Indian Animation Feature Films

1992 was witness to the first collaboration for a feature film when Yugo Sako, a Japanese filmmaker along with Ram Mohan made ‘Ramayan- The Legend of Prince Rama’. Although the film wasn’t released in India, it was telecasted on Doordarshan and was later acquired by cartoon network after which it got a tremendous response.

Ever since India has been working with global giants like Disney, Warner Brothers and Sony. However, when a need to build our own identity through IP’s emerged, we turned towards recalling stories from Indian mythology.

Rama, Krishna, Hanuman, Ganesha, Bheem and Arjun illusionary friends and interwoven ideals living through grandmother tales were re-introduced to the audiences as animated characters.

‘Hanuman’ was whole-heartedly accepted into the Indian mainstream industry. Created in 2005 by V.G. Samanth, it created more opportunities for Indian animation also making way for budding animation institute to develop. Following the path paved by ‘Hanuman’, were ‘Krishna’, ‘My Friend Ganesha’ & ‘Ghatotkach’.

On a different note ‘Roadside Romeo’ and ‘Delhi Safari’ took a step away from the prevalent trend of using mythological characters.

Although mythical content ran through the veins of Indian animation, filmmakers like Kushal Ruia & Arnab Chaudhary rejuvenated it through films like ‘Sons of Ram’ and ‘Arjun- The Warrior Prince’.
 

Rajiv Chilaka’s ‘Chhota Bheem’ is an apt example of this ecosystem. A down-to-earth Bheem after creating wonders on the small screen continued being cherished on the big screen. Rajiv believes in minimal costs and focusing on the storytelling and character developments. This has worked well for both feature films ‘The Curse of Damyaan’ and ‘The Throne of Bali’ from the Chota Bheem series.

The domestic animated feature films released around 2012 -'Krishna aur Kans', 'Chhota Bheem', 'Delhi Safari', 'Arjun - the Warrior Prince', 'Sons of Ram' gave a decent performance though did not meet the expectations.

Paying tribute to Indian artistry & folk traditions ‘Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya’ was released in 2013 by Shilpa Ranade. Accomplishing the challenge of creating exciting content, she has managed to take Indian animation several notches higher. The film is produced by CFSI and Shilpa agrees that funding for such content is hard to come by in India considering the speed at which our animation industry is growing.
Her husband Soumitra Ranade who has written the screenplay for this films says —
 

Here is a chronological list of Indian Animated Feature Films

1992- Ramayana- The legend of prince Rama
2000- Pandavas: The Five Warriors
2005- The Legend of Lord Buddha
2005- Hanuman
2006- Krishna
2006- Kittu
2007- My Friend Ganesha
2007- Inimey Nangathan
2007- Bal Ganesh
2007- Return of Hanuman
2008- Ghatothkach
2008- Dashavatar
2008- Roadside Romeo
2008- Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang
2008- Jumbo
2008- My Friend Ganesha 2
2009- Maruti Mera Dost
2010- My Friend Ganesha 3
2010- Ramayana- The Epic
2010- Luv Kush- The Warrior Twins
2010- Toonpur Ka Superhero
2011- Super K- The Movie
2012- Chhota Bheem & the Curse of Damyaan
2012- Arjun– The Warrior Prince
2012- Sons of Ram
2012- Krishna Aur Kans
2012- Delhi Safari
2013- Chhota Bheem & the Throne of Bali
2013- Mahabharat
2013- Main Krishna Hoon
2013- The World of Goopi and Bagha
2014- Chaar Sahibzaade
2014- Kochadaiyaan
2014- Mighty Raju


1992

 

Ramayana- The Legend of Prince Rama
Directed by	Yugo Sako and Ram Mohan
Produced by	Yugo Sako and Krishna Shah

Ramayana - The Legend of Prince Rama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayana:_The_Legend_of_Prince_Rama
Image source: Ram Mohan

The film is an anime adaption of the Indian epic Ramayana. It tells the story of Sri Ram combating the wicket Ravana very well displays some spectacular battle scenes, magical weaponry combined with beautiful Indian songs, thereby remaining faithful to Valmiki’s original version.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db9QdjW0ClI

Inside story:
The Japanese documentary filmmaker Yugo Sako was interested in animating Ramayana as early as 1984. To have the authenticity in the subject and characters he wanted it to be co-produced with India. Thus he worked in collaboration with Ram Mohan.

Ramayana being a very sensitive subject didn’t get the permission to be animated by the Government of India. So, it turned out to be a completely Japanese production, though Ram Mohan still remains the co-director and scriptwriter.

