Sunday, January 03, 2016

A History of TV Animation on the Sub-Continent

The strange thing: every time I read about animation produced in India, the local press is noting how lacklustre the product is. Like for instance:

The children’s animation industry in India has long been dominated by foreign characters of international fame. Local successes are very few and far between and are easily forgotten. ... Even the recently popular ‘Doraemon’ started off as a manga in 1969, and was later turned into a TV series in 1973.

The cost of producing [Indian] cartoons is quite high, while the success rates are low. As a result, Indian children have long been familiar with only some very popular international cartoons, which are at times, dubbed in Hindi. ...

When Indian press disses both the country's television animation and it's theatrical output, you know something is up. As several animation supervisors told me a while ago:

Indian cartoon studios? They seem more focused on doing sub-contract work, and doing it as inexpensively as possible. Quality animation employees who come from India, and there are some, usually leave, because they hit a glass ceiling with wages and quality. Indian studios just want to get the work out, and maintain their profit margins. That's the priority. ...

To date, there hasn't been much product from India that's made much of an impact outside of the country. The list of television shows up there at the link, many based on Hindu legends, don't get much traction on the world market.


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