This one can make it to the Ripley’s ‘Believe it or not’.
23 artists working tediously in a studio in Valasarawakkam, a distant suburb of Chennai, all of them working on developing Tamil IP in animation.
Headed by S. Venky Baboo and Sridevi Rao (Mayabimbham Media is putting all its animated eggs in the Tamil basket.
To his credit, Venky Baboo has already created Pooli Raja, a 20 minute 3D short film in Tamil. Amongst the products that Mayabimbham has begun work on include Arjun, Iyers The Great and Ponniyin Selvan.
Of all the 3 products, Arjun it seems will be the first one to be completed.
The show is flash animation – 13 episodes – 26 mins each and is a story about a small boy and his adventures with an alien friend. 7 episodes of Arjun shall be ready by March end and the remaining 6 shall be complete by end of June. The studio is engaged in advanced talks with a regional network and expects the deal for Arjun to close by early April.
While Arjun is a flash series, Iyers the Great the 90 minute 3D animation Tamil feature, currently into pre production is a highly ambitious attempt by Maybimbham. Speaking to Animation ‘xpress, Venky commented, “I personally feel that the animation films should be made in a medium that can be understood by all, in a canvas that can reach out to the suburbs and rural areas as much as it can cater to the big cities. Who says it takes years, millions of dollars and hundreds of employees to make an animation film?”
Sridevi Rao added, “Whether we get investors or not, we shall see to it that Iyers the Great shall see the light of the day. The only difference is that if we have investors we will be able to come out with our product a bit earlier”
Planned in 2D and currently into pre production, is the third product, Ponniyin Selvan,- which is the acclaimed author Kalki’s Magnum Opus. The historical novel takes the readers for a walk down memory lane to the days of the imperial Cholas. A prosperous period in Tamizh History and Heritage and is very close to Venky’s heart. Venky is confident that he will be able to convince some investors for this.
“There might be few Tamilians who have not read the novel at least once. It is part of our culture and I am sure of getting a lot of viewers for such a series” he comments.
Though Mayabimbham’s plans are inspiring and full of initiative, how does the 23 member strong studio plan to deliver? to this query Venky quips, “We don’t have deep pockets to sustain years of production. Nor do we have a large team that works on each project. What we have is an enthusiastic team of fresh, young minds who are passionate about their work. And when passion and talent blend, the outcome is not just dazzling, but also created in an unbelievably short timeframe”