one home-truth -- given the required money and opportunity, India has all the talent necessary to create animation for the international market. A special trait of Basu is his use of character animation. He is a specialist in creating interesting animation characters that he uses in his ads. On the other hand, Kireet is as sleek as Basu but for him he is most comfortable utilizing the computer, with which he creates extremely interesting ads using product animation or 3-D images.

We are seeing more and more animation ads and they work very well on the audience. But strangely, it is these same sponsors who do not give us the minimum necessary budget for creating animation based on fiction or other subjects. Until and unless this basic dialectics of the system are sorted out, Indian animation's future will remain a bit uncertain. Nevertheless, the future of commercials looks bright. Let’s wish it continued success.

Future Of Animation In India
Today, as awareness of animation seems to be growing, the picture of Indian animation definitely looks promising. With so many young animators at work, and new studios like Toonz Animation India opening up, we can hope that Indian animation will at last be very much a part of the world animation scene. There are many bright spots like Sinbad, Hanuman and the healthy commercial market, but we need sponsors to realize that animation as an industry demands no less attention than sports or other forms of entertainment. Established animators should try and activate the Indian government to train junior animators particularly in the Eastern Region and far-off Northeast. A lack of a proper training faculty is giving rise to numerous studios boasting animators who do not have proper training. They claim graphic design is not required in their software packages. This is a disturbing trend and it is high time that India’s government sets up animation training centres where a proper and complete animation curriculum is taught using government funding. These centres could even cater to government needs like creating animation for training groups like the army or navy, or even science museums, where instructional films could be used. Our senior animators who have international standing must work harder to create animation awareness throughout India and seek greater government help. Lack of proper equipment is another problem that they must think about. The opening of a new studio like Toonz Animation India is good news, but it remains to be seen how much this company can contribute to the total animation scene in India. Moreover, with foreign funding helping these big studios, Indian animation has a lot to expect from them.

Sinbad could create a new kingdom for Indian animation in U.S. theatres. © Pentafour.

According to Abhijit Dasgupta, the producer of Calcutta TV's first animation series, "For animation's own market, the sky is the limit." This is a true statement for all of us, the Indian animators, whose aspirations are to reach to the sky and leave our own imprints for the future. As we are entering a new century, Indian animation is spreading its wings to fly and explore new ways of expression and ideas, to give a different shape to Indian cinema as a whole.

Get the entire picture, read parts <I> and <II> of "India's Expanding Horizons" by Jayanti Sen in Animation World Magazine.

Jayanti Sen has been working as a freelance journalist for various English and Bengali journals in India and abroad for the last seventeen years writing on subjects such as cinema, theatre, art, music, science, puppetry, advertising and animation. She is also an animation filmmaker who has had several of her films screened in International film festivals.
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Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.

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