Ram Mohan made many visits to Toyko. He communicated with the Japanese people through his drawings and supervised the team about various Indian gestures and designs on how to make a dhoti.

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Pandavas: The Five Warriors
Directed by	Usha Ganesarajah
Produced by	Pentamedia Graphics

Pandavas: The Five Warriors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandavas:_The_Five_Warriors

This is a very first Indian attempt to make a 3D animated film in India. It depicts the eternal war between the good: the Pandavas and the evil: the Kauravas.

Recognitions and Awards Won:
• National Award in the category of Best Feature film in English in 2000.
• Winner of the Second Best Animated Feature Film Award in Vancouver Effects & Animation Festival, 2001.

2005

 

The Legend of Lord Buddha
Directed by	Shamboo Falke
Produced by	Pentamedia Graphics

The Legend of Lord Buddha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Buddha

 

Hanuman
Directed by	V. G. Samanth
Produced by	Percept Picture Company in association with Silvertoons

Hanuman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman_%282005_film%29

It was with this film that animation actually set its hands onto the Indian mainstream. Lesson of virtue and devotion had been beautifully layered with mighty adventures and happy colors, melodious songs and wonderful narration and animation.

The idea of Hanuman stuck to Samanth in around 1998. He studied scriptures for around 2 years. The team of around 160 artists worked on the feature for 2 years and 3 months for a 2-hour film having 2,700 frames, 1,750 colored backgrounds and 2 lakh frames.

Both children and adults loved the film and the song 'Akdam Bakdam' became a huge hit.

Recognition and Award won:
• Star Guild Award for Best Special Effects

2006

 

Krishna
Directed by	Aman Khan
Produced by	Shashikant Chheda

Krishna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna_%282006_film%29

The year after hanuman was released, children saw the pranks of stealing the butter harassing gopis, breaking the pots and various leela’s of another Indian God, ‘Lord Krishna’. This computer-animated film did a decent attempt to introduce and narrate the details of Krishna to the kids.
 

 

Kittu
Directed by	B. Sathya
Produced by	Bhargava Kodavanti (Bhargava Pictures)

Kittu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kittu
http://www.idlebrain.com/download/kittu/2kittu1024.html

Produced under the Bhargava Pictures, Kittu is the first Telugu animated feature film. Kittu, the mischievous monkey is based on a social theme, set in a comic book style.

Recognition and Award won:
• National Film Award for Best Animated Telegu Film.

2007

 

My Friend Ganesha
Directed by	Rajiv S. Ruia
Produced by	Manish Ruparel, Raman Trikha, Mitesh Mehta, Ronak Bhagat (Adlabs Films Ltd)

My Friend Ganesha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Friend_Ganesha
http://movies.sulekha.com/hindi/my-friend-ganesha/pictures/1.htm

An animated character sharing screen with the live one turned out well by Rajiv Ruia’s ‘My Friend Ganesha’. The film was a decent attempt targeting the kids with it’s storyline of Ganesha befriending a 8 year old boy, thus resolving his problems.

My friend Ganesha is an in house production by Kofee Break Pictures Ltd involving a team of 16 artists who worked diligently for 6 months.

Recognition and Awards won:
• 20th National Award
• Rajasthan Gaurav Puruskar

 

Inimey Nangathan
Directed by	Venkybabu
Produced by	S. Sridevi

Inimey Nangathan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inimey_Nangathan

The first Indian 3d animated feature film done completely in the Mayabimbham Multimedia studio of Chennai took 12-15 months to complete. The complete non-mythological plotline, Inimey Nangathan tells about the dangers of greed through the story of four friends who in order to get rich goes on a magical journey in search of a swamiji’s necklace. The film has four songs, composed by Ilaiyaraja.

Recognition and Awards won:
• 'SwarnaKamal’ for Best Animated Feature at the 55th National Film Awards, 2007.
• Best Animation Music Award at the Golden Cursor Animation Awards 2008, initiated by CNBC    TV18 and Arena Multimedia.
• Tokyo Broadcasting Society, Japan, at Digicon 6+.

P.S.- The English version of the film was called ‘Desi Pundits’. It was successfully premiered in Pogo and was loved by the kids.

 

Bal Ganesh
Directed by	Pankaj Sharma
Produced by	Smita Maroo, Pankaj Sharma

Bal Ganesh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal_Ganesh
http://www.impawards.com/intl/india/2007/bal_ganesh_xlg.html

Bal Ganesh, a computer animated feature film tells the story of the fun loving Ganesh’s childhood antics perked up with 6-7 foot tapping music and the naughty mooshak (rat).

