Latest News - Interview of Mr. N. K. Narasimhan

The Indian Animation Industry Sanra Software Ltd.

To begin with, Acropetal Animation India has merged with Sanra Software Ltd., a Chennai based listed company primarily into 3D animation. Between Acropetal and Sanra we have several projects ranging from animated series for a UK client to feature film animation both in 2D and 3D formats. Further we are currently producing Flash based series running into 104 episodes for a few of our national clients, said Mr.N.K.Narasimhan, Chief Mentor, Sanra Software Ltd., Sanra offers a variety of services from script to screen both in 2D and 3D. And it also developed in various products both for the TV and theatrical releases. Sanra will spearhead the Indian animation industry with a variety of original content. As for the service model, India is the destination for all overseas production majors. “While we continue to spearhead IP development on one front and on the service model we have been a backend production house for some of the well known European producers,” he added.

In order to gear up, Sanra Software has gone on an expansion mode both in Bangalore and Chennai. It’s also launching the training division Pixel Academix which would separate the boys from men in the market place in terms of some unique plans.

Mr. N. K. Narasimhan, Chief Mentor, Sanra Software Ltd., said that, “We at Sanra are filled with thoroughbreds in this art of film making. We are driven by passion, creativity and technology and the group is ably headed by our dynamic Chairman, Mr. A. Venkatramani. Several of our products are set to hit the screen following year and there’s a constant drive within the company to create content and technology for the future. As the saying goes, Content is King, I would sum it up with Sanra as the King of Content!

11-Apr-2008 - Pixel Academix : Animation training centres - Chennai

Pixel Academix, a division of Chennai-based Sanra Software Limited, will start operations by setting up animation training centers in Chennai and Bangalore by the end of this month.

Pixel Academix has been conceptualized to provide career-oriented education in animation, gaming and visual effects to fulfill the demand for animators in today’s market. Uma Karthikeyan, CEO, Pixel Academix, said on Wednesday, “We are starting with our centers in Chennai and Bangalore by the end of April 2008. Pixel Academix plans to focus on the south and west regions for the next 6-9 months. More centers will be started in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad before expanding to tier 2 cities in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.” Pixel is aiming to have at least 20 centers in the south by end-2008 and around 50 centers across India by 2009, she added.

11-Apr-2008 - Pixel Academix plans animation training centres

Ties up with Paradigm Shift for curriculum - Chennai

The Indian animation industry is set for an exponential growth. India has become a preferred destination for outsourcing various international animation and gaming projects. The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) estimates that this industry will touch the $1 billion mark in 2010. Though there are many players in this sector, quality is the cause for concern, says Uma Karthikeyan, Chief Executive Officer, Pixel Academix.

To tap this market and produce quality animators, Pixel Academix, a new animation academy venture of Sanra Software, has decided to set up its own training centers in Chennai and Bangalore by this month end, says Ms. Karthikeyan in an informal chart.

She said Pixel Academix would provide career-oriented education in animation, gaming and visual effects, which saw a growing demand both within the country and abroad. With around 15,000 professionals working across 350-odd animation studios in India, another three lakh professionals would be on demand in the next couple of years, she added.

Ms. Karthikeyan said initially the company would focus on the southern region by setting up four centers at a cost of Rs.15 crore in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and one in Kerala. By the year-end, it would be have 7-8 centers across all metros. Apart from these, the company planned to set up centers on a franchisee model. By the year-end it would have 25 such centers in Tier-II cities of the South.

The fee would range from Rs.25,000 to Rs.2 lakh, she added. The curriculum also included soft skill courses on effective communications, presentation and project planning for which the company had tied-up with the Paradigm Shift, a knowledge consulting company.

11-Apr-2008 - Indian animation gets Hollywood touch : Nandini Sivakumar – Chennai

IT IS boom time for the animation industry in India with leading studios from Hollywood outsourcing their computer graphics and special effects work for animation projects to India. The demand within India too is rising for animated content, some recent examples being movies like Hanuman, Bal Ganesh and My Friend Ganesha. But most Indian ventures have been built around Indian mythology to cater to Indian audiences in India and worldwide.

To break this trend, Chennai-based Sanra Software is working on a movie – Stripes – “an entertaining movie with a message on tiger protection” according to the makers. “The highlight of the movie is that its content is international, not Indian. The production will be on the lines of Disney films like The Lion King or Tarzan,” says Sanra Software chief mentor Narasimhan.

To be produced in a span of 20 months, the entire work for the movie will be done out of its new Bangalore facility, which is expected to be ready in a month’s time. About 150 animators will work on the movie. To be directed by Narasimhan, Stripes has been conceptualized and produced in-house.

While the major part of the movie will be in 2-D format, it will have some 3-D elements as well for special effects. While computer use in animation has gone up, for 2D animation the basic work and characterization still has to be done by hand. But in 3D animation everything can be done on the computer,” says Narasimhan. But he concedes that hand drawn 2D animation still has its own charm.

“Even Disney, which moved to 3D animation in a major way sometime back, now does a lot of 2D work,” he adds for emphasis. The company is using a mix of Harmony software for the 2D aspects and Maya for the 3D part ‘to create some special effects’.

The post-production work though, including voice-casting and music composition, will be done in Canada. The movie will be in English but dubbed into other languages as well. “We are also talking to some studios in Hollywood for international marketing and release,” Sanra Software chairman A.Venkatramani says.

06-Apr-2008 - Big Picture : Business India

Twenty-eight-year-old Uma Karthikeyan started her career as a chartered accountant. Following that she had stints with Marico and Henkel India. But she had her eye on the larger picture. Karthikeyan joined a small firm Sanra Software, an animation and gaming company, as director finance. Starting with a ten member team, the company listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange and now has offices in Chennai, Bangalore and New Jersey. Today Karthikeyan is CEO of Pixel Academix ( a division of Sanra Software Limited), which will focus on providing relevant training in the field of animation, gaming and visual effects.