Hindu: Bringing Hollywood quality to Indian animation

DREAM WORK: Manu Ittina. Photo: Murali Kumar K. Manu Ittina, director of Ittina studio, an animation studio in Bangalore returned from Dreamworks, after a five year stint in Hollywood, to set up Takshaa, an animation training institute. Education Plus quizzed him on the scope of the industry in India.

What prompted you to give up a career in DreamWorks and return to India?

India, with its artistically rich and diverse culture has tremendous potential to make good animation. The industry here is relatively young and has a promising future and I feel that I am gaining a lot by coming back here. I have worked for various high quality animation films and have even received onscreen credit for Shrek 2 and Madagascar as Character Animator and I wanted to bring the same quality focus and high end work to this country. I can now use this opportunity to tell our Indian stories to the world in a manner that is respected and loved. In this sense I have not really given up on a career but taken it a step further.

Is the school affiliated to any international university? Where does it derive its syllabus/curriculum from?

The school syllabus is designed in consultation with working professionals from major companies around the world. The environment in which the students are taught is that of any high quality production house. The faculty at Takshaa has extensive international experience and while planning the syllabus their experience of working with major international studios was of immense consequence.

Will students get jobs outside Ittina Animation Studios? Or is the school meant only as a training ground for employees?

The school is a resource for every animation company in the world. We train our students to be the best at what they do. As we have a focus of high quality work at Ittina Animation Studios we tend to hire students from Takshaa as we know they are capable of executing high quality work. We guarantee employment (with minimum salary of Rs. 20,000) to all our graduates. We have also tied up with a major gaming company that plans to employ close to 200 students from Takshaa.

What exactly are the areas covered by the course offered by the animation school? What are the other options available to students after the course?

We offer specialisation in animation, with options in character animation, visual effects, modeling, texturing and games. These are in-depth program. In most cases, those who come to Takshaa want to get jobs in the animation field, but we provide people with the option of short film production as well.

How expensive is the programme? And how does one apply?

The fees depend on the kind of classes the student opts for. You can contact admissions@takshaa.com or call +91-9945277700 or +91-9945137771 for more details about course fee and the application process.

SUDHISH KAMATH

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