Year End Special: It was a treat going to Oscars

Even before I heard what Inside Out was about, I knew it would be a special movie. Pete Docter is a thinking director and his movies always have had a profound reason to exist. Real storytelling, for me, is all about finding kernels of truth of life and wrapping it up in entertainment — and this is what Pixar does best. As soon as I heard the idea and saw the first set of reels, I was in. It was a treat to go to the Oscars as part of the Inside Out team.

As the Character Supervisor, I had very little time to do hands-on work on individual characters, but I did get to work specifically on Fear and he was very pushed — in the vein of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. We normally don’t push our characters to that level just so that we can keep them believable. But in the Mind world, we had a lot more freedom to push the animation. I like him and Sadness the best.

The first time I walked into the Pixar campus, I was overwhelmed. The studio was much smaller and almost everyone there was a legend or a pioneer in the field. But I quickly got comfortable because everybody was so focused on pushing the art and technology and the creative energy and appetite at the studio has always been very motivating.  Now I often take my job for granted and have to remind myself that I’m very fortunate to be working at this great studio doing what I love to do. The creative appetite at the studio remains the same. And it’s fun to see how each new movie is a new adventure. There’s no complacency and I find that very refreshing!

I had landed a very cushy job at a multinational company straight out of college. I had already written my GRE, had a great score and had plans to pursue my graduate studies in the US. But life in Bangalore was good in the 90s. It was easy to forget one’s passion and continue on that trajectory at the time. But a new boss from Germany came in one day and spotted the caricatures I was casually doing at the time and expressed surprise I didn’t have a career in art. I was equally surprised she would think it was an option. It gave me the necessary kick in the pants to research and find out what my options were to meld my background in computers and passion in art. I was out of there and at Texas A&M by next Fall.

Before all that, I was in Kerala and it was a great place to grow up in the 80s. Nature and the sounds and colours and the drama are exactly what should be inspiring us to do more creative work. There are a lot of artists, writers and poets that I admire so much. But there’s no question that the life of a pure artist can be hard in India. The West has provided me more time and space to pursue my creative interests. I’ve come to recognise that and am thankful that I can travel to and be comfortable in both places.