Indian Animation Feature Films

I had the privileged of being invited by my dearest friend Tony for the TASI session this Sunday for a panel discussion on Indian Animation Films.

I got a chance to share the stage with the likes of Rajiv Chilaka, Kireet Khurana, Nishit Takia, Vikram Veturi and Arnab Chaudhuri and these guys are brilliant they know what they are doing and how?
There was a lot for me to learn for the other speakers and the young audience who is comfortably pissed with the way animation is moving forward although not sure how many gained from the discussion.

Here are some of my thoughts that I shared and some I did'nt get a chance to.

 

I believe that all kinds of animation movies have an audience. There are art movie fans, there are mythology fans and there are Ice Age fans. The trick is to find that audience and take them to the theatres.

Don’t try to impress all the audience with your movie, because you wont be able to, Ive met animation experts who said after watching wall-e that its was terrible and the movie went on to win an Oscar.

All you need to do is to create a story that is more appealing and trend setting.

Engage and charm the audience.

Create great stories not just by using latest technology use of renderman and the latest maya and softimage plugins is good but will not impress the audience until the story is well told.

Story telling is a very complex process, many suggest that Mythology is a market for India for Indian content, new generation is sick of mythology. But both are wrong, there is a market for all. If you can entertain the audience then mythology will work, abstract will work, 2d will work.

Don’t need values and moral lessons from the mythologies, we get enough at home, we need an entertaining film which makes you smile.    

The thing about budget is that you can use any amount of money that is given to you.

Its like going shopping. You can make a good movie at a very low budget, you can also make a spectacular movie with a decent budget and you can make a big budget movie that flops.

An unknown secret amongst producers - Don't give out the exact budget, if it is made cheap call it more to sell higher, if it is made expensive call it less to avoid shame. 

One movie that had released two years ago did earn over 10cr inclusive of theatrical, international and satellite rights, the highest an Indian animation film ever recovered but maybe the producers don't want to spell it out.

A success of a movie is never determined by its budget, its determined by the impression it leaves on its audience.

Getting that connection with the audience, disconnect and you loose the relationship.

Film making is like having a new friend, nurture it, create a link, a connect, if you fail to impress then the plot is lost.

There is also a problem with the number of movies that are released. A not so successful box office number in a few movies has resulted in a nationwide reputation that India cannot produce good animation movies. The Indian film industry releases over 1000 movies a year, how many do you see or how many made it a box office success but that does not stop them from making more, and no one says that the film industry is a flop. It is the industry that provides the highest number of employment.

How Bollywood remakes Tamil movies, remaking good animation movies could be the next step, "Simi ki Khoj", or "Murghi ki Daud" and "Rakshas ki Paathshaala".

A lot more collaboration from big studios and producers is welcome.

The Indian Animation Film Industry is not growing, or maybe it is, with 4 movies releasing this year, Arjun, Chota Bheem, Krishna aur Kans and Delhi Safari its not in its bottle feed days, the fact is, it has stalled, slowed down, failed to create a change, failed to impress the audience and failed to excite adults to see an Indian animation movie. 

There are growing numbers from the animation education sector which is training out more than 500,000 artists every year but with very few job offering. This is very disturbing.

The industry needs extra attention, it needs extra support from the ones who can provide it.

Studios and Producers, think that there is no local animation business in India so lets do international service business, unfortunately - they are right, but it does not help develop a market for Indian content.

The artists should think of reducing their price tags or atleast deliver what they get paid for, before the studios realize it that they can get the same output at a lower price. Get more involved in the film making process to work on an Indian animation project instead of just working for DDU.

Filmmakers need to work harder on their stories and create captivating moments to entertain the audiences. Creating content that appeals to Indians first and then grow outside the country.

Animation Film making is, creating a character, a role model, a likeable person, a concept, a style for which there are many mediums, Comics, TV series, merchandise like clothes and toys, games and mobile apps, Film and franchises.

It has a future, and a bright one.