Mumbai (India), January 28: On Day 1 of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Film Festival, a panel discussion was held on the topic of "Creating Infinite Worlds through Animation." In addition to discussing their experiences working in the Indian animation business, Munjal Shroff, Director and COO of Graphiti Multimedia, and Jayakumar Prabhakaran, CEO of Toonz Animation, both discussed their expectations for the sector's future development.
Swati Bhat
Munjal Shroff talked about the success of his own work, "Deepa & Anoop." According to him, the main driving force behind creating this series was to connect an international audience with the Indian context. He also explained how he made sure the series would not only feature Indian representations by adding some "American flavour" by hiring Lisa Goldman.
Jayakumar Prabhakaran used the chance to discuss the social aspects of animation content. He talked about how cartoons influence how kids behave and form entire worldviews. Therefore, he continued, film and television are major contributors to cultural creativity.
Discussions about how Indian folklore has captured the interest of people around the world also took place during this session. Many generations have been enthralled by characters like Tenali Raman and Akbar-Birbal. The panellists also discussed the difficulties they encountered early in their careers in promoting local content because collaborations with well-known international brands and distributors had proven to be financially unsustainable.
The conversation, which was moderated by Chaitanya Chinchilkar, Vice President of Whistling Woods International, also looked at the development of the Indian animation industry and its projected course for the future.