Description as found on YouTube and posted by Sara Benincasa…

A long-forgotten 1951 classroom film from Medium Large’s educational library (”Bake Your Way to Marriage!” “How to Cripple a Bully” “Polio: God’s Judgment Against Gays” ), this short exposes the chilling, horrifying, alarming truth about comedy in a fun, fact-filled format. The movie was made possible with a grant from “Buick: The Cadillac of Cars.”

Written, drawn and directed by Francesco Marciuliano. Edited by Sara Benincasa.

For more from Francesco “Ces” Marciuliano, please go to http://medium-large.com or http://francescoexplainsitall.blogspot.com

Flipanimation.net has many more such fascinating bits of trivia besides some really good articles that make for engrossing reading. Do check it out!

Until now the only truly ‘artistic’ animated films from India that I had seen were either independent films or student films from institutes such as NID and IDC (IIT). But large scale productions have always fallen short at some level. Maybe it was the lack of vision, time, patience, knowledge or perhaps all of these. It can’t be budgetary constraints - an individual superstar’s fees for a single Bollywood movie can fund an entire animated film! But Arnab Chaudhuri, the man at the helm of Arjun, surely knows what he is doing. An alumnus of the National Institute of Design and ex-Turner Creative Director, he seems to have what it takes to do justice to the story and the medium.

The animation style appears to be a combination of 2D and 3D - the final look and feel is of 2D animation but the fabric, the water and the movements of the characters are distinctly 3D. The film is reminiscent of Disney’s Prince of Egypt while Arjun could easily be the long-lost brother of Tarzan! The script writers seem to have taken a few liberties with the story but that is what great story-telling is about; retelling an age-old tale and embellishing it with one’s own visual interpretation.

This is the second Indian animated film that holds a lot of promise, after Yash Raj Film’s Roadside Romeo, which is an out and out 3D animated feature. I am looking forward to both of them and so is the entire Indian animation community. The Indian audiences have got a raw deal from some haughty, talent-less so-called animation film makers - a case in point being the makers of the recent ‘Icy n Spicy’, who thankfully got the boot from the audience! Roadside Romeo and Arjun should more than make up for it and once and for all dispel the myth that Indian animation lacks talent and vision when it comes to original IP productions. Until the movie releases, enjoy the trailer

So who is Sheikh Muhammad Munajid and why is he accusing our beloved rodents? The Telegraph, UK, reports that he is a cleric and a former diplomat at the Saudi embassy in Washington DC, said that under Sharia, both household mice and their cartoon counterparts must be killed. Mr Munajid was asked to give Islam’s teaching on mice during a religious affairs programme broadcast on al-Majd TV, an Arab television network.

According to a translation prepared by the Middle East Media Research Institute, an American press monitoring service, he said: “The mouse is one of Satan’s soldiers and is steered by him. If a mouse falls into a pot of food – if the food is solid, you should chuck out the mouse and the food touching it, and if it is liquid – you should chuck out the whole thing, because the mouse is impure. According to Islamic law, the mouse is a repulsive, corrupting creature. How do you think children view mice today – after Tom and Jerry? Even creatures that are repulsive by nature, by logic, and according to Islamic law have become wonderful and are loved by children. Even mice. Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases.”

Hmmm… I wonder what he would have to say about Ratatouille who is not just cute and adorable but a chef!

The first day went of well with the auditorium packed to full capacity and I’m looking forward to the second day today with some very interesting presentations announced.

The hype was not all bad. Many more people began sitting up and taking notice of this thing called ‘Animation’ than before. Students and parents alike opened their eyes to this new career prospect. Existing animators began celebrating their new-found respect in the eyes of their detractors who had so far looked down upon their choice of vocation. All-in-all the Indian animation industry saw a spurt in interest, enthusiasm, educational avenues and job opportunities. Within a year, more than 70 animated feature films were announced. Actual work began on a far lesser number of movies.

But the latest news coming out of studios is not good. Many production houses and studios have folded up. Others have laid off a majority of their employees. People have woken up to the fact that making an animated film is no cake walk. There may be a lot of enthusiasm and ideas but the lack of funds, acute shortage of ‘talented’ artists and short-sightedness of studios have become major obstacles.

For sometime now, there were a lot of outsourced projects being done by our studios, besides the in-house developments. Companies needed to ’show’ their prospective clients their team strength so a lot of  average and even below average talent got hired. The cream of the crop was being poached from one studio after the other. As pay scales rose, so did the rate of employee attrition. Now outsourced work has dried up. A few substandard animated releases turned out to be duds (why am I not surprised?!!) And suddenly a lot of hopes have come crashing down like a pack of cards.

Many artists now find themselves jobless. An alarming number of fresh graduates from institutes have secured neither jobs nor offers. As in other industries, animation too is now seeing a massive slow down. So is it time yet to declare this a ‘bust’ quite like the dot-com bust less than a decade ago?

