The Animation Masters Summit that recently concluded in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala saw some of the best industry professionals gather under one roof for an enriching two day gathering. On the final day, Shashi Tharoor – who has been now been elected twice as Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and a writer and an orator par excellence graced the event to give away the awards for the inaugural Flying Elephant Animation & Short Film Competition.
“When I was told this is the week of the masters I assumed it was going to be a chess competition, but now I see that the masters are from the more entertaining form of Chess and that is indeed animation,” Tharoor opened his speech in signature style.
He further said: “I am as old as the animation industry, as I remember it was in the year of my birth that Claire Weekes had visited India and later the Films Division of the Government of India Enterprise started the very first animation studio in this country.”
Computer animation worldwide is barely two decades old and yet India is moving ahead rapidly as it has been over the years in the space, Tharoor added as he spoke with great passion and zest. He is confident that the industry for the AVGC segment will continue to prosper and India too will grow in its contribution towards it.
“I recently read somewhere that India only accounts for $1.5 billion off the $50 billion worth animation industry globally, but of course we have to make allowances to the fact that this contribution goes much farther here in India itself and the potential is certainly immense and the talent is clearly here as I can see so many young aspirants who are wanting to make a mark in this booming field.”
Tharoor visited Toonz in Technopark way back in 2007-08 and was pleasantly glad to see the kind of passion with which the team was working with then; and even now on his return after nearly seven years he can still see that fire in their belly to continue their march towards being a global superpower in animation.
“As somebody who in his childhood remembered the Sunday morning treat of walking to the nearest movie theatre back home in Mumbai (then Bombay) and watching a series of cartoons and the excitement with which I cherished consuming them, I have always remained a great fan of the animator’s art and I am sure it takes huge labourious work to produce these moving frames,” he exulted.
He also took everyone by surprise by his wealth of knowledge and awareness of the industry as he went onto explain how out of all the kinds of filmmaking there is, animation filmmaking is the most profitable; “I believe that the profit margins in animation can go up to 52 per cent, which suggests to me that all of you are grossly underpaid,” he taunted which brought a smile to the faces of the artists and young aspirants present in the audience.
As he ended his speech he said: “I must applaud the kind of work that Indian animation studios like Toonz and others are doing for the international animation industry and the extent to which international film industries are looking at India as a potential hub for creating successful animation, I feel very confident that it will soon become the absolute gold standard for international animation.”