Indian animation is finally making progress on all fronts.
In what is a strategic move, Chennai based animation studio Mayabimbham Media shall showcase its Tamil 3D animated short film Puli Raja on an Independence Day half hour slot (8.30am) that it has purchased on Jaya TV.
Interestingly Mayabimbham has not sold any of the 5 minutes of commercial Time that it got with the slot and will instead use that time to promote its own upcoming Tamil 3D animated feature Iyers the great.
Speaking to Animation ‘xpress, Mayabimbham Media MD Venky Baboo shared, “We are very delighted that our show is going on air. Usually TV channels are cautious of taking risks with new kind of programming and especially on festival days. Fortunately Jaya TV was convinced that a Tamil language 3D animated short would be a good way of expanding the scope of the original programming it offers”
Jaya TV VP- Marketing Bala Swaminathan commented, “The thing is that good value based programming is not nessecarily always succesful and vice versa. We have some great original value based shows like kids quizzes, ventriquilism, story telling and Bharatnatyam contests but advertisers are not backing such shows. Nonetheless we produce these shows ourselves even if we barely manage to cover the costs as they are part of our social commitment and help enhance our penetration and profile. Similarly we would love to produce animated content but the costs are not viable”
“Which is why we have sold an Independence Day slot to Mayabimbham Media as we strongly believe that 3D animated cartoons especially vernacular should be encouraged”
Mayabimbham has invested in a slot and it hasn’t even sold the airtime. So how does the studio stand to benefit from this whole excercise?
Venky Baboo explained,”This is a good way for us to test the markets. We have been working on Iyers The Great, our 3D animated feature for quite some while now, and the airing of our 3D animated Tamil short Puli Raja shall serve many purposes. Firstly it will be a test of the market, secondly audiences will get a sampling of a 3D animated show which represents their culture and language”
“Also this activity shall help a lot in enhancing our profile and public recall, besides serving as a relationship building excercise with the broadcaster”
“In the future we plan to sell the airtime, but this time around we have retained it to promote our own upcoming feature” concluded Venky.
Mayabimbham produced Puli Raja with just 5 people and even now is just around 20 people. The studio is also in talks with other South channels for similar activities.
Way to go!