A still from The Golden Compass; (below) V.K. Gupta. Picture by Aranya Sen

A field populated by a gargantuan armoured bear that talks, little children, witches, daemons (the souls of inhabitants of this universe which reside outside their bodies as animals) and different tribes engaged in a final spectacular battle scene.

This fantasy world created by Phillip Pullman in His Dark Materials trilogy and executed by director Chris Weitz in The Golden Compass (2007) would hardly have been possible without the help of his technical team that created the stunning visuals and CGIs (computer generated imagery) bringing to life a parallel universe.

V.K. Gupta, one of the technical directors of this film, had witnessed the mammoth project that brought together five companies to collaborate on a single film. “It is perhaps this co-ordination between studios and teams based in London, Los Angeles and Mumbai to create a single scene that led us to win both the Oscar and the BAFTA awards for visual effects ousting favourites like Pirates of the Caribbean,” said Gupta who was in town for Srijon 2008, an animation film and education festival organised by filmmaker Ketan Mehta’s Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics.

“It is quite incredible how one shot in the battle scene had different elements put together by different companies. So while Framestore CFC was working on the bear, Rhythm & Hues Studio was working on the monkeys and Cinesite was working on the background,” he continued.

Gupta had started out as an animator and turned to the more technical side after encountering problems himself and from then on he stuck to creating these pipelines which would enable continuity, co-ordination and composition between the various programmes and teams creating a more efficient technical side.

Gupta also professed his excitement at being in India at a time of such transition and evolution in this field. “The Indian industry is fresh with plenty of new talent and interesting ideas,” said Gupta, who wishes to be part of a studio that will work with every stage of a film from script to screen.

“Unlike the West, where the animation industry has been in place for several decades now, India is still developing and open to new ideas. There is room for innovation,” he continued.

The Indian animation industry is growing rapidly and more indigenous content is being developed. A Toonpur ka Superhero is the Indian answer to Spiderman and Hanuman to the Incredible Hulk. Though the focus is still on mythology, newer themes are being explored.

Apart from animation films, the slick new Bollywood action films have created a demand for quality visual effects of international standards. Software programmes like Maya are integral to the creation of super-chase scenes and acrobatic stunts in fast-paced action films. They use digidoubles that are computer generated 3D doubles of the characters and other technical creations that give the films their added dimension.

Animation in India is on a cusp of change, and men like Gupta profess to be at the right place at the right time, creating interfaces and software devices that hope to combine technical expertise with creative vision, showing the way for art in a world gone digital.