Have a date with Zampano

First 3-D Indian animated character to feature in Hindi movie 'Friends Forever'

Enjoyed 'Stuart Little' and his antics, and the technology that went into it? Now get ready for a date with Bangalore-based Synergy Images' 'Zampano'.

The animated character will be delivered in four months for the Hindi flick 'Friends Forever'. While Stuart Little is a mouse, Zampano is a boy. The movie is being shot with Ashmit Patel and Hrishithaa Bhatt playing the lead. Zampano will hog the limelight for 36 minutes of the movie.

The decade-old Synergy Images, led by CEO and president Malini Subrahmaniam, offers turnkey solutions for digital animation, game development, web, multimedia, e-learning, TV commercials and feature films.

The friendly and adorable Zampano, the first 3-D animated character created in India, has real emotions. Zampano was created in over 10,000 hours by a team at Synergy Images.

The team had started working on the character by putting their concepts on paper and then in a clay model of their vision. Zampano was coloured on screen and had evolved through several stages before he got a body, clothes and facial features.

Directed by Soumithra Ranade, 'Friends Forever' revolves around a small girl who makes friends with Zampano and who remains her friend as she grows up and finally helps her find her love.

Synergy Images, which has some 150 employees now, plans to increase that number to 350 in two years. The company hopes to have a 150 per cent growth in 2007.

It will set up a studio in Bangalore for around $3 million for which the government has promised 4 acres of land. The facility will have 25,000 sq ft of built-up area, of which the studio will take up 20,000 square feet.