Animation experts speak about ubiquitous domain

Bhavana Puljal-Televisionpoint

From mythological sagas to kid's movies, TV serials and advertisements, visual effects today are ubiquitous. And animation experts from India are making a mark in the international and domestic industry back home. Mandeep Singh, Mitul Patel and Deepak Ganguly, give an insight into the industry.

About a decade ago when Mitul Patel, chief technical officer, BR Films Studio, began his career in graphics and animation, there was little information on its prospects but this self taught visual effects expert went by his creative instincts and today has projects like Pinnochio, Mangal Pandey, Bhootnath Johny Gaddar, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Jajantram Mamantarm and Hera Pheri to his credit.

"Every new project is a challenge in itself and to do something different every time, is a new high," believes Patel, who began his career in 1996 as a visualizer in an advertisement agency. Having worked as a technical director for various international projects for Nickelodeon and BBC UK, Patel believes the animation industry can be tapped endlessly to exploit creative potential.

"Bhootnath gave me a chance to execute some of the most innovative sequences which was very challenging," says Patel, who has also given visual effects for various TV serials including Son Pari for Star Plus. Some of the projects in the pipeline for Patel include Amol Palekar's film, Dumkata, BR films, Pappu Paas Ho Gaya and mythological animation, Hum Panch.

Mandeep Singh of Rhythm and Hues, is a bohemian for treading a less traveled path since eight years. His perseverance paid off as today. He is one of the most sought after names in the animation industry. Hailing from Chandigarh, he talks about his not so easy journey to success and his experiences of being a part of some mega Hollywood projects.

"I lead the team of animators in India which rendered the visual effects of the academy award winning movie, The Golden Compass and later bagged an award in the same category", avers Mandeep. Working with an international animation company, he tells us about more flicks which are on the cards, "we are through with Hulk 2 which was released a while ago and now are eagerly awaiting for Mummy 3 and Cirque de Freak to be screened worldwide."

He does not forget to mention how tough it was to make it big in the profession that was unheard of some years back. "When all my friends were opting for higher studies in regular subjects, I took a fancy to study animation", says Mandeep.

And then he reveals, "The most challenging part was to make my parents understand what animation means, which for them was mere sketching of cartoon characters, Chacha Chaudhary and Saboo".

Accompanying the two is Deepak Ganguly, who is also part of B R films and is proud to be a part of the team that is making special effects for the first Indian animation movie based on modern day concept, Roadside Romeos. "With this movie, Indian animation industry will not be limited to just making movies on mythological characters and subjects." he says.

Hailing from Kolkata, Deepak developed interest in the field during his school days. "Stunts of characters like superman and batman made me inquisitive" says Deepak.