Bengaluru, Dec 10 (PTI) Nilima Eriyat watches as a family of four dig through the ‘selfie frames’ in various shades of brown the moment they walk into the exhibition hall. A one per cent brown is as pale as it can get, where brown becomes beige. A 90 per cent brown is probably what Naomi Campbell will choose to explain her skin tone. The family find their match in the range between 60 and 80 per cent and proceed to click selfies with their faces framed in them.
It is only then Nilima steps in, explaining to the family that the selfie-point is a wacky introduction to ‘What is Your Brown Number?’, one of the animated shorts produced by Studio Eeksaurus. Nilima is the co-founder of the Mumbai-based studio.
The 2D animated satire, a graduate thesis of animation filmmaker Vinnie Ann Bose for National Institute of Design, is one of the films being shown at Bangalore International Centre till December 15.
The first-ever retrospective of Studio Eeksaurus is part of 500-plus ‘Bengaluru Hubba’ events.
Films being featured include ‘Kandittundu’, which won the 69th National Award for Animation Film, and ‘Tokri’, a stop-motion masterpiece that also won the National Award in 2017.
If ‘Kandittundu’ brings to life six creatures from Malayalam folklore in black and white, hand-drawn animation, ‘Tokri’ crafts in clay a traffic junction and street side shops in Mahim West of Mumbai, serving us a slice of life in claymation.
As for ‘What is Your Brown Number?’, in less than five minutes it cracks open the generational and cultural embedding that goes into India’s obsession with “being fair”.
And then there is the popular and yet another National Award (2015) winning ‘Fisherwomen and Tuk Tuk’, a computer-generated animated short that adds more colour to the already exuberant hues of coastal Maharashtra. ‘Aranapuranam’ spins off ‘Kandittundu’: this time, the magic of Malayalam folklore gets a colourful twist as it props up the humble red-tailed skink into a mythological beast.
‘The Seed’, another claymation, which stops short of two minutes, in essence is what Studio Eeksaurus is all about – potentials being nurtured for years until it bears fruit.
Whether one spends 10 minutes or one hour at the ‘Eeksaurus Revealed: Behind the Animated Curtain’, one cannot ignore the years of effort that go into making these short films.
Just as the films serve complex and profound ideas batter fried in humour, the exhibition unpacks Studio Eeksaurus in funny bits and pieces, each nugget a wealth of information.
For instance, the music in ‘The Seed’ was inspired by a traditional Malayalam chant ‘hailaysa’, used by labourers to synchronise their efforts while doing heavy manual labour. The messaging of ‘The Seed’ – about the power of collective strength, teamwork – hits us indeed differently when we know this bit of information.
Suresh Eriyat, the man behind Studio Eeksaurus, believes that the retrospective is a good way to bring the focus on the art of animation.
When filmmaker Nag Ashwin chose Studio Eeksaurus for the 90-second animated segment on Ashwatthama in his post-apocalyptic magnum opus ‘Kalki 2898 AD’, Suresh said he had a glimpse of what mass appeal can do to animation.
“It opens new platforms for us to creatively excel in our work and showcase our capabilities and also bring in money to what we love to do more,” said Suresh.
A platform is what animated short films lack, said Nilima. She said it was even worse when they started 25 years ago.
“Now, at least people understand, okay, there's something called animated shorts,” added Nilima.
Suresh said this is a pity because animated shorts can be a hit too. “We need to build the ecosystem though,” added Suresh
The industry, said Suresh, is stifled not because of lack of talent but because of lack of money. People give up on original content because it takes a lot of time and money, he added. It took nine years to make ‘Tokri’, he pointed out.
“It is a very big problem in India. For example, in Bengaluru there are these studios that bring in multinational projects. The main work is done abroad, and they send it out for post production to India. Maybe only five per cent of these studios are even trying to create their own stories,” said Suresh.
Suresh said especially after working on ‘Kalki’, he is beginning to believe that it might be in the interest of animators if they can convince “mass” filmmakers that they can make an even more fantastic mark when they collaborate with animators.
“There is always that requirement for subculture content along with mass hits. People like S S Rajamouli who made ‘Baahubali’ and Sukumar who made ‘Pushpa’, they have a lot of regard for artistry and craftsmanship. They understand these sorts of films very much. But it’s a conscious decision that they take to work on films that are going to bring in the money and entertain the masses,” said Suresh.
But they might have the budget to accommodate animated shorts within their film, added Suresh. With money from projects like that, animation filmmakers can explore more interesting concepts and techniques of animation.
His retrospective in Bengaluru in a way has got that conversation going, added Suresh.
“I met some animators at the exhibition, who have moved on to UI UX. Now, they are thinking of restarting their career. I am glad my retrospective is making people retrospect. So, this is what I want to do next, make this exhibition into a travelling one and take it to as many places as possible,” said Suresh.