Tag Archives: South Asian Animators

Body Language

East Meets West: Gestures

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Sulekha.com, TV Advertisement, directed by Suresh Eriyat
Sulekha.com, TV Advertisement, directed by Suresh Eriyat

This is a screenshot from a TV advertisement which won the ‘Holland Animation Film Festival Award in 2009’, directed by Suresh Eriyat. Not only did I enjoy the style of this advert, it showcased typical gestures from South Asian cultures. This advert is a taster of the output from modern South Asian animators who are consistently delving into their culture to bring new perspectives.

  • Chand, D., 1764. Ashraf ‘Ali Khan. [Watercolour on Paper].
  • Chand, D., 1764. Mutuby, mistress of Ashraf ‘Ali Khan. [Watercolour on Paper].
Watercolour paintings in Bihar, 1764

For instance, this animation displays similar attributes to Indian folk art and more specifically, Bihari paintings. My thoughts are that, Suresh Eriyat wanted to reference the origins of Indian art and culture through this animation. For me, the Sulekha advert embraced various features of Chand’s watercolour paintings, which are displayed above. Chand’s muted colour palette and use of continuous horizon is translated effortlessly in Eriyat’s animated advert.

Ranade, S., 2015. The Story of Indian Animation – Shilpa Ranade. Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxnGGJRqrew

Looking at Ranade’s work, gestures come into play. The use of leather puppetry pays homage to the traditional forms of Indian animation. Like most modern Indian animators, they bring an element of culture and strategic movement. From researching this, I would like to study how body language and gestures can be synonymous with culture.

‘It is a very powerful medium. It is a very unrestricted medium, it doesn’t have any particular format you need to follow. You can tell any story, you can tell it any which way. You can do abstract things, you can do realistic things you can do all kinds of take offs. For me, that power was very interesting.’ 

Ranade, 2015

Contextual / Historical

The Western Imprint on South Asian Animators

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Glimpse of Indian Animation

Clare Weeks is said to be the ‘Pioneer of Indian Animation’. An American man who had 16 years of work with Disney was invited by the Information of Films India to set up and head the animation division in Bombay, India.

Swamy, R., 1997. Glimpses Of Indian Animation. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv5-YYesbUk

Animation in India started with Leather puppetry, but then began to look at the political side of things within India. The government recognised that animation was a tool to educate the Indian public and to also use it for their political means. For instance, animation as an educational tool was utilised for the common person to truly understand certain aspects about life through visual imagery. During the 1950’s, the majority of the Indian public were unable to read or write, therefore animation allowed people to be educated in a visual way. This form of communication showcased adverts and infographics for political propaganda, shopping, hygiene related issues and so on.

(Abid, 2012)

Following on from the ‘political propaganda’ era of Indian animation, during the mid 70’s, artist ‘Abid’ utilised animation in his fine art practice as displayed in the video above. This is a far stretch from the beginnings of Indian animation, however the commonality between leather puppetry and Abid’s live action / stop motion performance lies within the storytelling. However, the differences are very stark – colour comes into play and therefore the stylistic approach with composition and form is more prevalent.

(Abid, 2012)