The songs were sung by some of the eminent singers like Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar, Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan and Kailash Kher.

 

Return of Hanuman
Directed by	Anurag Kashyap
Produced by	Percept Picture Company

Return of Hanuman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_Hanuman

This film alienated itself from the mythological subject dealt in ‘Hanuman-2005’. The film has a contemporary modern outlook in which Hanuman descends in a kid avatar to save the planet earth from pollution and global warming.

The team of Upendra Desai, head of 'Rufflines Animations', did the preproduction in the time period of just 3 months maintaining the earthiness of the whole theme. The characters drew inspiration from our film industry. One can see the duo monkey tossing coins like Jai Veeru, a six pack cool monkey with Shahrukh accent and the one breaking all the laws of physics, sporting goggles like Rajnikanth.

Production was done at the Toonz studio. A team of 350 dedicated artists worked using the toon boom technology from Canada. Around 25 animators from Philippines were also the part of the production team Kids toys, garments, stationery items were created in a huge number for the purpose of merchandising.

Hanuman had been responsible for the creation of a market of animation films in India.

Recognition and Award won:
• Best animated feature film at the Golden Cursor Animation Awards.
• Best animated feature film at the FICCI Frames.


2008

 

Ghatothkach- Master of Magic
Directed by	Singeetam Srinivasa Rao
Produced by	Vinod Suryadevara, Smita Maroo

Ghatothkach- Master of Magic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghatothkach

The director of memorable films like ‘Pushpak’, ‘Appu Raja’ and ‘Mayuri’, also known for his innovative children’s film like ‘Son of Alladin’ and ‘Little John’ came up with the idea of fun filled adventurous journey of the magical and fun loving Ghatochkach, (son of Bheema) with his elephant friend, themed around the live action film, Mayabazar of 1957.

In spite of being inspired by a mythological character like all the plethora of other film like Hanuman, Krishna and BalGanesha, Ghatochkach had a bollywood –style narrative with magic, action, drama, comedy and music.

The Animation Division at Shemaroo along with Sun animatics at Hyderabad co-produced the film. Around 300 traditional 2d and digital CGI artists worked in collaboration with the studios in six countries- Singapore, Philippines, USA, UK, Canada and India.

Recognition and Awards won:
• Screened at the Cannes Film festival
• Nominated in 4 categories at Golden Cursor Awards, 2009
   Best Animated Feature 
   Best Title Sequence
   Best Lyrics
   Best Music
 

 

Dashavatar
Directed by	Bhavik Thakore
Produced by	Vimal Shah

Dashavatar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashavatar_%28film%29

Another film came the same year, as that of Ghatothkach was ‘Dashavtar’. The screenplay writer Hriday Lani narrated a challenging subject with a childlike flow. ‘Dashavtar’ presents ten stories about the different incarnations of Lord Vishnu shown in a contemporary style. The film was produced by the Pune based Phoebus Media Creations Pvt. Ltd.. Unlike the previous films like Hanuman and Krishna with a single protaganist, Dashavtar was a challenging one with ten different characters who were given equal importance.

Anand Bhutkar was responsible for the graphic design of the film, creating the animal based characters like Varaha, Matsya, Narsimha, deciding onto a color theme for the complete film and also making apt use of SFX wherever required.

The film also has some western and Indian jingles mixed humorous tracks like O Mohini and Raat Suhani mast, sung by Kunal Ganjawala, Shaan and Shreya Goshal.
 

 

Roadside Romeo
Directed by	Jugal Hansraj
Produced by	Aditya Chopra

Roadside Romeo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Romeo

The director Jugal Hansraj, lover of animated movies got the idea of the film when he was waiting at the traffic signal and saw some stray dogs scratching, yawning, winking at each other and chasing the vehicles, near a garbage pile.

The first ever mainstream three-dimensional animation venture had around 1400 Shots which were visualized, animated and delivered by a team of 150 member’s of Visual computing Labs (VCL) Tata group’s tech arm Tata Elxsi. The film took two and a half years to complete, 21 months taken by the animation.

Recognition and Awards won:
• Cairo International Film Festival for Children - Children's International Special Jury Prize
• Golden Cursor Animation (GCA) Award in five categories.
• The Screen Award for Best Animation Film.
• The 24 FPS Animation Award for the Best Animation Film.
• The FICCI BAF Award for the Best Animated Feature Film.
• Screened as part of the Panorama section of the Shanghai fest.
• National Film Awards, India - Best Animation Film
 

 

Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang
Directed by	R. D. Mallik
Produced by	Shri Sunil Bahety, Shri Rajiv Bahety

Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheenti_Cheenti_Bang_Bang

The 80 minutes long 2d animated feature film is based on a Bengali novel-‘Lal Kalo’, a popular fairy tale for children written by ‘Sri Girindra Sekhar Bose’ in 1930. The film revolves around the two rival kingdoms of ants, the red and the black. Each army having some interesting creatures like a frog, a chameleon, a mongoose and also a termite named ‘Ghunn’ who is a mediator.

Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang gives the message of universal peace and unity, working on the premise that ‘War never pays off’. The film has six songs sung by shaan, Shreya Ghoshal and a classical Indian by Ustad Rashid Khan.

The pre- production and production was done at Kolkata based Elecom Toon studio while Fiesta Entertainment of Mumbai handled its postproduction. These both companies had collaborated and formed Elecom Fiesta Entertainment Private Ltd. for producing animation features.
 

 

Jumbo
Directed by	Kompin Kemgumnird
Produced by	Percept Picture Company

Jumbo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo_%28film%29

Jumbo is based on a story by Ariya Jintapanichkarn called ‘Chao Praya Prah Hongsawadee’. The story deals with a baby elephant named jumbo who decides to go in search of his missing father.

2009

 

Maruti Mera Dost
Directed by	Manikya Raju
Produced by	Abhimanyu Singh

Maruti Mera Dost
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2058651/
http://www.in.com/tv/movies/star-gold-hd-243/maruti-mera-dost-4493.html#


2010

 

My Friend Ganesha 3
Directed by	Rajiv S. Ruia
Produced by	Ajhia Acharya

My Friend Ganesha 3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Friend_Ganesha_3

 

 

Ramayana The Epic
Directed by	Chetan Desai
Produced by	Ketan Mehta, Deepa Sahi, Niraj Bhukanwala

Ramayana The Epic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayana:_The_Epic

 

 

Lava Kusa - The Warrior Twins
Directed by	Dhavala Satyam
Produced by	Rayudu V. Shashank
Studio	Rayudu Vision Media Limited(RVML)

Lava Kusa - The Warrior Twins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_Kusa:_The_Warrior_Twins

 

 

Toonpur Ka Superhero
Directed by	Kireet Khurana
Produced by	Kumar Mangat Pathak
Production Company	Big Screen Entertainment

Toonpur Ka Superhero
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toonpur_Ka_Super_Hero


2012

 

Arjun – The Warrior Prince
Directed by	Arnab Chaudhuri
Produced by	Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapur
Studio	UTV Motion Pictures, VCL, Tata Elxsi, 21st Century Show Maker

Arjun– The Warrior Prince
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjun:_The_Warrior_Prince

Arjun, a 3d animated film based on the Indian epic- Mahabharata. The film is a heroic journey of a prince from his childhood to a young warrior who fought for peace and justice.

A team of around 80 artists took 14 months to complete the film in the Visual computing Labs (VCL), a division of Tata Elxsi Ltd. All the previsualization such as building large scale sets, backdrops and around 120 characters to their animation, rendering, lighting were shaped was done using the 3D software’s, Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max.

Recognition and Awards won:
• Officially Selected at 2013 Annecy Film Festival.
• Nominated for Oscar 2013 in the Category of Best Animated Features.
• Screened at the historic El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.
• Selected for Bhusan International Film Festival 2012 (October), Seoul, South Korea.

 

Chhota Bheem & Curse of Damyaan
Directed by	Rajiv Chilaka
Produced by	Rajiv Chilaka
Production Company	Green Gold Animation

Chhota Bheem & Curse of Damyaan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhota_Bheem_and_the_Curse_of_Damyaan

 

 

Krishna Aur Kans
Directed by	Vikram Veturi
Production Company	Reliance Entertainment

Krishna Aur Kans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna_Aur_Kans
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1837092352/tt2321492?ref_=ttmd_md_pv

 

Delhi Safari
Directed by	Nikhil Advani
Produced by	Anupama Patil, Kishor Patil
Studio	Krayon Pictures

Delhi Safari
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Safari

Delhi Safari is the first stereoscopic Indian animation. With humour, spoof, drama and wit, the film brings forward the issue of deforestation and wildlife’s habitat protection in very bollywood style.

