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| (From top) Edwards, Murthy and Deegan. Picture by Rashbehari Das; A scene from Lord of the Rings |
One has been in the city for ?just 48 hours?, leaving his family back home in Los Angeles, another for two months, away from his girlfriend in hometown Hyderabad, while the third has almost become a Calcuttan, having spent over a year here.
The good news for aspiring animators is that Vincent Michael Edwards, Satya Murthy and Denis Deegan have decided to make Calcutta their home for the next year or so. Edwards has worked on animated series like Men In Black, Starship Troopers and Spider-Man, while Murthy?s resume includes stints on blockbusters like Lord of the Rings, Blade 2 and The Scorpion King. Besides numerous animation projects, Deegan was an integral part of the Webel Toonz Academy.
Saturday evening found the trio at an informal launch of Ready To Go? Animate, the latest animation training school to be set up in Calcutta. All of them will function as full-time faculty of the institute, with Edwards shouldering the additional responsibility of the dean.
While it?s a little too early for Edwards, whose wife and kids join him in a couple of days, the other two seem to have fallen in love with the city already. ?I?m liking it a lot. People are much more cordial here than in Hyderabad, where they seem to be caught up in the cyber race,? offered Murthy, during the Saturday launch party at Tantra.
His flatmate, Deegan, liked Calcutta so much while working with Toonz Webel that he?s happy to stay on for some more time. ?Besides, I get the chance to work alongside these great guys,? smiled the Dubliner, whose wife arrives from Korea next week.
?What we?re looking for from aspirants is the fire? the burning enthusiasm,? said Edwards. ?And what we?re looking at is the big vision. From the beginning at our institute to the ending in the studio.? Calcutta?s ?rich traditional heritage? will help to provide the talent pool for the task, the animation experts hope.
If the mood was a little too casual on Saturday night, it was back to business for the three at ?Hollywood Animation ? New Age Career Option?, a session organised by FICCI Ladies Organisation and Ready To Go? Animate on Sunday, with state IT minister Manab Mukherjee in attendance.
?There is a reason why a movie like The Incredibles does business worth half-a-billion dollars, while one like Sinbad with great looks and a star-cast doesn?t do much,? Edwards told the crowd of young hopefuls at the gathering. ?The reason is a great story. And we will create great artistes, animators and storytellers.?
Also at the session, Denis Deegan brought to life a giant dinosaur eating another with rapid pencil-strokes to demonstrate how traditional 2D animation is done, while Murthy dwelled on aspects of 3D animation.
?Animation is no rocket science? it?s just like playing the guitar,? summed up Edwards. Aspiring animators in the city will hope the trio helps them to hit the right note soon.
The master and his moments
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| (Top) Sandip Ray and Adoor Gopalakrishnan at the gallery opening. Picture by Aranya Sen. (Above) One of Nemai Ghosh?s photographs, where Satyajit Ray directs on the sets of Ashani Sanket |
We keep talking about the greatness of Satyajit Ray and his contribution to Indian cinema, but we hardly do anything to keep his legacy alive,? said Ray?s ?privileged photographer?, Nemai Ghosh, at the inauguration of the exclusive photo gallery of the legendary film-maker at the St Xavier?s College auditorium on Saturday.
Fifty-one of Ghosh?s photographs freezing Ray in his myriad moods, on and off the sets, have found permanent space in the Park Street institution. It was none other than Adoor Gopalakrishnan ? one of the harbingers of the Indian New Wave cinema and whom Ray had always held in great regard ? who cut the ribbon.
?Ray?s Pather Panchali was the start as far as quality Indian cinema is concerned,? said Gopalakrishnan. ?Its inherent qualities in structuring, scripting and storytelling have made it a classic, which still plays to packed houses everywhere.?
Son Sandip Ray was also present and was happy with the permanence of the gallery. ?There have only been exhibitions across the city, which are held for a fixed period of time,? he said. ?But here, one can visit any time and go back to his works. I am not sure whether there is a gallery of his photographs somewhere in the US, but I think this is the first of its kind here in Calcutta.?
Housing the gallery was an honour for St Xavier?s College authorities. Said principal Father P.C. Matthew: ?We are extremely proud that Ray?s pictures could find place in a sacred pantheon like our college. It will inspire our staff and students to pursue bigger dreams the way Ray did.?
What makes the gallery special is, of course, the selected set of images which instantly takes you back in time when Ray used to rustle up one classic after the other. The pictures on display not only capture the method of the master, but also throws light on his madness.
The expressions on Ray?s face as he directs Samit Bhanja and Simi Garewal in the love-making scene in Aranyer Din Ratri, or when he shows Barun Chanda how to look away from the camera for a scene in Seemabadhdha give a peep into the mindscape of the maestro and how involved he was with every frame of his movies.
There are also some rare pictures of Ray at the Gangtok marketplace for the shooting of his banned documentary Sikkim, and him running through the forests with the camera for a shot in Ashani Sanket. Don?t miss Ray the graphic artist as he sits with his crayon pencils to draw the title card of Sonar Kella or crouches on the floor to give finishing touches to the title motif for Joy Baba Felunath.
The inauguration of the gallery was followed by a 35 mm screening of Pather Panchali. And yet again, it was a packed college auditorium, which watched with breathless awe as Apu and Durga ran through the kaash-flower fields one more time.
