Indian animation industry seeing turbulent times,say experts

The Indian industry has a lot to do with outsourcing,for which a number of animators work in various fields for the final product. With outsourcing dipping,growth has slowed. Content is another problem.

Jerzy Kular,head of Animation School at Supinfocom,Pune,said at a panel discussion on Thursday: “The hard truth is that Indian companies make films for Indian audiences with Indian content. So what they spend and what they get paid in the end is less (compared to other countries).”

Many animators also believe that a part of the animation industry,the branch that deals with communication and not entertainment,is being left behind.

NID alumnus Pravin Mishra,who won the National Critics Award in 2003 for Dharamveer and who recently won the Best Short Film award for Azadnagar and Gulamnagar at the Ahmedabad International Film Festival,admits the number of people who get into the social communication part of animation is “very few”.

“With technology,lot of things can change. They pay Sachin or Amitabh Bachchan crores of rupees for a promotional film on government and social schemes,but animation can do as much with much less expenditure,” Mishra said. But as a branch of animation,it is not getting too much of attention,he added.

Professor Nina Sabnani,former professor at NID,who is now teaching at the Industrial Design Centre of IIT-Bombay,had created an animation film called Badhte Kadam in 1987 about rural family welfare. It was never screened at the NID,although the government did make 649 copies of it to send to various health centres across the country. She believes there is a thin line of difference between entertainment and communication animation.

“Distinction is blurring. In many countries,animated awareness films,for say AIDS,is pitched in the form of an entertaining story,and people love it,” Sabnani said.

She added: “The problem with communication animation,as well as the animation industry in India,is that the people with funds do not always have the imagination,and the people with the imagination do not always have the funds.”