Mayabimbham developing
Tamil IP
This one can make it to the Ripley's 'Believe it
or not'.
23 artists working tediously in a studio
in Valasarawakkam, a distant suburb of Chennai, all of them
working on developing Tamil IP in animation.
Headed by S. Venky Baboo and Sridevi Rao
Mayabimbham Media is putting all its animated eggs in the
Tamil basket.
To his credit, Venky Baboo has already created
Puli Raja, a 20 minute 3D short film in Tamil. Amongst the
products that Mayabimbham has begun work on include Arjun,
Iyers The Great and Ponniyin Selvan.
Of all the 3 products, Arjun it seems will
be the first one to be completed. The show is flash animation
- 13 episodes - 26 mins each and is a story about a small
boy and his adventures with an alien friend. 7 episodes of
Arjun shall be ready by March end and the remaining 6 shall
be complete by end of June. The studio is engaged in advanced
talks with a regional network and expects the deal for Arjun
to close by early April.
While Arjun is a flash series, Iyers the
Great the 90 minute 3D animation Tamil feature, currently
into pre production is a highly ambitious attempt by Maybimbham.
Speaking to Animation 'xpress, Venky commented, "I personally
feel that the animation films should be made in a medium that
can be understood by all, in a canvas that can reach out to
the suburbs and rural areas as much as it can cater to the
big cities. Who says it takes years, millions of dollars and
hundreds of employees to make an animation film?"
Currently under pre production - 'Iyers the
great' Sridevi Rao added, "Whether we get investors
or not, we shall see to it that Iyers the Great shall see
the light of the day. The only difference is that if we have
investors we will be able to come out with our product a bit
earlier"
Planned in 2D and currently into pre production, is the third
product, Ponniyin Selvan,- which is the acclaimed author Kalki's
Magnum Opus. The historical novel takes the readers for a
walk down memory lane to the days of the imperial Cholas.
A prosperous period in Tamizh History and Heritage and is
very close to Venky's heart. Venky is confident that he will
be able to convince some investors for this.
"There might be few Tamilians who have
not read the novel at least once. It is part of our culture
and I am sure of getting a lot of viewers for such a series"
he comments.
Though Mayabimbham's plans are inspiring
and full of initiative, how does the 23 member strong studio
plan to deliver? to this query Venky quips, "We don't
have deep pockets to sustain years of production. Nor do we
have a large team that works on each project. What we have
is an enthusiastic team of fresh, young minds who are passionate
about their work. And when passion and talent blend, the outcome
is not just dazzling, but also created in an unbelievably
short timeframe"
Anand Gurnani
Animation 'xpress is an Indiantelevision.com
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