Around eighteen months ago, Mayabimbham Media, a small studio located in Valsarawakkam, a distant suburb of Chennai shared with Animation Xpress, its content plans of making a Tamil 3D animated theatrical feature . There was a glint of conviction, as the studio’s heads Venky Baboo and Sridevi Rao elaborated on their gameplan.
Back then, people were appreciative about the studio’s courageous ideas, however very few took serious note. 25 artists and the dream of making a feature, of course seemed highly optimistic and overly ambitious.
Silently and keeping at their work, Mayabimbham’s directors and the team ignored naysayers and focused on their goal.
The studio served its first Ace last year when it premiered its first ‘one off’ Tamil animated TV special Puli Raja on Jaya TV.
Today, the studio has shared that its Tamil 3D feature ‘Inimea Nangathaan’ is in the final stages of completion, with release planned for December this year.What’s more is that Mayabimbham has already signed up with Pondicherry Pictures, which is affiliated to Franco Indian Film society for distributing the animated movie in US, Canada and Europe. The film is named ‘Iyer’s the Great’ for all other languages other than Tamil.
Speaking to Animation Xpress.com, a beaming Sridevi Rao shared, “The movie is made at a total budget of Rs 35 Million including post production. We at Mayabimbham are very proud of achieving our goal in a very short span of time. When we began, we were very confident that our movie would be the first 3D animated movie from India. However other Indian 3D features are already getting released. But we are still sure that we will be recognized for making an attempt to produce a Quality feature with characters living around us in a contemporary style other than mythology. Plus it surely is the first 3D Tamil animated feature”
“The idea is simply not about wanting to be first in doing things, but what we mean is that we would love it if we could inspire other studios to follow their dreams and conviction and take the bold steps of making their own content” added Venky Babu.
“It is a business, yes,” shared Venky, “But first it is about having the pleasure of seeing your stories come alive. It is about the whole experience of creating animation”
One of the major highlights of the film are three song sequences of 4-5 minutes each where the characters are all dancing to the music and tunes of none other than the Maestro Illayaraja himself! “Another major sequence is the climax fight scene” shared Venky who has also written the film.
Talking about working with limited resources, Sridevi Rao elaborated, “With limited resources and infrastructure making a full length feature is a very big experience. Right from story development to designing of characters we have ventured into a new format as it is not a myth. We were able to proceed as we are 100% confident on our script and characters”
Based on adventure and comedy, the storyline of Inimea Nangathaan revolves around four friends, their dreams and desires and the adventures they have in the pursuance of their dreams.
Venky Baboo shared the theme of the film “There is greed in everyone, and the one who overcomes it, is the more Complete and Perfect person. And richer too!”
Credits of the movie include Story, Screenplay & Direction by S. Venky Baboo, Executive & Line Producer S. Sridevi, Creative & Animation Director S. Venky Baboo, Music Director Maestro Illaiyaraaja, Lyrics Vaalee, Editing B. Lenin, Dance Director Shivashankar and voices include popular Tamil Cine Artists including Mr. Pandu, Mr. M.S. Basker, Mr. Vasu Vikram and Mr. Maaran.
The total team including Venky & Sridevi was 30 members strong. Mayabimbham shared the job profiles and the number of people involved in each process.
Director, Creative Director &
Animation Director – 1
Line Producer – 1
Modellers – 2
Animators – 7
Editor – 1
Sets, Assembly & Lighting – 5
Dynamics – 2
Rendering – 2
Compositing – 2
Pre-Production (SB & designs) – 2
System Admn – 1
Trainees – 2
Admn & Others – 3
TEAM RESPONSIBILITIES
Pre Production -Designs and Texturing of models.
Modellers -Modelling & 25 to 30 Blend Shapes.
Animators -Animation & Facials
Sets & Assembly -Set Modelling, Lighting, Texturing & Assembling
Dynamics -Rigging, Weight Adjustments & Soft Bodies.
Sharing some of the production experience, Sridevi elaborated, “The script, dialogues and screenplay were handled by Venky. Next, the voices were dubbed in Dec. 2005. After which the actual animation production started. Until then we were concentrating on the betterment of the script”
“At the end of March 2006 we recorded four songs with Maestro Illaiyaraaja. We shot the dance with Master Shivashankar in May 2006. The footage was then edited in our office by Mr. B. Lenin. The edited files were given to the animators for animating the characters for dance sequence”
On being asked about the countdown to the release and the final schedule, Sridevi elaborated that, “Total movie production will be completed by next month i.e. October 2006. The animation part of all scenes of the movie has been completed. Only two song sequences are pending, which the animators are working on. Parallel the assembling, rendering and compositing is being worked on. By mid of next month total animation will get over and by month end compositing of the total feature will be over. Post Production we are planning in November. Publicity begins near about the same time and we are looking for a December release”
So mark your calendars and come December ’06, Indian animation shall witness yet another milestone. The theatrical release of its first 3D animated regional film!
Stay Tuned!