Animation revolution set to sweep India: Canadian pioneer

TORONTO - Canadian animation leader Toon Boom, which pioneered the industry in India and whose Indian operations account for one third of its global business today, sees an animation revolution sweeping the South Asian giant.

“Right now, most Indian studios either work on co-productions or do outsourced work. But in the next couple of years, you will see locally generated content of world class which will be fed into the Indian animation industry. This Indian-produced content will be of such high quality that it will be exported to the US or Europe,” Toon Boom President and CEO Joan Vogelesang told IANS here.

Till now, she said, India faced problems of trained manpower in animation. But with her company entering into partnerships with Mumbai-based Whistling Woods, Aptech and Hyderabad-based Star Features Pvt Ltd, Toon Boom technology is soon going to reach thousands of Indian schools.

A Montreal-based engineering company, Toon Boom has pioneered animation technology globally.

From Disney to Warner Brothers to Universal, all major Hollywood and world studios, including Toonz Animation India, are clients of this Canadian company, which also won an Emmy three years ago for its engineering work.

“We are in 120 countries, but India accounts for one third of revenue for us. It is a very big and important market for us,” said Vogelesang.

“We are very happy that we built this industry from nothing to a $2 billion industry in India today, employing hundreds of thousands of people. About nine years ago when we went to India there was no animation industry, but look where they are today,” she said.

Vogelesang, who was given the lifetime achievement award by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in 2004 for starting this industry in India, said India will become a major hub for animation in the next few years.

“Animation has been a major success story in India. It is going to grow rapidly because animation is being incorporated into not just TV or feature films but also education, the medical field and all sorts of training.

“People have moved away from the written word to the visual world, and the younger generation is tied to it. This industry will go into trillions because it is being incorporated in every walk of life. It is everywhere,” the Canadian said.

She added, “The beauty of animation is that you don’t have to use human beings…it is multicultural and multilingual..we are in exciting times.”

(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)