Animation & gaming: A $1 billion industry in Hyderabad

Huddled in the confines of their cabins, surrounded by myriad screens and a story board to guide, a group of Hyderabadis are working round the clock to give finishing touches to a new Charlie Chaplin TV series, which will soon be aired across the world. And that's not a one-off case. Work like the animation for a new series on Peter Pan and a brand new Jungle Book, complete with the latest visual effects, are keeping thousands of visual effects supervisors in the city busy.

After its world famous biryani and pearls, the latest addition to Hyderabad's pride is its growing animation industry for games, TV and feature films pegged at a staggering $1 billion, arguably the highest in the country. "The industry has been thriving in the city for the last few years.But it was not until recently that it became recognized as a hub for animation in films and television shows," Rama Krishna, founder and promoter of Animation VFX Comic Gaming (AVCG) Industry of AP told TOI.

Some of the prominent animation works taken up in the city have won accolades in Hollywood. Don't be surprised if these include famous ones like the Incredible Hulk, Chronicles of Narnia and a major chunk of James Cameron's magnum opus Avatar. Another film that relied entirely on city-based experts was the action-comedy movie Knight & Day.

Now, the industry has taken to the storyboards once again for the next Narnia sequel, which is scheduled to release in 2016. "We can't tell you exactly what we are up to as we have a non-disclosure agreement in place. All we can say is that we are putting together some great visual effects," said a representative of Rhythm and Hues.

Hyderabad's booming VFX industry also caters to roughly 50 per cent of the animation work for cartoon channel Nickelodeon, industry insiders said. The city is now counted among the country's premier animation hubs, with stakeholders ranging from Green Gold Animation, DQ Entertainment, Pixxel Arts, Gameshastra as well as the outsourcing units of sev eral global conglomerates such as Dream Works, Pixar and Disney.

It's not just Hollywood, animators are getting increasingly more work from the Telugu film industry itself. Even as Baahubali has become a runaway hit and is racing to join the Rs 200 crore club, animators are already busy with the pre-production work for its sequel. "Especially after the release of Baahubali, which is currently raking in all the moolah, animation has become the talk of the town once again," said a visual effects supervisor.

Rama Krishna explained that animators from the city have panache for two-dimensional to three-dimensional conversion. "Usually in this kind of animation, a new perspective is given to an already two-dimensional movie. We add the third element, which makes the movie look threedimensional," he said.

The technical expertise is making a mark in the world of gaming as well, animation for which has grown by leaps and bounds in the city."With inter national players such as Electronic Arts and NVidia entering the fray, the gaming industry is booming in the city. Apart from coming up with conventional console games, there are many studios in the city which are developing android or iOS based games for smart phones," said Rama Krishna.

Among the six dedicated studios which develop console games in the country, the city proudly possesses two. "There are many independent companies which are working on developing games. Presently, the gaming sector has its sights set on smartphone games because it is readily available and has a wider reach," said Ravi K, COO, X Cube games. The gaming industry, apart from catering to client needs, carries out independent work as well.

"It is fun to work in the animation industry as we get to be part of the creative team that brings characters to life.Our job revolves around the design, once the client informs us of his requirement.We draw up the imagery and send it across," said Pranay Dey, an animator.

No wonder then that experts peg the total visual effect supervisors at a staggering 6,000 and growing every day.