The key ingredients in the making of the 1st Edition of the Delhi CG Animation Awards (DCGAA) were Films, Awards, Celebrities, Youth Icon, Youngsters and to top it all, the energy of “Dilli”! The Awards held at the Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi on 30th April, 2012 felicitated the best of the animation & VFX industry.
The awards were divided into open (Nation-wide) and closed (Delhi-Level) category. The eyes of the winners were lit up on winning the prestigious “Qutub Minar” shaped trophy of DCGAA.
The DCGAA received accolades for the show of student film making talent across Delhi. It commenced with the screening of all the entries received and was followed by the opening of the awards ceremony in the traditional way of lighting the lamp by the Chief Guest, Mr. Anuj Kacker, CEO- MAAC & APTECH. The excitement unleashed thereon, when students performed one act after another. The students of MAAC danced; play acted and anchored the show with commendable grandeur.
DCGAA had its share of spices lined up throughout the ceremony. After some time, the star cast of Jannat2, including Emraan Hashmi, Esha Gupta, Mahesh Bhatt and Kunal Deshmukh came to the stage and engaged in some interesting conversation with the audience. They promoted their upcoming flick with Emraan Hashmi churning out a couple of dialogues from the film, as well as Mahesh Bhatt told the students about how Emraan was pursuing a career in 3D animation and VFX before becoming an actor.
Even Dr.Kiran Bedi arrived with the team of her NGO, Navjyoti. She inspired and amazed everybody when she spoke about how 3D film-making could be used to resolve social issues such as corruption and poverty and the huge gap between the number of skilled media experts needed and the current availability. Not only did she spoke at length about it, she also sportingly hoisted the flag with the students during a dance performance on Vande Mataram specially staged for Dr.Bedi.
Post event, Mr. Deepak Choudhary, Director, DCGAA said that, “This event today is everything we had thought of. We are extremely proud of the entries we have received. This award is a huge part of our endeavor to obtain the “never been, never done” things out of the existing Animation and VFX industry”.