Mumbai: Animation is getting bigger and better in India and to celebrate this, Tech 2 and Arena Animation in association with Aptech and CNBC 18 held the Golden Cursor Animation Awards on 20 March, 2008 in Mumbai.
The event saw a massive turnout in terms of the who’s who in the Indian Animation Industry. These awards were awarded in 21 categories including best Indian and international feature film (animation). The guests of honor included Speedy comic strip creator Tim Mostert and Spark Unlimited Animation director and co-founder Sunil Thankamushy.
Percept Studios won two awards for Return of Hanuman for Best Animated Film (Abhishek Nayyar) and Best Animated Background Score (Tapas Reliya). E Suresh from Famous Studios also featured as a winner in the Best Animated TVC and Best New Animation Style for the Levi’s Slim Fit TVC. Gitanjali Rao bagged a trophy in the Best Short Film category for her Printed Rainbow. Prime Focus Plus (Kunaal Saigal) took an award for the Best Animation Live Action Combo for Fevicol.
Vaibhav Kumaresh of Vaibhav Studios walked away with four awards to his name for Best Animated PSA (Buladi), Best Animated Channel ID (Symphonick), Best Animated Sequence in a Film (Taare Zameen Par) and Best Animated TVC (Amaron 3). Big Animation Studios CEO Ashish Kulkarni was awarded for three categories, namely Best Animation Sound Effects, Best VFX in an animation film and Best 3D animation, all for Hey Krishna.
Channel V (Jenifa Rodrigues) was awarded the Best Animated Character award for Channel V: Bai. Best Animated Title Sequence in a film/ TV series went to Dhimant Vyas for Taare Zameen Par. Animagic Studios, with Maa-Aa, grabbed two awards for Best 2D Animation (Chetan Sharma) and Best Animation Lyrics (Swanand Kirkire). Golden Cursor Animation Awards named Chetan Sashital as the Best Animation Voice in the industry.
Hanuman by Percept Studios (VG Samant) was inducted into the Hall of fame and as a special award; Ratatouille was awarded the Best International Animation Feature Film.
UN-acclaimed Mostert said, "Indian Animation industry is like a sleeping giant, not aware of its own strength. But the richness of characters and settings in the culture of India will help it emerge as an international power in animation and not just in the technical aspects."
According to the heavyweights present at the awards, the animation market stands to reach a whooping $1 billion dollars in the next few years. Also present at the occasion were director Govind Nihalani of Ghatak fame; Bhim Sain, the father of Indian Animation (Ek Titli, anaik titli); and Ram Mohan.
