However, the animated remakes of successful Hindi films are evoking curiosity. Feroz Nadiadwala’s Hera Pheri series and Pritish Nandy Communications’ Sholay are significant ventures along with Johar’s Kootchie Kootchie, which will have the same love story retold through the lives of dogs. “The challenge is even bigger for animated remakes because people have already seen the stories. These remakes have to be made extra-ordinarily,” says Preet Bedi, CEO, PPC.

Filmmakers are ready to tap the global market and thus create a niche for Indian animation. “Sultan will be released in 12 different languages. Apart from Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, we will release it in English, French, Japanese and Zulu,” says Soundarya. Devgan’s Toonpur too will be dubbed in multiple languages, including English and other Indian languages. At present, the primary challenge is to move away from amateurish production values and clichéd stories. Post the success of Hanuman, the industry saw look-alike films like Bal Ganesh that failed to pull crowds.

For instance, UTV’s Dream Blanket will have its animation styled on the Tibetan art form, Tankha. “We’ve used elements of Northeastern art in the picturisation to keep the audience hooked,” says Nallaseth.
From 2-D animation, the films are moving to 3-D models. “Our technology has become more advanced. Besides, all Indian studios have facilities of high-grade animation work,” says Khurana.

Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par, released last December to critical and commercial nods, set an instance of superbly-created animated sequences. “Clay animation was used in Taare. In this process, 3-D clay models are manually moved and then photographed. This was the first time that a Hindi movie used the technique,” says Dhimant Vyas, chief animator for Taare.

... contd.