For nearly eight years, we have been watching two bacterial characters create havoc on screen. First on one channel and now on three different channels – 9XM, 9X Jhakaas and 9X Tashan. Bade Chote, Bheegi Billi, Betel Nuts have become part of our lives. Not to forget Jatt & Jaat, Ullu da Patha, Chochlya Locha, Surmai, Kauwaa Kauwaa, Halkat Sawal etc who have lately become popular in Maharashtra and Punjab.
Introducing animation in an unknown genre – Music – was 9XM to stand apart from the rest of the music channels that had a stream of VJs. In an exclusive interview with AnimationXpress.com’s Vishaka Chakrapani; 9X Media chief programming officer Amar Tidke shares a few thoughts on what makes the animated characters so popular to have stood the test of time and how the channels keep adapting to the changing environment.
How do you go about ideating for your animated characters? How big is the team?
We have an in-house creative team for ideating concepts on a periodical basis. For example since the Cricket World Cup is just around the corner; we have a new piece called Full Toss Bakwass where our main characters will be in the studio talking about cricket. It will be a combination of live action and animation.
We have an animation and design team of about 12 people and we have also been working with Prime Focus, our partner since inception. For 3D animation, Prime Focus does part of the work and part is done in house. For properties such as stop motion and 2D, we work with various talents within the industry.
We do have a calendar planned for the year and we also create contextual content as per situations that arise. There aren’t any fixed projects that go to Prime Focus or stay with us. Both teams are equally capable to handle last minute video additions. But any new idea or property is incubated in-house.
How do you work on the scripting for the episodes?
We have different writers for different channels. The animation team is the same for characters across 9XM, 9X Jhakaas, 9X Tashan and 9X Jalwa but each channel has a dedicated team for scripting and ideating. This apart, people also give their voice to the characters depending on the tone needed for each region.
Animation is one team and within it there are people who understand nuances and expressions of other languages. Concept ideating and scripting has different teams. We try to make characters as human as possible so people in the region can even relate to them. This involves the expression, the content and also scripting.
Our team performs the act to gauge the expressions and dialogue delivery that needs to be incorporated into the various characters. If someone discontinues, we try and get the closest match for the voices, but the team has mostly stayed unchanged. For each channel, the voices of even consistent characters are different.
Bade’s voice is given by 9XM creative supervisor (music) Devesh Parihar while Chote is given by 9XM creative director (content programming) Chandan Oza.
How many episodes do you create in a month? How long does it take to create?
When we started off, rather than have VJs on the show, we opted to go with animated characters. Starting off with just Bakwas Bandh Kar and Bheegi Bili, we now have a range of shows associated with them. We have episodes of different durations; some are 10 seconds while some are even 2 minutes long or more.
Each channel creates about 30 to 50 episodes in a month of various durations, which takes about two to ten days to create for each.
Most of the animation on 9X channels is 3D. Do you plan to experiment with 2D any time? Also, your characters have been consistent over time; do you plan to add any soon?
Our channel packaging is mainly 2D but yes our animation has been 3D till now. We are launching a new 2D based stop motion feature with Chote ki Kahaani. We don’t do something just for the sake of it. When we introduced animation + live action it wasn’t because we wanted to test the medium but because the show required it.
Similarly rather than have a range of characters, we introduce characters only when a property needs it. We don’t want to launch and then put it on the back burner. Currently our existing ones can pull off the properties.
What are your current properties?
We have new ones Chote Ki Kahaani, Bakwas Show and Do Pal Ka Interval. The latter involves 3D creation of actors and a parody of the movies.
You had a school programme with Bade Chote? How did that come about?
Yes, we created a film that informed kids on what went behind the animation process. We wanted to show them how interesting the field of animation is as a career path.
There were talks of a full length feature film on Bade Chote?
Whenever there is any such announcement, we will tell. As of now, nothing is on the cards.
A lot of brand integrations are currently visible on the animated characters. Which brands do you have?
The characters have become so popular now that many brands want to be associated with the characters. The current ones include Honda Motors (Betel Nuts), Tata Sky (Bheegi Billi), Perfetti (Betel Nuts), Hamdard (Bhabhi), OLX (Jatt & Jaat), Sony Entertainment for IPL (Bade Chote) and Nokia (Bade Chote).