Animated mythological stories safer bet: Sharan

Mumbai, Sep 21 (UNI) Tarantella Pictures president Sharad Sharan who is in the process of making a 3D animation film on Lord Ganesh said animation filmmakers are opting for mythological stories because they are a safe bet.

''It is difficult to make normal stories in animation and compete with Hollywood whose animation films budget touch 150 million US dollars. Besides, mythological stories touch the chord of Indians.

After all characters like Hanuman, Krishna and Ganesha are super-gods,'' he said.

Mr Sharan said animation industry was still in the nascent stages and was presently worth 300 million US dollars. ''By 2008, the turnover is expected to be one billion US dollars. I hope it becomes a parallel industry to Bollywood like in Hollywood,'' he added.

Speaking about his upcoming venture 'Om Ganesha', Mr Sharan said, ''the story of Ganesha traces the life of the Lord with interesting and unknown facets of the elephant headed god and brings with it over three years of research.'' The success of last year's animation film 'Hanuman' has rejuvanated the animation film industry.

When asked at what stage of production was 'Om Ganesha', he said the character sketches were ready and one schedule of visual effects were held at Ocher Studios in Chennai with the creative head and Managing Director Sondarya Rajnikanth, daughter of Tamil superstar Rajnikanth.

He said Ganesha as an animated figure appears very interesting in its unique artistic forms. After three years of research, we embarked on the script with experts in vedic science and veteran writer Brij Katyal heading the team.

He said, ''The shooting would be held with a 32 to 50 camera set up and capture lot of live action animation. The 3D animation would ensure that the characters look like live characters.'' The film is being made at a budget of four to five millions US dollars, he informed.

Sharan has also roped in Japanese animation experts including those who have been associated with 'Harry Potter', 'Vertical Limits', 'King Kong' among others.

He said 60 per cent of the film will be made on phoenix laser based 52 camera motion picture facilty and 40 per cent will be key framed animated.

Sharan said the sound effects will be done on almost 1,000 to 2,000 tracks in Japan by top award winning sound professionals.

Mr Katiyal who has written the script told UNI that the film will be of 90 minutes and will cover the birth of Lord Ganesha till his glory where he kills all demons like Tarkasur, his marriages to Riddi and Siddhi as well as the story of his brother Karthik. The aspects why Ganesha is so powerful and is worshipped as the first God will be explained.

''I am sure children will like it. The movie will be educative and entertaining. There are five songs in the film, which is expected to be released by the end of 2007 or early 2008', he added.

Sondarya Rajnikanth said, ''the culture, heritage and traditions of India are close to my heart. It had always been my desire to creatively present this rich legacy that I enjoyed visualizing as a child and I am happy that this beginning has happened with the God of all beginnings in the Indian context - Lord Ganesha.'' Sharan said his company has already planned a marketing blitz for the film by merchandising of Ganesha toys in different forms on the eve of the film's release.

The film will be released in 12 Indian languages, he informed.

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