The journey that began with a weary walk under Bombay's unforgiving sun with a 15 kilo knapsack in one hand and a pair of 8 kilo dumbbells in the other. After delivering the iron burden to a friend, I find at the train station negotitating a confirmed ticket with a tout. Confident that I had struck the deal, I lunged into my seat and dozed away only to be awaken by the TC's voice saying something about 'RAC' and that I had to share my seat with a 6 foot tall, 4 foot wide old man. We eventually went to bed together in the classic 69 position. I will abstain from more graphic description out of mercy for the dear voyeuristic reader. Suffice to say I didnt sleep at all. Destination arrives with a cold bath at the public bath courtesy Lalloo Prasad Yadav's inititaives. Refreshed I took a bus to Paldi. Upon reaching the hallowed campus I was denied entry due to the fact that it was just 7am. Perfect time for a short nap at the well designed bus stop and breakfast of milk n cookies. 10am brought with it permission to enter the hallowed premises.Day 1
of Chitrakatha began with the routine 'Cmon baby light my fire' lamp ceremony followed by an exhibition of artwork by NID students. 'WOW' in black, all caps, bold, size 20, font Impact as a friend would say. Then came Chai & Cookies (Vitamin C fix). By which time I had met a pretty woman from delhi who was present on behest of her company. Huh? That was a pleasant surprise for my default mind cynical of all industry. Time to enter the sanctum sanctorum; the auditorium. It seemed to me like the inside of a pyramid and threatened to engulf me in the deepest slumber. In walked a young man with long white hair and attired in a flowing kurta of yore. He spoke on the endearing philosophy of Charles and Ray Eames.
This was followed by Binita Desai's gut-wrenching talk on sticking together and staying alive. And appropriately enough 20years of NID animation enfolded. After the hour long trip down memory lane came the screening of competition films. The parallel programs on various international schools held no fascination since me as a renegade ronin bent on living like a wandering wave. At the end of the day's screening I decided to head out for dinner with a friend who offered me shelter for the night. The hitch? He didnt know the name of the hotel..! After whizzing around town in a rickshaw, the dynamic duo descended at the infamous inn to yak about the exciting future, endless possibilities and the tenacious times we live in.
Day 2
Oh no! I overslept! After wrapping up my morning workout in record time I wolfed down a spicy omlette with toast and rushed to NID. Damn! Missed the sand animation project parable and chose instead to visit the various workshops on campus. Stepped out on a ledge (literally) to meet Allen Shaw; roaming renegade designer with a passion to preach his design philosphy to deserving design schools. Surreal scene it was: sitting on a ledge 25 feet above the ground overlooking the serene sarai offering indiscriminate solace to all weary wanderers.
While disturbing the general decorum and frightening quiet of pre-jury silence I chanced upon Vaibhav Kumaresh; the animator without pause.. Watching the man in action is inspiring to say the least. However a matter more pressing reared its head: lunch! The hunger instinct kicked in beckoning one and all to the 'sarai' again. A shot stop on the way lead to a chat with Ettamina CEO about the origin of its nomenclature. Lunch was a learning experience enlightening me to the rules of frisbee, a game of which was to be played later on between the alumni and students. Well to cut to the chase: experience and cunning won over youth and passion. Got some footage of some classy cats supinely sauntering around.
Oh! there's a surprise workshop!!! Krishnaswamy's silambam skills are on display whilst we endure the suspense. It turns out to be an exciting workshop encompassing acting, drawing, voice modulation and role-playing skills. I got lucky. I was to serenade a hottie called 'Lassi'. A truly awe-inspiring performance since blowing my own horn is what I do best.
Next on the menu: 'The hothouse' with a panel of experts waxing about wot else but animation. Quite disappointing as there was no bloodshed or catfights just plain ol' garden variety civil arguments. IMHO nothing was really addressed or resolved but the unanimous moral was this:
- Storytelling: Focus on your experience
- Just be passionate
- Stay mAd! stay foolish
- More festivals
- The 'character' is king!
After that a tet-a-tete with competition entree Pallavi Malaviya revealed a humble animator who worked on a zero budget and finished in 90 days. Humble pie. This wasnt supposed to be on the menu.. not that I'm complaining.
Alfred of Animac proceeded to wax eloquent on spanish animation which wass the prequel to a presentation of short spanish films. The most important point according to him was the 'will to make films'. Cannot be emphasized more. While the movies are being screened my hypothalamus is franctically considering the various permutations/ combinations for appeasing my insatiable apettite. I needn't have worried. A pretty maiden escorted me to the tantalizing Tibetan joint where I wolfed down every dish they had. Somewhat sated, we rushed back to catch 'The District' a full-length animated feature. Boy! was I glad. The film offered my visual fix of sex, drugs and inane humour for the day. At the stroke of midnight, the 'district' party came to an end. I spent some time sauntering around campus under a full moon and a myriad blanket of stars. When it was time to go I found my bed at the bustop inviting though not very warm. That was soon resolved by a cat that followed me out of the campus and chose to spend the night cuddled up with me.
Day 3
Morning came with hot chai and sizzling bajiyas at the chaiwalla. Bed & Breakfast. Wow! All that was missing was a bath which was taken care of by a friendly rickshaw driver who took me to the nearest public bath. Man! I sure miss the ancient public baths of the days of yore. Nostalgia gave way to flights of evolution with Jose Belemonte, a basque illustrator. His cross-engineered animals and insects much like the results of a madd gene scientist. What was more amazing was the fact that they were hand-made with paper and glue! As was evident in his work he attributed his inspiration to nature. My mind was playing the soundtrack of 'Born to be wild' while he showed us his animation based on his illustrations. Afterwhich Isabel Herguera led us on the path of experimental animation with selected works of Cal Arts students' graduation films. Then continued the final series of competition screening. Sigh! After yet another satisfying lunch, its time for the fellowship of the 'bling' to make its presentation. Yes, the Visual Effects Society was well represented by Tim McGovern, Eric Roth, Peter Chiang and N Madhusudanan.
Pitch your prayers with Toon preacher! Thus spake Silas Hickey and Shamik Majumdar as they gave us the commandments to pitch to the Almighty Cartoon Network and other lesser gods. To spice things up came Nina Sabnani with films celebrating Indian art forms. To complete this delectable delight of design served over 3 days came an aftermint of 3 indian animated shorts by new animators of India; Gitanjali Rao, Narayan Shi & Vaibhav Kumaresh and Uttam, Mehul & Parag.
A well deserved reprieve for world weary animators to revive and refresh themselves on the journey toward truth.
"Beyond our blundering ways, there are inherent forces that overcome error and incompleteness and drive us toward purity of goodness and truth." - Rudolf Arnheim
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