2300 enthusiastic and bright animation students brought alive the Shilpi Kendra Auditorium at Hi Tec City even as Hyderabad based Arena Dilsukhnagar, the largest Arena centre in the country, celebrated its 9th anniversary on July 19 �07
Present at the celebrations were chief guest, NASSCOM Regional Director Colonel SV Ramachandran and Guest of Honor Arena Executive Director R Krishnan. The power packed program for the day included presentations by Rhythm & Hues India MD Prashant Buyyala and Green Gold Animation’s Rajiv Chilakalapudi, Master Class and Practical workshop on Stop Motion Animation by Dhimant Vyas and Arvind Chudasama and an Interactive Quiz and session on Career Opportunities in Animation by AnimationXpress.com Co Founder Anand Gurnani.
Promoted by Rajasekhar B, Arena Dilsukhnagar has the distinction of being the largest animation training center in the country with over 2000 students hence the large turnout at the celebrations was anticipated. What was delightfully impressive was the sharp focus of the students and the way in which they asked several intelligent and pertinent questions through out the day, brimming with enthusiasm right till the end.
Beginning the proceedings, the â€?man of the momentâ€? Rajasekhar B, Head of Arenaâ€?s Dilsukhnagar centre shared the success mantra behind the centreâ€?s exponential growth. “We are a principle centered training organization and have never treated this activity as a mere business transaction. â€?Creating winning careersâ€? has become a way of living for us .We always treated this as a â€?co-operative arena and not a competitive oneâ€?. And we went on following the WIN-WIN formula. As Stephen Covey says â€?win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactionsâ€?.
“Today, I am proud to see the largest student crowd ever gathered in the Indian animation industry. The career opportunities are growing day by day. And they are only going to grow further” he added.
Chief Guest, NASSCOM Regional Director Colonel SV Ramachandran shared “Animation and game development are exciting new career options of the digital age. With the industry growing rapidly and poised for further growth, human resource is key and I congratulate Rajasekar for his achievements with his Dilsukhnagar centre”
At the same time, the Colonel who is on the advisory committee of state initiated animation education shared “In Animation Education Focus is needed on both fast track as well as in depth training”
Speaking next, Arena Executive Director Krishnan R spoke about how he was impressed with the turnout. “The focus at Arena is to spread animation education throughout the country and to breed talent and hone skills. Similar to Arenaâ€?s goals, Rajasekar has always excelled in whatever he has undertaken and todayâ€?s huge celebration is a wonderful milestone for the Dilsukhnagar center and I am sure many more milestones will follow”
The recent announcement of Rhythm & Hues expansion plans for Hyderabad has added to the city�s magnetism as an animation destination. Quite naturally, the presentation by R&H India MD Prashant Buyyala was eagerly anticipated.
“I am a native of Hyderabad” shared Prashant even as a thunderous applause greeted him.
“There are several positive factors that have led to our taking the decision to expand to this city” he added.
“At Rhythm & Hues we believe that the highest quality work is created in an environment where people enjoy working and where people are treated fairly, honestly and with respect shared Prashant, stating “The same philosophy has been the driving force in setting up and making the Mumbai facility a success and it will be the same for our Hyderabad operations”
Prashant also spoke about ASIFA India and Women In Animation and shared slides and videos of the CG Meetups and International Animation Day.
“Indian Animation” was the topic on which Green Gold Animationâ€?s Rajiv Chilakalapudi spoke about. Showcasing some of the beautiful work done by his studio including Krishna: Makhan Chor and Krishna in Brindavan , Rajiv stated, “Indian animated content has been consistently topping the TRPs and it is growing considerably”
Speaking on behalf of the animation IP creating fraternity in India, Rajiv also showcased posters and info about three upcoming features including Hanuman, Ghatotkach and Dashavatar. “This year we have three to four animated features releasing and I am sure all are going to do well” Rajiv shared his goodwill.
Rajiv also welcomed Rhythm & Hues announcement to expand to Hyderabad, “R&H coming to Hyderabad is very good for the industry here. Things are already strong and now with R&H the overall quality and potential of this career will further improve. More youngsters will be attracted to this field”
The stop motion workshop by Dhimant and Arvind was super hit with the audience which comprised completely of animation students and they were thrilled to bits watching animation concepts being explained in real time with the Duo bringing clay to life and making characters and motion with their camera and simple easy to download software.
Dhimant also showcased pictures and work done while he was at Aardman as the crowd whistled and cheered.
The last session of the day was an interactive quiz and presentation on career opportunities in Animation by AnimationXpress Co founder Anand Gurnani. Always thrilled to evangelize the animation & gaming career option, Gurnani explained to the audience how each of them needed to look inward, identify and map their skills to the several different domains within this vast field.
The students were also thrilled to participate in the AnimationXpress quiz where they won several prizes and won adulation.
The day ended, but the celebrations did not. Arena Dilsukhnagar had two more days of action packed events . Arena Dilsukhnagar promoter Rajsekhar B shared “It was really a wonderful experience for all our students. First day they were exposed to the knowledge sharing sessions by the experts. Second day, it was a magical personality development session on â€?the power of positive thinking’ by well-known HR trainer Dr. B.V.Pattabhiram. And third day it was pure fun and entertainment with cultural activities performed and organized by students.
“The grand Finale was the ARENA VFX awards ceremony. The best achievers were honored with mementos and certificates. VFX achievers in various disciplines set an example for their juniors to follow. Their works were displayed and others drew inspiration from the same”
“On the whole, the celebrations were of a scale that spelt class and grandeur. When it ended everyone went home with hope and expectations for the next year celebrations”