Animation Industry and its evolution in India

Animation has come a long way in India. With big buck studios like Pixar, DreamWorks, Disney coming to India for animation outsourcing but also creating full-length animation movies. Indian animation has definitely come a long way – since the first Indian stop-motion film made by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1941. In fact, this year marked a milestone – the first motion capture feature film like Kochadaiiyaan.

The journey started with the first animation film being made by Dadasaheb Phalke who made a movie of the growth of a peapod into a plant. Following its success in 1956, Clair Weeks, a Disney Studios animator was invited by the Films Division of India to set up and train animators for the first ever Indian animation studios and the first official Indian animated film was made in 1957 – The Banyan Deer. Over the course of time, Japanese film maker, Sako & Ram Mohan made an epic animated movie – Ramayana-The Legend of Prince Rama that got rave reviews abroad.

In fact, Ek Aur Anek Ekta – a traditional education film was broadcast on Doordarshan. By the 90s India brought VFX to its television sets with shows like Captain Vyom and Captain House. The Indian animation industry has grown unexpectedly and accelerated hugely, India has created believable animated products. Romeo, My Friend Ganesha, Hanuman & Chotta Bheem has changed the face of Indian animation films. ‘Arjun-The Warrior Prince’, released in 2012 in India & US, wowed the audience with the sheer quality & brilliance of animation, unlocking new career opportunities in the industry. This has led to big movie studios coming to India to set up collaboration studios, projects and production houses.

In fact, the Indian movie industry has flourished and animation has moved from the fringes to the mainstream. From having bit parts in VFX and creating maybe on character, entire movies revolve around animation superheroes that have entered the legion of superstardom. No longer is animation the purview of kids alone, now full-length movies like Kochaadaiiyaan and Avtar that have grabbed eyeballs.

VFX has boomed in India and as such, companies like Red Chillies, Reliance Big Entertainment and others have mastered the animation to such a degree that Hollywood comes to India. This evolution of the animation movies and popularity of Indian firms in Hollywood has led to lots of youngsters taking this up as full-time vocation. Delhi training institutes are popular for imparting animation training. As such, these institutes offering different courses in various aspects of the animation craft are popular amongst students looking for a quick career progression.