Three trail-blazing Bangaloreans are in the core team of Manikantan, the first animated Malayalam movie. Nalin Singh, the producer of the movie, B G Gujjarappa, who has done the concept art and Ravishankar, the creative director talks about their venture.

Tell us about the genesis of ‘Manikantan’?

Nalin Singh: I always wanted to make a movie and I was clear that it should be unique. Ravi and I used to work together. One day Ravi showed a book he had written titled Manikantan, which had illustrations by Gujjarappa. Casually I asked him, what he would like to do in life. Ravi shared his dream of making a universally appealing animation film based on the book. Immediately I knew that this was the movie I wanted to make.

Is the movie in Malayalam?

Nalin Singh: For me, language does not matter. Ravi and I wanted to pick a team that would understand the language of meaningful cinema. Traditionally, if you think of meaningful cinema, you either think of Kerala or Bengal.

Ravishankar: The legend of Manikantan is rooted in Kerala. The style and treatment is blended into the consciousness of every Malayali, so Malayalam was a natural choice.

You talk about style and treatment, how is it going to be different?

Gujjarappa: Reji Syne, the director and I are very clear that we need a treatment that will set this apart from the usual ‘cartoon’ traditions. Also since 2004, Ravi and I have been doing extensive research on the mural traditions of Kerala, their unique colour schemes and motifs for the book Manikantan. It was only a natural extension for me to extend and conceive the concept art for the movie. After several thousand iteration, we think we have something, a style which we can call our own.

Nalin you are relocating from US to Bangalore, Gujjar and Ravi are based in Bangalore while Reji is in Thiruvananthapuram, How did it all work out?

Nalin Singh: Location was not a constraint.This movie will have people from around the globe working on it. From the beginning I wanted a like-minded team. Thanks to the collaborative technologies of today, most of the pre-production for Manikantan happened on the Internet.

Ravishankar: We cannot imagine doing what we did today even 10 years back. The economic resources, technology, sheer talent, process just did not exist.

You mentioned talent, but Indian animation movies are nowhere of comparable standards to international films.

How do you plan to deal with this?

Nalin Singh: The idea is to set new benchmarks. We are committed to invest what it takes for creating an international product that'll have compelling value for a long time to come.
Reji and I will be soon travelling to some of the best South-East Asian studios to handpick the best talent that is available.

We cannot make this a reality without the support of everyone in the animation community in India.

But the cost?

Nalin Singh: It is a labour of love and it will cost what it cost. We'll find the resources.

Future plans?

Ravishankar: We are already initiating discussions for the next project. You'll hear about it in the next six months.
What’s new?

Nalin Singh:The story of Manikantan is the story of young India. It is what a few young people can dream and execute in spite of various constraints. a story that will inspire new experiments in cinema.