Epic battle

Hindi animation films have their work cut out for them unlike the popular Bollywood phrase,they have to compete not with themselves but with international giants such as Disney and Pixar to capture the Indian market.

Hindi animation films have their work cut out for them unlike the popular Bollywood phrase,they have to compete not with themselves but with international giants such as Disney and Pixar to capture the Indian market.

Ramayana 8211; The Epic,an animation version of the epic,released this week to mixed reviews. It got me wondering why Indian animation films,despite some good efforts,have been unable to get a following within India.

The answer perhaps lies in the poor quality of our animation films. Makers lose sight of the fact that Walt Disney and Pixar productions form the staple animation fare consumed by Indians. The task therefore,of matching up to their high standards in order to impress the audience,is that much tougher. Hollywood films obviously have the first mover advantage as also better technology,Ramp;D initiatives and of course,resources.

As superstar Shah Rukh Khan had mentioned in his interview with Screen,the audience is now accustomed to watching films of Hollywood standards and if we are not quick to induct their visual sophistication in our films,the audience was likely to abandon Hindi films for Hollywood blockbusters.

Khans observation is an astute one. Consider the facts in the last decade,films such as Titanic,Jurassic Park and Spider-Man count as films that did exceedingly well in India. More recently,James Camerons Avatar according to trade reports generated an impressive Rs 56 crore profit out of India including dubbed versions in regional languages. A carefully thought-out plan was in place to maximise profits for this cost- intensive pegged somewhere between 230 to 500 million film and India certainly did not disappoint.

That in the last couple of years,the studios have adopted the strategy of growing Hollywood in India certainly does not help matters. With a fast-growing market in their pockets,any Hollywood studio would be able to steal a march over its closest competitor. In order to do so,studios are geared to generate local content that includes regional cinema in order to peddle Hollywood films in growing markets around the world.

What it might entail therefore is Hollywood co-opting some of the best talents from India for them to produce films for the studios,keeping in mind the local audience. These movies may even be released worldwide,which in the context of our films,loosely translates into UK,US,Gulf countries,South-East Asia and pockets in Europe Germanyand Africa Egypt.

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The million-dollar question is whether the studios will sink in huge moneys in creating an indigenous world-class product from India for consumption in the world markets. Seems unlikely. India,unlike United States,is not yet a central player in world matters and till the time that such a phenomenon takes place,our movies are unlikely to go beyond the Bollywood pocket-borough.

An even bigger reason perhaps,to protect the home turf by raising the creativity bar?