There was a time centuries ago, when India's economy was driven by art. There is a good chance yet again. It just needs a little bit of vision, conviction and massive investment in quality animation training. The profits to be reaped are immense.

Animation is one field which can provide thousands of jobs, provided a few billion be invested in quality training on a massive scale.

The Government, the universities, the institutes (which want to impart some real education) and the industry all need to get together. They need to fly in probably a few thousand qualified animation trainers from abroad, and then we can actually realise the potential billions of dollars.

Presently the industry is just 100 odd small studios and some 10-12 large ones, focusing their energies on poaching, bad mouthing, and glorifying their little achievements as high as the Himalayas. And barring a few studios that are doing great, all talk about an animation boom is just that, talk.

If there has to be any real growth of the Indian animation industry it has to be fuelled by training. Training of thousands of artists by experienced international animators. It is sad to see why no one has realised it yet and even more sad is the fact that people talk about these issues at conferences and then forget about them. Training of a 20 odd or a 50 odd people is not going to get us there. It is a make or break situation.

Coming up with degrees and diplomas without meritable education, is not the solution too.
There are numerous dubious institutes that offer nothing but promise and certificates. These can be done without. There are only a few countries whose governments would allow such deception and mockery to exist in the name of vocational training. One can probably count on fingers, the number of institutes that offer quality training in animation in India.

Institutes that are in it just to squeeze the pockets of the wannabe animators need to realise that they have the right to charge the money, but they need to provide that value in training.

India has in its few 100 studios a total of around (maximum)10,000 artists, this figure includes the freelancers and floating talent. Of these nearly 90% are in need of training themselves. The pressure of deliveries is so high that studios make do with whatever artists they have and to thier credit, they do pull off some victories. But how long will it take for this bubble to burst... not much.

International studios that are looking at India as an outsourcing destination can look at themselves investing in training Indian artists. The artists can then provide them the production manpower that the studios are looking for. It can be a win win situation.

Do we expect the Pixars and the Dreamworks of the world to come to us and offer us work on a platter? When we say we are 1/4th the cost compared to US studios do we forget that the comparison has to involve quality and delivery too. The hard fact is that unless investors with deep pockets (There are quite a few around) get serious about quality training and for a few years just focus on training, the industry will cease to exist.

For those that argue about the high costs of getting in international training, the point is that Indian studios need not offer services at 1/4th of the US costs, we could charge at 3/4th of US costs and still business worth Billions of Dollars would come in, provided we deliver quality and deliver on time.

The Billion Dollar game is on, we are currently onlookers with stars in our eyes, and only time will tell whether we are doers or day dreamers.....

Do you have a counterview, do you want to comment on this piece
mail your comments to anex@indiantelevision.com

Read previous editorials

Indian Animation - The Road Ahead
(22 January 2005)

The Mystery
(23 August 2004)

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