I do not think so. This is just a phase. We have hit a plateau. And I think it is very good. Critical, in fact, for the well-being and future success of Indian animation. Why, you might ask. For multiple reasons:

1. Let this be a wake up call for all those who jumped into animation without a thought. For those who took the plunge not for the sake of animation but at the instance of the $$$$$… They read in the media about the billions of dollars waiting to be gathered and followed the ‘Pied Piper’ to their doom. Art can not succeed without heart.

2. This phase will help separate the wheat from the chaff. The joblessness is short-term. The ones with true creativity and skill will get hired again. The only ones who need to worry are the ones who lacked talent to begin with. The rest can use this time to enhance their skills and glean more knowledge rather than wallow in hopelessness and self-pity. This way they will be prepared when the wind changes and new assignments beckon them.

3. Our film-makers will now focus a little more on quality content than quantity. (I hope!!) Rather than rush through projects at breakneck speed without really analyzing they should be a little self-critical and work very hard to deliver good work. Original concepts and well-executed films will surely succeed and bring the train back on track. We have hit a plateau, yes. But the graph will rise once again.

4. Indians have this tendency to take things easy till a problem of gigantic proportions arises. This recession-like situation should give us a good kick on our behinds and motivate us to do what it takes to get out of it. Talk, discuss, share, try… No point just sitting around and cribbing. Web 2 followed the dotcom recession. Perhaps this is an opportune moment for Indian animation’s second coming.

After talking to many people in the Indian animation industry, I found that most are waiting with bated breath for the Diwali-release of Roadside Romeo. The fate of many an animator lies in the success or failure of this Yashraj film. Studios, production houses and investors alike have put new projects on hold until they see whether the audiences take to the first official fully-animated Bollywood movie. (And no, Icy n Spicy doesn’t count!) From the promos, Roadside Romeo looks promising. The Disney involvement in itself is a quality stamp.

I feel positive that over the next few months, things will improve. I know a lot of my blogs have focused on the problems. But I truly believe that if we pull up our socks, gather the courage to invest confidently and generously in animation, work ten times harder, push the envelope, overcome our limitations and do all this sincerely, we can take forward Indian Animation successfully into its second phase. Cheers to that!

Don’t believe me? Read this news report on Pritish Nandy Communications’ latest venture - animated remakes of three Shakti Samanta golden oldies - Howrah Bridge, Amar Prem and Barsaat Ki Ek Raat.

Pritish Nandy announced, “This is my homage to one of the most underrated filmmakers of the country. When I met Mr. Samanta, he was so pleased to know his films would reach out to a new generation. Howrah Bridge is one of my favourite noire films. The magic of Sachin Dev Burman’s music, the chemistry between Ashok Kumar and Madhubala and the seductive charm of Ashok Kumar’s baritone….all that I want to capture in animation form.”

It is a noble thought but reach out to a new generation? How? Just by converting it into an animated film? I don’t think so. The story needs to lend itself to the medium. Capture the magic in ‘animation form’? Animation by itself is not going to be able to add value to these films. There has to be a better justification for rehashing stories meant for a very different kind of audience than the current one that thrives on hard-core action, flashy dances and slapstick humour. No doubt, the movies were masterpieces in their time but modern audiences have an extremely short attention span. The beauty of animation lies in its ability to paint in front of your eyes those images which can not otherwise be captured with a camera. Animation is about conveying fantasy through a visual medium, and exagerating reality. I fail to understand how any form of animation can do justice to the solemn lovestory in Amar Prem or the black n white thriller Howrah Bridge, let alone Barsaat Ki Ek Raat which didn’t even do well when it was first released!

PNC will not only pay a homage to the Bengali mellow-dramatist but also to the immortal melodies of Sachin and his son Rahul Dev Burman in the cinema of Shakti Samanta. We’ll be hearing the animated characters sing songs like ‘Aaiye Meherbaan’ in Howrah Bridge, ‘Yeh Kya Hua’ and ‘Raina Beeti Jaaye’ in Amar Prem and ‘Apne Pyar Ke Sapne’ in Barsaat Ki Ek Raat. Explains Mr Nandy, “We’ll have the original music from these films. But we’ll also have re-mix version of the originals side by side.”

Huh?!!

Almost makes me want the mytho-animations back! Really, for the sake of Indian animators, I do hope that Roadside Romeo will turn all these stereo-types on their heads and give us a reason to rejoice. This Diwali we will find out and until then I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Hope you like it! Do send in your comments and feedback, as usual, to feedback@allaboutanimation.com

The preparations have been hectic. A lot of hard work has gone into organizing this year’s Anifest India, as always! With an expected turnout of over 1500 people, this long weekend is going to be one hell of a big party, with lots to do, lots to learn and many many people to meet. I’m going to be there - to participate and also as one of the committee members of TASI. And I do hope many of you join us. For details, do visit the TASI website. I haven’t had a chance to update the AAA blog because I have been handling the responsiblity of maintaining and updating the TASI website as well. I will be covering the event on all 3 days - 15th to 17th Aug. But it will be a lot more interesting to attend it rather than just read about it later.

So be there… Or be square!