All Entries Tagged With: "Points to Ponder"

Mickey, Jerry are evil. Kill them!

Are the lovable Mickey Mouse and Jerry evil? Sheikh Muhammad Munajid seems to think so and would like nothing better than to see them killed. He claims the mouse is “one of Satan’s soldiers” and makes everything it touches impure. He warns that cartoon depictions of the animal such as Jerry and Disney’s Mickey Mouse has led children to believe that it was in fact loveable!

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.

Recession in the industry?!! Don’t press the panic button just as yet.

Now that the noise has died down and the dust has settled, the casualty is slowly beginning to show. For two years everyone was shouting from the rooftops about the animation boom in India. Institutes proclaimed India needs animators and ill-informed parents poured out their hard-earned money into many an unworthy school. Many people left their well-paying jobs and successful businesses to enter the animation industry. All of a sudden everyone wanted to be in animation.

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.

Getting Indian Animation Right. Why is it such an uphill task?

The world waits eagerly for animated films that the US makes. European countries have had a long standing tradition of animation. Our Asian neighbours like Japan and Korea have also managed to get it right. Then why has it been so tough for India to achieve true animation success?

There are some obvious factors and then there are other reasons which we tend to overlook. As we stand on the threshold of a new chapter for Indian animation, now is the time to take stock and to honestly assess ourselves.

- One of the most common issues that studios raise every time the topic is broached is the severe lack of ‘quality’ talent. India has a rich history and culture of both art and story-telling. Then why is it that we fail so miserably when we need to combine the two? Should we blame the so-called ‘talentless’ animators or the ones who are supposed to have trained them? It is sad but true that many of our institutions, even famous ones, have failed our animators.

- India is a smorgasbord of myriad cultures. We have 22 languages recognized by the constitution and thousands of dialects. It is next to impossible then to group the audience and adhere them to a common cultural trend. Very few live-action films have met with nation-wide audience approval and applause. You only have to look at the regional film culture to see the diversity. Compare the films in Marathi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil and Kannada. They are all significantly different from each other. If, after so many decades of film-making, live-action regional films have not met with pan-Indian success, how can we expect ‘one formula’ to work when it comes to animation?