From L to R: Rahul Bakshi, Supriya Thakore and Bhavik Thakore

Dashavatar, the latest 2D animation mytho-flick is a venture of Anushvi Productions and Phoebus Media. Based on the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu, right from Matsya avatar to Kalki, the magnum opus promises quality animation, art work and mellifluous music. AnimationXpress.com’s Money Sharma and Mrigank Dhaniwala had a freewheeling chat with the Director Bhavik Thakore, Associate Director Supriya Thakore and Co-Producer Rahul Bakshi.

Excerpts…

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Why did you choose Dashavatar as the topic for the movie?
Bhavik Thakore: Dashavatar is a really challenging topic for a filmmaker. It has everything that a director would want: it has the grandeur, an epical scale, numerous characters and the vastness. At the same time, it deals with a lot of philosophical questions. Moreover, I noticed that historically, the character of Lord Vishnu has been a little subdued as compared to his avatars of Ram and Krishna. I imagined that Vishnu, whose avatars Ram and Krishna are, has to be much stronger in terms of character. The popular frame of Lord Vishnu, where he is calmly lying on the Sheshnag while nurturing the universe, has a lot of potential.

Tell us more about the two children in Dashavatar?
Bhavik Thakore: The children are the link between the avatars, the movie is almost like through their eyes. Aarti is the believer, whereas Ajay is more arrogant of the two. In course of the movie, he accepts the presence of God and faith.

They are from the modern era, who have been transported into time. It’s almost like a child of today witnessing what has happened earlier. That’s the connection with the audience.

Does the story of Kalki form a major part of the movie?
Bhavik Thakore: No. The Kalki avatar has still not arrived. We have used the children's imagination to give a suggestion as to what the Kalki avatar could be like. Kalki has been kept outside the spotlight vis-à-vis the other avatars.

What is the premise of the story?
Bhavik Thakore: In each era when evil dominates, Lord Vishnu takes up an avatar to annihilate evil. That is the premise of Dashavatar.

What kind of animation and stylization has been used?
Supriya Thakore: The characters have been treated realistically. Lord Vishnu has to be treated in a subdued manner as there is sanctity attached to the character and the subject. Many-a-time, people use 3D for the sake of using 3D. We have tried our best to match the look in 2D.

Rahul Bakshi: It’s not a particular style that we have tried to follow. Our treatment depends on the subject we are handling and what looks good. We have utilized software to solve our problems and to achieve a desired visual look.

Creative team of Dashavatar

Why did you choose 2D?
Bhavik Thakore: We thought that 2D would lend itself very well to this subject. The kind of space and the grandeur that I wanted was achieved through 2D. Besides, by using 2D we could do things within time constraints.

Supriya Thakore: We are honest about it. If we are good with 2D we would stick to 2D.

Rahul Bakshi: If we are sure about what our guys can do, we would not do 3D just because it is in vogue. Basically, it is the story-telling which plays a major role, rather than the medium. That’s what we believe in, at Phoebus. We have nothing against 3D. In fact, our next movie will have a section in 3D. India’s still at a very nascent stage, in terms of distribution of animation content for films. So far, only Hanuman has made a dent on the box office. We are being very realistic. Right now it is time for us to make movies within a certain budget, so that the distribution chain can make money. Factoring in all this, we have stuck on to a medium which is not only telling our story effectively, but is also doing it in a certain amount of cost. We, with Dashavatar, want to establish that Hanuman was no flash in the pan.

What is the target audience for Dashavatar?
Bhavik Thakore: Dashavatar is for the whole family. There is something for everyone.

So what other revenue models are you exploring?
Rahul Bakshi: Satellite rights, internet rights, home video rights... the usual. Talks are in progress. But being a mythological, there are a lot of restrictions. Merchandising has to be done in the right sense. The merchandise should connect with our product.

Do you have any licensing plans?
Rahul Bakshi: We have been approached to do a graphic novel. Right now, we are concentrating on the content at hand. There is a lot that can be done. Gaming too is a great idea, but we won’t venture into that just because we want partners. The game, ideally, should work over a period of time. That is the kind of brand we want to carry forward.

After all it’s Phoebus which has done everything. All our publicity material, design material, posters, promos have been done in-house. We tried people in Mumbai, but since there was no hero they could photograph, they couldn’t do it. We realize their limitations. As a studio, we had to make creatives that would attract people.

Tell our readers more about the cast and technical credits.
Bhavik Thakore: The film has been mixed at Yashraj Films Studio by Anuj Mathur and the sound design is by Biswadeep Chatterjee. We were very clear from the beginning that the voice-artists had to be professional actors. We were fortunate to have Sachin Khedkar, Tom Alter, Ashish Vidyarthi and Shreyas Talpade. It was very important as the characters were carved on the basis of their expressions and voice modulations. Based on that, the animation was done. Same goes for the singers. Kunal Ganjawalla (for Mohini) and the rest brought in their valuable experience. We are happy with the songs.

Supriya Thakore: Sachin Khedkar is good at Sanskrit, so he could give immaculate recitations of shlokas. Both Sachin and Shreyas have a lot of dedication. They did a good job, considering the fact that they had no references, except from the character images that we gave them. They have literally created the characters.

What is the USP of the film?
Rahul Bakshi: The drawing factor is that it is a mythological. As Indians, we all connect to the story. Moreover, there is always the question on why make a mythological instead of taking up an original concept. The fact is that creating and popularizing a brand takes time and money. I am not saying that God is a brand. But the story and characters of Dashavatar are already known to our audience.

Supriya Thakore: Dashavatar is a concept for the masses. In Hollywood they have their fables and Robin Hoods. This is the heritage we have; why not give it back to the children?

Bhavik Thakore: The film has been made on a lavish scale, its grand. There are six songs- from the children’s song to the item number to a bhajan. There is a lot of energy in the film. That is a big USP. The presence of 10 avatars makes it very dramatic. We have made sure that you would see on screen that kind of grandness, when you go to a cinema theatre.

How was the experience of directing an animation movie?
Bhavik Thakore: When I realized that a scale like this would be very difficult in live-action, I decided on animation. In animation, you can create everything from characters to the background. That gave me a high. I wasn’t originally trained for animation. I have treated this film like a live-action movie by bringing in elements of cinema and live-action. I had an excellent team at Phoebus. I could put my thoughts forward and they executed it very well. It’s been a real learning experience.

What were the challenges you faced during the making of the movie?
Bhavik Thakore: The task of getting together the songs was a challenging task. We have a raas, a children’s song and an item number which are very different flavors to portray. In fact, we had a kathak exponent for the raas, where we shot her dancing and based the animation on that.

Rahul Bakshi: Six songs for an animation movie was a challenge in itself.

What are your expectations from Dashavatar?
Rahul Bakshi: As a company and as an industry professionals we expect a positive response. Animation needs to now find its rightful place in mainstream cinema.

What projects are up next?
Rahul Bakshi: We are working on two more features, one being 2D plus 3D fantasy and another, a mythological. The fantasy is in early stages of production.

Who is releasing the music?
Rahul Bakshi: T-Series is releasing the music and we are glad to have their vast distribution network. In terms of distribution of prints we are targeting smaller towns also, as Dashavatar is a mass concept.

Films like Dashavatar augur well for the Animation Industry as they prove that there is a lot to be explored within the mythological genre, besides the fact that studios backed by confident financers can be the fountain head for several quality animation projects. If the enthusiastic team and the promos are anything to go by, Dashavatar is something to watch out for. The fact that the whole of Dashavatar was conceived, executed and promoted under a single roof, by a team of 50 animators, should be exciting to all!

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