Recognition and Awards won:
• Qualified for the 2012 Oscars.
• National Film Award, for the Best Animated Film.
• Screened at Cannes, Annecy film festival American film festival, Goa film festival…
• Best Feature Film award at FICCI FRAMES 2012
• 19th Screen Award for the Best Animation Film
 

 

Sons of Ram
Directed by	Kushal Ruia
Produced by	Amar Chitra Katha
Studio	Krayon Pictures

Sons of Ram
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Ram

Being the famous storytellers from 1967 in the form of comic books, Amar Chitra Katha continues to bring its rich legacy to the digital world. ACK ventures into film production in collaboration with cartoon network to produce ‘Sons of Ram’. Roots of the wonderful story lies in ACK’S bestselling comic book with the same name, ‘Sons of Ram’. It tells the story of the journey of twin brothers Luv and Kush to their roots.

The entire pre-production was done in ACK, while the ‘Inspidea Animation Studios’ of Malaysia executed its animation. The paintings of Ellora, Miniature and Madhubani paintings were extensively studied to design the complete film. The characters were sculpted before the artist began with its production.

PS.- Sons of Ram is the first film in India to get converted from 2d to stereoscopic 3D, being done by the Maya digital animation studio. Also it was the first animated film to have the widest release with 400 screens across India.

Recognition and Award won:
• Screened at Toronto Animation Arts festival in 2013.


2013

 

Chhota Bheem & Throne of Bali
Directed by	Rajiv Chilaka
Produced by	Rajiv Chilaka, Samir Jain
Studio	Green Gold Animation

Chhota Bheem & Throne of Bali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhota_Bheem_and_the_Throne_of_Bali

 

 

Mahabharat
Directed by	Amaan Khan
Produced by	Kushal Kantilal Gada, Dhaval Jayantilal Gada
Production Company	Pen India Pvt. Ltd

Mahabharat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharat_%282013_film%29

The film has the faces and voices of some of the famous bollywood stars.
 

 

Main Krishna Hoon
Directed by	Rajiv S. Ruia
Produced by	Nandan K. Mahto, Promila Hunter
Studio	J.C. Film Vision
Distributed by	Eros International

Main Krishna Hoon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Krishna_Hoon

A film with the mix of both the worlds, live action as well as animation.
 

 

The World of Goopi and Bagha
Directed by	Shilpa Ranade
Produced by	Soumitra Ranade, Paper Boat Animation Studio

The World of Goopi and Bagha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goopi_Gawaiya_Bagha_Bajaiya
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3073326/
Image credits: Shilpa Ranade

Even before the cinema came, the shadow puppetry ‘Tholu Bommalata’ of Andhra Pradesh occupied an important part of entertainment. In 2013, a similar style with an interesting mix of digital and cut-out animation was seen in Shilpa Ranade’s film ‘The World of Goopi and Bagha’(Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya).

The 78 minutes musical adventurous film is adapted from Satyajit Ray’s children’s film ‘Gupi Gayen Bagha Bayen’, which was written by Upendrakishore Raychowdhuri with some tweaks into the screenplay: Two goofy musicians, Goopi the singer and Bagha the drummer expelled from their villages due to their out of-tune music, they perform together, meet ghosts, avert war and marry the princesses.

This debut feature of Shilpa Ranade, is full of vibrant colors, interesting forms, unique textures and patterns, a style entirely different from the ones that emerged on screens after Hanuman in 2005. Inspired by the fabric, the characters and backdrops were created out of computer-generated swatches of textile prints. The well-crafted lyrics and passably produced folk music by the trio, ‘Three brothers and a violin’ adds up to the beautifully visualized film.

The idea of the film stuck the director while she was working on an illustration book written by Gulzar’shindi translation of Ray’s classic.

Modestly produced by the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI), the film was made in the period of two and a half years by a team of just 20 people in a Mumbai based ‘Paperboat studio’.

Recognition and Awards won:
• ASIFA award for Best Animated feature film in the professional category 2013
• Jury prize for best artwork for Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya at 18th ICFFI, Hyderabad, Nov    2013
• Inaugural Animation award honoree, WIFTS foundation, Los Angeles, Dec- 2013
• Awarded Orbit Live Animation Industry honor from Arena, ASIFA, - TASI, as Animation Valiant    2013
• Nominated Best Animated Feature, Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Brisbane Australia, Nov 2013
• Premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, 2013
• Screened at the Mumbai Film Festival, 2013
• Screened at Busan Korea
• Screened at 10th edition of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF)

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2014

 

Chaar Sahibzaade
Directed by	Harry Baweja
Produced by	Pammi Baweja

Chaar Sahibzaade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaar_Sahibzaade

It is a 3D animated film based on the sacrifices of the four sons of tenth Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh- Sahibzaada Ajit Singh, Sahibzaada Jujhar Singh, Sahibzaada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzaada Fateh Singh.