Reliance group's Big AIMS to open 8 animation centres in TN

Big Animation Infotainment and Media School (Big AIMS), a training academy of Big Animation (India) Pvt Ltd under the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, would open 7-8 learning centres in Tamil Nadu, as part of its plan to expand the number of centres from 16 at present to 25 by the end of December 2011.

Big Animation also has plans to introduce two of its animation series including super hero Shaktimaan and its feature film Hey Krishna, in next five to six months, said a senior executive from the company.

Speaking to the media on its tie-up with the Annamalai University, in Tamil Nadu, to offer a degree programme in animation and visual effects (VFX), film-making, Ashish S Kulkarni, chief executive officer, Big Animation, said that the company was planning to expand its learning centres from 16 to 25 by the end of 2011.

It plans to explore tier-2 cities for growth opportunities for training. On an average, it has so far invested around Rs 2.5-3 crore per centre, depending on the region it selects.

At present, it has six centres in New Delhi, one each in Jaipur, Indore, Sholapur, Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune apart from centres in south India. It has plans to open centres in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Nagpur, he added.

The company is in the final stage of developing animation series of Shaktimaan in collaboration with Chennai-based Accel group. It has a pipeline of television series including Big Bees in 3D, and Shaktimaan in 2D. Besides, feature film Hey Krishna, to be rolled out in five to six months.

As part of creating original content and properties, it is developing 16 properties including Big Bee, Mr D and Son of Monkey King. The company is also in talks with Indian and foreign companies for co-production of original content and properties.

Under the memorandum of understanding with the Annamalai University, the company would offer a Bachelor of Arts programme in Animation and VFX which would be under the guidelines of the univesrity.

“We have around 450,000 students in around 545 courses at present. With the tie-up, we would be offering courses using modern technology like animation,” said M Ramanathan, vice chancellor, Annamalai University.

The university would conduct examinations and collect the processing fee and examination fee, while Big AIMS would have the rest of the revenue, he said. The company expects to train around 500 student through the tie-up in the first year of operations.