The Indian animation industry has matured on the technical expertise since last five years. However the industry now needs to focus on creativity and build its own IP content based on indigenous story themes to become more credible in the world market -- say industry experts.
S Muralaidharan, CEO of Accel Animation Technologies, said that the Indian animation industry has matured in technical-expertise and can deliver international quality in both animation production and post production services. However, categorized into 1: Animation services and 2: IP content ownership, the industry is lopsided with its major efforts & investments towards the service business model. IP creation and ownership requires huge capital and strong distribution network -- while the Indian mainstream audience still prefers star-casts over animations; and only metros preferring animation movies leads to low investments in the development of original content, said he.
A substantial animation work for the movie The Chronicles of Narnia was done in India, which proves the technical adeptness of Indian animators, said Muralidharan. But the industry fails to get acclamations for its work in India due to the lack of original content and own creativity. More investment is needed to develop IP content and creativity potential needs to be unlocked -- that requires even reframing our current education system , said he; whose company is currently creating an in-house IP content, South India Fables, a Thirukural based animated serials.
On the similar context, Sukumar Subramanian, CEO of Sanra Technology, an animation media technology company, said, IP content creation and creativity from India in the animation space can mushroom and be successful if-and-only when the Indian animation industry focuses its scripts on the strengths our own culture and heritage -- juxtaposed to Indian main-stream movies that imitates the West.
There is an inquisitive curiosity allover the world to learn about the Indian culture and its lifestyle -- credits to movies such as Slumdog millionaire bagging Oscars and Indian company such as Arcelor Mittal acquiring companies in the West, said Sukumar. To get acclamation (for original IP content & creativity) both in India and world-wide, the Indian animation industry should work on legacy stories and indigenous themes. Our company is currently working on an animation movie, Lord Muruga, a Tamil God, and cited the successful popularity of animation series such as Hanuman, Krishna, said he.
Extrapolating on the opportunities in the Indian animation industry, Rajesh Turakhia, MD of Frameboxx, an animation and visual effects training institute, said that the even in the current turmoil of recession, especially in the IT sector, the India animation industry has promising demand in the international animation market. This is because of its optimal price for high quality work, while Korea and Singapore that offers similar animation services have now become expensive for animation outsourcing. Our company bets big on the growth of Indian animation industry, and will grow up to 50 centers within the next 1 year spanning across the country, said Turakhia.
According to a Nasscom report, the Indian animation industry will reach $950 million by 2009, while the world animation demand will reach $75 billion in the same year.
Source: CXOtoday.com, dated: 5th May 2009,
http://www.cxotoday.com/India/News/Animation_Industry_in_India_A_Perspective/551-101607-908.html
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