Rajah Of Toondom

A baby Hanuman climbs up the thread of a kite soaring high in the skies to peep into Indralok or heaven and sees a glorious world up there. That scene, from one of India's first 2D animated feature films, Hanuman—being produced by Silverline Industries' Silvertoon studio—might ordinarily have been called just another ascent of animated imagination. Except that it is a metaphor, one that perfectly symbolises the state of Indian animation.

The little figures are becoming big business, and Indian animation is on the threshold of acquiring the status of an industry. Look at the figures: less than two years ago there were fewer than six studios with about 25 employees each, today there are twice as many with each having a minimum of 75-odd employees. The real big fish is the over-Rs 400 crore Pentamedia Graphics, ranked third in the world. Followed at some distance by others like Silvertoon, Crest Communications and rmusl

(a utv enterprise), all with revenues under Rs 20 crore. Less than a year old, but growing fast are companies like Toonz Animation in Thiruvananthapuram and Colour Chips in Hyderabad.

The art of animation, which offers a much wider canvas for imagination and spectacle than traditional workaday techniques, is finally being matched by equally grand trade statistics. Naturally, most productions find both muse and material in the world of fantasy and mythology. The bigger players have launched quite ambitious home film projects. Pentamedia's Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists has already been screened globally including on the Fox Network, US. Its Pandavas: The Five Warriors, replete with complicated war scenes, is also ready for the theatres. Other films include Ali Baba and Forty Thieves and The Story of Buddha. Silvertoon's 135-minute-long Hanuman, which should be ready in a couple of months, is one of the most complex animation films made in India, what with its sophisticated mise en scene and army of characters. Crest, which flagged off India's animation industry 15 years ago with the Kawasaki Bajaj "Leopard" ad film, is also making a full-length 3D feature film on the lines of Toy Story and A Bug's Life. Even young Toonz is developing an Indian folklore-based film.

Till now the bread and butter had been coming from the global business, essentially from American and European studios, along with a trickle from the local industry. Pentamedia obviously does the largest chunk of work for the US studios. But Silvertoon too has just completed 13 episodes of the Adventures from The Book of Virtues, which has been telecast on pbs channel in the US. It is negotiating 26 episodes for the next year. Toonz has done 20 commercials for The Cartoon Network and is embarking on serialised projects for a Canadian and an Italian company. Colour Chips supplies content for over 30 newspapers for their cartoon strips. It has also designed a magazine for children and supplements for dailies like The Hindu.

Considering that India supports the largest live action film industry in the world, its animation industry was virtually non-existent. But of late, there's been some work like the special effects for Ajay Devgan's Raju Chacha by Pentamedia and Crest. Crest has also done 25 minutes of work for M.S. Raju's Devi, probably the largest animation job in the mainstream industry. It's also working on Sanjay Bhansali's Devdas and TV serials like Ganesha. Animation, of old, has been limited to logos and titles of ad and TV films. But the real thing—2D animation for episodic TV (like cartoon networks show you) or 2D and 3D feature films—is yet to take off. But then, perhaps that's due to the Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh a minute rate.

The $50 million Indian animation industry has tremendous potential in the $16 billion global market. But it isn't just India, other Asian countries are a major presence too. Leading studios in the US and Europe have been giving out work to the developing countries for long. The US stopped production work almost 20 years ago when it identified good quality and cheaper services in Japan. Which, in turn, sublet work to Korean units until the Americans caught on and realised South Korea and the Philippines were perfect for the job. In 1989, Walt Disney moved the bulk of its production work to the Philippines, in a way heralding the start of a new era. Today, Manila alone has nearly 20 studios and about 15,000 animators.

One of the advantages India has is that it's half-a-day ahead of the West in working time and hence, in effect, the work is processed and returned by the next workday. It also has a huge English-speaking talent pool. Says Bill Denis, an American animator who set up studios in India before setting up his own Toonz Animation, "Indian artists understand Western humour and have an affinity for entertainment which makes them just right for the job." Add to this favourable labour costs—an animator in India with four years' experience earns about Rs 30,000 a month while a Filipino artist makes about Rs 45,000 a week—and India can be an attractive production market. Perhaps realising these plus points, big TV channels like Walt Disney and Nickelodeon have opened offices in India.

India has other advantages over the Philippines too. For instance, just a couple of studios there can do digital or 3D work—which US TV relies heavily on—while many more here can. Also, as V.G. Samant, Silvertoon's chief, points out, just like the Filipinos, Vietnamese and Koreans have identified in-between work and made it into an industry where freelancers can quickly deliver work and be paid by the sketch, India too can identify niches. However, there is a danger of India becoming a sweat shop, feels Nilesh Sardesai of Crest. He feels that low labour costs should not be the only attraction as it can undermine the talent here.



India, however, has to cross two great hurdles: a) paucity of trained professionals; and b) delivering quality goods on time, everytime. Usually, art graduates come with no prior knowledge of animation and require intense training. Says Samant, "We need the government's support in introducing animation as a discipline in art schools." Till now all studios have had to train their own personnel even though over the past two years, two training schools have been opened by Heart Animation in Hyderabad and Zee Telefilms. Sometimes, the quality and speed of delivery of the studios is also poor. "Our animators don't have sufficient exposure to the global industry," explains Sardesai. Says Ashish Kulkarni of Colour Chips, "Filipino artists can complete four half-hour episodes in a month while a similar Indian team would complete just one." Samant says that a studio is a factory and to be competitive globally, it should be able to deliver at least one 23-minute episode per fortnight.

The studios understand that they can make a dent with

original, international-class animation. Typically, animation properties are money spinners not in the film form but due to the merchandising they trigger off. With that in mind, local studios have turned to India's rich mythology. And if they are successful, Hanuman could well become India's first international superhero.

But to get there is still the tough part. For, Indian studios know that while the Americans are ready to give you a fair try, breaking into their closed circuit is quite difficult. "You need to generate tremendous trust to break the ice as the industry is controlled by Americans," says Sardesai. Some moves have been made though. Pentamedia has bought a controlling stake in Film Roman, a leading producer of prime-time television animation programming in the US. Crest broke the jinx by acquiring an American company, Rich Animation, a year back. Today, Crest has received appreciation for post-production work—which the Americans don't hand out in a hurry.

Considering that it is on the threshold of a breakthrough, the animation industry now has to acquire that critical momentum to propel itself into orbit. Kulkarni feels that Indian studios should join hands with each another or with established Asian studios. To that effect, Pentamedia has already acquired Animasia in Singapore and the Philippines. Already, pilots are being sent to woo large business and local studios are now making films for international competitions. Says Denis, "All it takes is that two or three Indian studios consistently produce top quality animation at competitive prices and India will become a player." Here's to that hope!