For my Year 1 presentation, I decided to focus on the work of Indian animator Bhimsain Khurana (1936-2018).
I actually came across his work while researching Indian animators in general. The minute I heard the song, I remembered my dad singing this to me when I was a little kid! I looked it up immediately and fell in love with the style of the animation and was so happy to find that India had such an influential animator! It is really sad that his work isn’t always readily available on the internet and I found it hard to get a hold of some of his animations that I really wanted to watch. It is sad that we aren’t introduced to such works on TV nowadays because I feel like his work really visualises the cultural and indigenous context of India. The animation has become really commercialised and we are in need of more animators like Bhimsain!
TAKE A LOOK AT THE FILM HERE:
He is widely known as the pioneer of the Indian Animation industry. He worked directly under Ram Mohan (known as the Father of Indian animation), when he undertook work at the Films Division of India.
He actually undertook a diploma in fine art and classical music at Lucknow University and came to Films Division to start his career as a background artist. One of the first films he worked on as a BG artist was called ‘This Our India’. As he was continuing his work in this field, he started taking an interest in animation and learnt a lot from his mentor, Ram Mohan.
He eventually went on to make his own animation films and created his first film called ‘The Climb’ in 1970. It went on to win the Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival. I think this film can be interpreted in many ways; for instance I feel that this is about the fast paced world that we are living in. We are never fully satisfied with the things we have or have achieved and keep wanting more; the film suggesting that this ladder that we climb is never ending and that we should make peace and take a moment to actually enjoy how far we have come.
His award winning film ‘The Climb’ actually gave him the inspiration and courage to open his own independent production house called Climb Media. Bhimsain then went on to expand his animation career, with many aspiring and award winning films such as Na, Ek-Do, Munni, Mehmaan, Freedom is a Thin Line, Kahani Har Zamane Ki and Business is People. He made several ad films, including short films on family planning which won him various awards as well.
He eventually took an interest in live action feature films and decided to expand his career as a director and filmmaker. His critically acclaimed live action films such as Gharonda (1976) and Dooriyan (1979) reflect the middle class life and housing crisis in Mumbai. Here is an interview article by Indian actor Zarina Wahab, who was the leading lady in Bhimsain’s film Gharonda:https://www.cinestaan.com/articles/2018/apr/19/12644/coming-from-animation-bhimsain-could-put-down-shots-on-paper-frame-by-frame-zarina-wahab
His film ‘Ek Anek aur Ekta’ translated in English as ‘One, Many and Unity’ is however, going to be my main focal point for this presentation. This is a wonderful film with the overarching theme of Unity in Diversity and sends an important message to each and every citizen to stand together in the face of adversity inspite of coming from a culturally diverse background. This film was produced in 1974 for the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and was mainly aimed at children aged 6-9. It won the National Film Award for the Best Educational Film in India and went on the win the Best Children’s Film Award in Japan. It is considered as India’s best animation in terms of storytelling.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ek_Anek_Aur_Ekta
An interesting fact: Bhimsain was one of the first Indian animators to have been seated as a jury member on the Annecy Animation Film Festival in France and the Ottawa Animation Film Festival in Canada. He was commissioned by the National Film Board of Canada to make two internationally acclaimed films called ‘Locked’ and ‘Trade’; two very touching films about child labour and girl child trade in India. https://www.nfb.ca/film/trade/ https://www.nfb.ca/film/locked/
He also made one of the very first computer generated animated series called ‘Lok Gatha’ which he based on Indian folktales. This project was commissioned by the Children’s Film Society of India. This series won him three National Awards.
https://scroll.in/reel/876076/ace-animator-and-filmmaker-bhimsain-dies-at-81
Bhimsain was also asked to make a 26 episode series called Vartmaan by Doordarshan, which was the first 3D animated series in India. His son Kireet Khurana was the animation director for this series. The series aired on DD National from 1994-95 a prime channel of Doordarshan. It was entirely produced by Climb Media, Bhimsain’s independent production house which is now headed by his son Kireet Khurana (who is also a very famous animator).
‘Vaartman aims to teach children moral lessons on how to control one’s weaknesses. The leading character, Purush (translation: ‘Man’), fights against the evil Sankat (translation: ‘Trouble’) and his own negative emotions, and ultimately wins over his present (Vartmaan).’ – sourced from Wikipedia
Here is a link to Bhimsain’s website, although it is a shame that most of his earlier work is not easily available to view.
https://bhimsain.com/animations/
Here are also a couple of Interviews I looked at for reference:
Here is the website for Kireet Khurana’s interview on animation, https://www.indiaeducation.net/interviews/kireet-khurana-animator-filmmaker.html