Bhubaneswar, July 10: The state is ready with its first animation feature film, Dharmapada.

The 90-minute film on the teen architect, who helped place the crown on the Sun Temple in Konark, would be released world wide in four languages (Oriya, English, Hindi and Bengali) by March 2009. The Institute of Digital Media Technology produced the film at a cost of (approximately) Rs 1.5 crore.

“We funded the work with the help from NROs. We began in February and the film should be released by March 2009,” said the film’s technical director Bibhudutt Tripathy.

“Animation is a labour-intensive process and the final output depends on the skills of a team. With over three lakh drawings and over 1,000 hand-painted backgrounds required for an animated movie, proper co-ordination in a team is crucial. It will take a team of at least 100 trained hands to complete Dharmapada,” he added.

The production team also provided training to students of BK College of Arts and Crafts so that they could help in making the animation film.

Directed by Pradeep Tripathy, the film has five songs written by Swaroop Nayak and its music was released today. Dharmapada was the 14-year-old son of chief architect Bishu Maharana, who was engaged by the king of Orissa to construct the Sun Temple in Konark.

As many as 1,200 craftsmen were put to work for the project and they took 12 years to complete the structure. However, all efforts to fix the crown on top of the temple remained incomplete. The king then threatened to execute all 1,200 craftsmen if they did not finish the work by a deadline.

Dharmapda (14), who visited his father, completed the work that has puzzle trained architects. Though delighted that the work was over, the craftsmen wanted Dharmapada to be killed, as they feared the king’s wrath when he got to know that it was the child that completed the task.

Dharmapada then jumped from the temple top into the sea to save all.