That Mickey Mouse stuff...

Animation in India still has a long way to go, though the industry is on the move.

The use of animation in Indian entertainment is largely limited to advertisements, the occasional movie credits, and brief interludes in films like Hum Tum. But it shouldn’t be. “Did you know that a lot of the animation for Hollywood movies like The Golden Compass and Alvin and the Chipmunks was outsourced to India?” asks Kireet Khurana, director of India’s first live-action plus animation film, Toonpur ka Superr- hero. “So it’s not that we don’t have the talent. Since animation films haven’t done too well, no one wants to make one.”

He’s hoping to change that with Toonpur. And he sure has the genes to try. His father, Bhimsain, was the chief animator for the unforgettable Ek Chidiya film, which preached “ek anek ekta” through the melodious, ‘Hind desh ke nivasi’. Bhimsain then used to work for the Films Division, and he recalls, “We completed the work for NCERT in a few months, on a budget of Rs 85,000. Vasant Desai composed the music for Rs 15,000, and his young student sang the songs. She was Sadhana Sargam.”

Bhimsain went on to establish Climb Media, where his son Kireet is the creative head. Their animation division, 2nz, has been involved with much of the animation seen on Indian screens in past decades. Things have changed a great deal in the 31 years since the company began operations.

“When I began my career in the 1960s, people understood animation as the antics of Mickey Mouse. It was drudgery — we had to do everything by hand,” says Bhimsain, his silver beard testament to his years in the industry. “We would draw each layer separately, and shoot it painstakingly, frame by frame. We could assess the final result only after that, and if it didn’t work, we went back to the drawing board.”

Kireet, his son, laughs, “Today, you can draw directly on the screen with a Cintiq and see instantly how it looks. But still, it’s the story and its telling that’re important.” Bhimsain agrees; as the producer of sensitive mainstream films like Gharaonda, Dooriyan and Tum Laut Aao, he knows that it’s the story, rather than the medium, that still reigns supreme.

“Everything starts with a drawing,” says Kireet. “You can learn the software, but you must know how to draw, how to observe life before you can replicate it. Technology can never replace talent.”