'I never wanted to wear a tie'

Self-taught animator Anand Bhanushali, who runs his own studio in Pune, likes being paid for doing art. At the age of 29, animator-turned-entrepreneur Anand Bhanushali employs 100 people and earns a monthly salary running into lakhs.

He co-founded animation studio Krayon Pictures in Pune with three friends last year. It is making two Indian animation feature films, and has enough work to keep staff busy for the next four years. Bhanushali said he expected to increase his staff level to 300 in two years time.

Anand was born in Mumbai, and regularly returns on weekends to his Mulund family home. He taught himself 3D animation at home while studying for a commerce degree at Mumbai University. He then worked for an animation studio in Bandra before starting his venture in Pune.

"My direction was not towards ending up in 3D animation, but more towards art and just doing art," he explained. "Then, since animation was booming, it seemed to me it was the medium through which I could do art. I used to do a lot of graphic design on my computer and then got into 3D animation," he said. "Your canvas is not paper but a theatre or a television screen."

But he admitted that he was never skilled at drawing, and had always done everything on the computer. According to him you do not need to be "good at art" to work in animation.

"I guess I am the perfect example as I am not an artist," he said. "What you do need is a sense of motion," he said. "You need to be a good visualiser. It is a field with no bars. I want to encourage all the people who are looking at careers who have a notion they can't do it because it is more for arty people, that they can do it."

When hiring staff, he said he tried to gauge if they had a passion for the work as the hours could be tough, and not really evaluate whether they could draw. He said MBAs and engineers had been quite successful.

Anand, whose hobbies are trekking, camping and adventure sports, set up on his own because he wanted to do his own movies rather than more routine work outsourced to India from abroad. Currently, the bulk of the most creative part of animation, the pre-production part, is done overseas.

"My dream is to be a director," he said. "I think more and more Indian animators want creative freedom and are doing their own short films or movies, and it's definitely viable in today's market. The biggest plus of the job is that you get paid for doing art, and you see your name in credits. Every project comes with new problems and hence new solutions. It's not monotonous. It's like not going to work every day and, anyway, I never wanted to wear a tie."

News Source : Samachar