Tell us about Greeva - Return Of The Lost Hero?
Greeva…, a 90-minute feature film is based on an immortal character projected to be a futuristic version of Lord Hanuman. In the film Greeva is the protector of the universe and its inhabitants. The film has an antagonist in the form of powerful demon king Mahira. There are two sweet kids (both animated) Jay and Sia, with whose help Greeva unleashes his powers.

How did you conceptualise the story?
Having watched a slew of animation films based on mythology, I wondered to why filmmakers are not tapping the innumerable tales that our mythology has in store. All films made so far relate to the past. I thought of making a futuristic film on a mythological tale as yet unexplored in the country. This is a fantasy-filled film with characters that is bound to grip the audience. Greeva -Return Of The Lost Hero will prove that good quality animation content can come from India. The kind of fantasy story and characters developed for the movie are a first of a kind.

How did you develop the characters and animate them?
There are ten main characters in the film. When animating characters, every movement and every action must exist for a reason. If a character were to move about in a series of unrelated actions, it would seem obvious that the animator was moving it, not the character itself. All the movements and actions of a character are the result of its thought process. In creating a ‘thinking character’, the animator gives life to the character by connecting its actions with a thought process. I remember what Walt Disney said, “In most instances, the driving forces behind the action are the mood, the personality, the attitude of the character-or all three. Therefore, the mind is the pilot. We think of things before the body does them.” Let me tell you that we humans can make innumerable non-human things but not a human. God is the actual animator who is in a regular process of creating mankind without any resemblance to each other both by body and by intelligence. Before creating the characters of Greeva, I thought to myself when God can create several characters, can I not make ten characters by the technology, I excel in- animation. By the grace of God, I was able to create the unique characters I envisaged.

How do you create the thought of a character?
To convey the idea that the thoughts of a character are driving its actions, a simple trick is in the anticipation; always lead with the eyes or the head. If the character has eyes, the eyes should move first, locking the focus of its action a few frames before the head. The head should move next, followed a few frames later by his body and the main action. The eyes of a character are the windows to its thoughts; the character’s thoughts are conveyed through the action of its eyes.

Tell us about the pre-production stage and also the animation part
Initially, we designed all the characters and some background. Later we did the animation that included egiving emotions to the characters. It is a realistic quality 3D animation film in which we have used both manual and Motion Capturing technology.

Explain the process of giving emotions to a character.
The personality of a character is conveyed through emotion and it is the best indicator as to how fast an action should be. A character would not do a particular action the same way in two different emotional states. When a character is happy, the timing of his movements will be faster. Conversely, when happy, the movements will be slower.

How do you strike a balance between the content, animation quality and marketing?
Content is most important, as is the beginning point. Then whatever content is developed has to be made keeping in mind quality or it will fail to attract the audience. Here I want to stress that the Indian animation industry lacks in terms of marketing and distribution. Take the case of Roadside Romeo. Yash Raj has come up with good promos and the theatre bear giant-sized posters of the film. Indeed, their marketing technique is awesome. People, more so children, are curious to see the film because for the first time on the Indian screen we will hear voices of stars when the two main characters in the film talk.

How is Greeva progressing?
Greeva is very much my priority. I am seriously working on the film. Now, I am looking for a presenter who can fund, distribute and give Greeva a good release.

Do you think animation has gained ground in the country?
Yes, it has. You can see that there are number of cartoon channels showing umpteen cartoon films. Naturally the play of animation technology is on in full force. Today, many big names from films and corporate industries are involving themselves in animation films.