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More than fifty years ago when
I entered Films Division’s Cartoon Film Unit as an aspiring
trainee, I walked into a perfect state-of-the art set up. It
had everything that a modern (for those days) studio needed
to be equipped with – large animator’s tables with light boxes
and rotating discs, cellulose acetate sheets and specially blended
cartoon colours (the same brands as used in Disney Studio),
executive bond papers neatly cut and punched, and to crown it
all, a sleek Acme rostrum camera.
We trainees had another unique
luxury – a senior Disney Animator, Claire Weeks. Claire stayed
with the unit for more than a year and brought with him all
the accumulated wisdom of Disney artists, the twelve golden
principles of classical animation the studio had evolved.
Donkey’s years:
In the 1950’s, film technicians
in India, were extremely reluctant to share their trade secrets
with their peers or even with their own assistants. It is
to Films Division’s credits that it opened the doors to animation
training, making the best of facilities available to the trainees.
It is very sad though that today the Cartoon Film Unit (CFU)
has shrunk to just another dusty government department where
a bunch of totally unmotivated employees look forward to their
retirement benefits.
Moreover, the demands of the
advertising world took some getting used to. The sales message
was to be conveyed convincingly with clarity, wit and a lot
of visual razzle-dazzle all in 30 seconds or less. What made
this entire process not only tolerable but positively enjoyable
was the interaction one had with the highly creative and sometimes
crazy bunch of guys: Prahlad Kakkar, Shyam Benegal, Zafar
Hai, Suraj Rai, Kailash Surendranath, Nikhil Rawlley, Sylvie
and Gerson da Cunha, Frank Simoes, Roger Periera, Bharat Dabholkar,
Piyush Pandey, et al.
Fimli fundas:
The other area of application
of animation – the mainstream feature film – was something
else again. The producer of the feature usually came to you
just a week before the release of the movie, to ask for a
two minute animated title sequence. And usually fell off the
chair when told it would take a couple of months to animate.
Producers and directors did not bother to familiarize themselves
with the process of animation and usually depended on the
advice provided by their production assistants who were equally
clueless. It was therefore always a delight to meet and work
with someone like Sai Paranjpye (Katha, Chasme Baddoor),
BR Chopra (Pati, Patni aur Woh) and Raj Kappor (Biwi
O Biwi) who understood that animation was a slow and labour-intensive
process.
I still remember the day Satyajit
Ray’s enormous frame filled my studio door as he walked in
to discuss a piece of animation he needed for his Shatranj
Ke Khiladi. He knew exactly what he wanted. It is heartening
to note that today film makers like Adi Chopra, Karan Johar
and Aamir Khan are bringing their awareness of the animation
medium to enhance their body of work. For far too long our
industry stalwarts had turned their backs on this strange
‘Cartoon’ business.
In the 1990’s Japanese producer
Yugo Sako came to India in search of a collaborator for turning
the Indian epic into an animation feature and we made the
fully animated 2D Ramayana – the Legend of Prince Ram
in 1992, which I co-directed. However, it was entirely funded
by Japan and therefore not considered a milestone in Indian
animation.
Meena and UTV Toons:
Unicef contacted me to design
and animate a series on the South Asian girl-child Meena.
The success of this series - again traditional 2D cell animation
- sparked off a similar series in South Africa, called Sara.
Later in 1997, when I joined hands with Ronnie Screwvala to
set up UTV Toons as an animation service organisation, Animo
became the software of choice. UTV Toons had its own training
programme for animation artist and today many of the young
men and women who started their career there have matured
into industry leaders.
New and old:
When I compare the animation
scene back in the 1950’s to what it is today, the most significant
change I see is in the attitude of those who have taken animation
as a profession. In the old days we spoke of animation as
an art form. Now it seems to be swamped over by technology
and the professionals seem to think of themselves as technicians
operating different software. Digital tools have no doubt
taken the drudgery off what used to be the arduous process
of tradition 2D animation but they can’t create the essentials
– good designs, narrative structures, quality of performances.
These have to come from within the artist’s own imagination
and creative faculties.
Digital technology and animation
software have brought about a phenomenal growth in animation
as an industry – creating job opportunities for thousands,
sometimes in sweatshops. Economic viability begins to take
precedence over artistic excellence.
On the other hand, the all-pervading
internet, with its hundreds of blogs, has made it possible
for animators around the world to share their knowledge, their
experiences their views, their work with each other in a free
and open exchange that is a true celebration of the art.
The writer is Chairman and
Chief Creative Head at Graphiti Multimedia and known as Father
of Indian Animation.
connect@animationxpress.com
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