Pinned on a wall is a white sheet of paper, penciled rectangle boxes all over it. Trapped inside the boxes are little fish swimming through splashes of water, an octopus smiling through the waves, a tilting piece of water melon, and more. Running his hands through the sketches is their creator, marking the boxes 1, 2, 3 — ordering the pictures that will become the titles of a movie that would send out a message: ‘Every child is special’. Dhimant Vyas’ hands then move to little pieces of coloured clay he moulds into tiny elephants and sea creatures, characters of the title animation song for Taare Zameen Par.
That happened seven years ago — the world of animation in a big Bollywood movie for all to see — created by an Indian artist. “After of content from the West, it is natural that the evolution into a healthier diet will take time,” says Prosenjit Ganguly, independent animation film designer. “But I think the small steps are taking us there. We have started making ‘our films’ and are discussing the possibility of discovering our own identity in this magical zone. There is a certain feeling of togetherness building up in this small world of ours. We are thinking alike.”
But they didn’t all come into it the same way. Nina Sabnani was once a reluctant animator. She was ‘pushed into it’ by one of her teachers. She began exploring indigenous styles. She worked with Madhubani artists to create an anti-dowry film using their art titled Shubh Vivah. “I made a film based on the story and illustrations of my teacher K.G. Subrahmanyan called The Summer Story.”
Nina made her way into the NID, teaching animation there for 21 years. “I began defining my interest in a particular kind of animation after I made Mukand and Riaz, a film based on childhood memories of my late father. The film, which was about migration, led me to consider an ethnographic approach to making films. When I made Tanko Bole Chhe and Baat Wahi Hai, I explored animation as a way of doing ethnography. And this is where I am today.”
Arun Sripadam, on the other hand, was interested in animation as a medium early on in life. “I loved the medium and its possibilities to express a story or even a thought. Soon after my graduation in advertising, I did a preliminary course in animation and started working with animation studios,” he says. After working for seven years, he decided to start on his own, and co-founded C.MENT Studios in Bengaluru. The challenges he faced on the way were many. “There is a general notion that animation is computer generated and hence fast and cost-effective to create. We do appreciate and take references of films (short/long format) created by studios abroad, but fail to understand and accept the effort, technology, investments that go into these movies — which is why these films reach higher standards in quality and are remembered forever. Even financially, these movies are successful due to the high quality standards in story and visual level, and thus help the entire industry.”
“Creating a truly remarkable animation film requires time, patience, a strong team with artistic, technical and managerial skills and good infrastructure. Once all parties involved in animation filmmaking understand this, we will have a better approach towards creating animation films,” says Arun.
Gayatri Rao ‘gleefully discovered animation’ while doing her Masters in design at IDC, IIT Bombay. Her first film Calls of Animals is a collection of various animation styles made with no real animation equipment but lots of imagination. She is the only Indian sponsored by Unicef to do an internship at Walt Disney Studios in 1994. Back in India, she worked on award-winning commercials before co-founding Animagic with Chetan Sharma, who was a 15-year-old prodigy at the time Gayatri went to Disney.
He entered animation immediately after school with no formal art training and within three years worked his way up from being a vacation hanger-on to a full time animator. Together, Gayatri and Chetan have created award-winning works like Raju & I, Chakachak and Tripura.
These animators have dug into their own culture for stories, ideas, memories. “Ideas come from everywhere and the best ones come from where you least expect them to. They come both as memories and imagination and mostly take off from experiences,” says Prosenjit Ganguly.
“We work to create impossible worlds and spin stories within them and with them. But somewhere our real lives get embedded in them as well.” A lot of it comes from spending time with his seven-year-old son Ishaan. “He is a wonderful critique of my work.”
For Kishore Mohan, the ideas began coming when he picked up animation after a stint in sequential art, having made comics and graphic novels, after he quit his IT job 10 years ago. Like Arun, he found it a challenge convincing clients within the country to make quality the prime focus. “In India, we’re always looking to cut costs, often at the expense of compromising on quality. As artists, we would never want to do a project that we cannot flaunt with pride. But as a company, sustenance is important. Finding the balance has always been tricky,” he says. His team found a balance in a recently released Malayalam flick Gangster. The movie opens with a 10-minute animation sequence in film-noir style that narrates the story of Mammootty’s character Ali Akbar’s past, covering 35 years.
Many of the animation filmmakers are trying things different. Prosenjit says, “We have brilliant animation filmmakers like Vaibhav Kumaresh, Gitanjali Rao, Shilpa Ranade, Chetan Sharma, Vikram Veturi, Dhimant Vyas who are doing things that were never done before. They are creating visuals, concepts and content deeply rooted to where we belong. Studios like Toonz Entertainment are enthusiastically working on promoting local content, roping in the best of talents. This is that ‘big step’ that can build ‘a connect’ with our audiences.”
