The Bluemount School of Arts presents a closer look at Bengaluru’s animation scene.
By T.Parinishta and Mekana Murali
The rather cool thing about Bangalore is, a simple santhu detour can bring you so many places. The Bluemount School of Arts, is one such place. Google Maps will bring you as far as the very end of the santhu — but to get any farther you’ll need to call Mr. Ananda Sai, founder of the animation studio cum school.
He’ll poke his head — out of a window on the fifth floor of a tall, blue glass building — and wave enthusiastically. There is no board or sign that marks that building as being the one that houses the studio, but Sai sir more than makes up for it.
Sai sir, or Ananda sir, as he is called lovingly by his students, has spent over 15 years working in the animation industry. “I used to draw from childhood, I had an artist father.” he says, before going on to detail his experience in the field. Five years with DQ Entertainment, followed by his stint at Tata Elexsi, before he finally opened his own studio — The Bluemount School of Arts, early 2018.
Currently housing 25 students, and up to 10 full-time employees, the Bluemount School of Arts offers a 3–5 month full time course in the arts and animation. Both students and employees come from all over India — Ravi Ranjan Singh, age 22, is one such employee, hailing from a small town in Jharkhand.
“Bangalore is the hub,” he explains. “In the north, there aren’t many studios. Bangalore and Hyderabad have the most.”
A trip to the Bluemount gives a deeper insight into the current day status of the Indian animation industry. As it stands, animation can be split into three categories — animation for kids, VFX (or realistic visual effects), and gaming. And what’s surprising, is the thriving scene of all three in namma Bengaluru. International industry giants like Disney and Dreamworks outsource much of their work to studios in India, something that may come as a surprise to many. Indian studios have worked on titles such as the new and upcoming The Lion King, Shrek, and Puss in Boots, with Bluemount themselves having worked on the last two.
“It’s the Golden Period in the industry,” Ananda sir says enthusiastically. “So much work is coming to India.”
The animator goes on to list out what it is that makes India an appealing place to outsource work — Indian studios excel at communication, are incredibly adaptive, and are creatively on par.
That is not to say that the animation industry in India does not have its own struggles.
The biggest struggle reveals itself to be bias against art as a career opportunity.
Twishampan Das, now 26, spent over 4 years of his life earning a degree in mechanics that he now refers to as ‘4 years wasted.’
“While designing things like machine parts and gears, it does come in handy, but beyond that what other use is there?”
Twishampan has a rather charming origin story for his interest in art. After spending a summer watching channels such as Pogo, and Cartoon Network on a hotel TV, as a young child he went back to his cartoon-less house and decided to make his own characters and stories.
“Back then I thought what I was drawing was amazing, I look at it now and I’m like what crap is this!”
His interest in art didn’t stop, and eventually he found his way to Ananda sir, and after studying under him, Twishampan is now a full-time employee.
Ananda sir stresses on one thing above all else — as long as you have the drive, you can start in the industry at any age.
“You can start at age 30, as long as you have the passion. Of those who work in the field, I’d say around 80% are engineers who quit their job to do animation.”
And this is something all of his students echo, one by one. An artistic background is not a necessity — though it would definitely aid in an animator’s journey. The sheer ardour and intensity with which his students speak of animation is astounding. There is no doubt or uncertainty regarding their future present in any of them, something that is rarely seen in young folk.
However, there are certain things that are lacking in the local animation industry.
Ananda sir speaks wistfully of conventions abroad, and the shortage of an artistic community in Bangalore. GAFX, a Games/VFX/Animation conference in Bangalore is the only Indian convention that any of the animators mention. Comic con is known to many in Bangalore, but unfortunately does not involve the artistic community as much as it does abroad.
Regarding locally produced animations, there is still some ways to go.
“Still lots of things need to be ready from our side.” Ananda sir expresses the need for local funding. “Reliance funds about 60% of Dreamworks — why not invest in Indian studios as well?” He further stresses the impressive work being released by Indian comic houses, and how they need to be supported as well.
The word passion is repeated multiple times, whether by sir himself or his eager students, heavily reflective of the peaceful yet hard working environment that can be observed in the studio. There are soft murmurs of discussion, but it’s evident that none of it is idle chatter. Whether student or employee, many a time they’ll be found staying much longer than the official hours out of their own interest.
