The Hindu Business Line : Maya Entertainment producing two movies

Chennai April 13 Maya Entertainment Ltd (MEL) will shortly make its debut in feature film creation. The animation and visual effects company plans to invest about Rs 25 crore in two 90-minute feature films — one a full-length animation film based on mythology but styled to suit modern tastes and another, an adventure film containing a substantial amount of visual effects.

According to Mr Rajesh Turakhia, Chief Executive Officer, MEL, production work for the animation film will start in July and that for the visual effects film will start in January. Both will take 18-24 months for completion. Another company has contributed the story idea and script for the films. That company may co-invest in the film production.

talks with content cos

MEL is also looking at tapping revenues from other media such as handheld devices. "We are in talks with content companies to create short animation clips of popular television shows and film sequences. These can be downloaded and viewed on mobile phones," said Mr Turakhia. MEL has created similar clips for US clients based on gags from local comedy shows there.

Merchandising

The company is also betting on film-related merchandising to gain steam in India. Buoyed by merchandise sales from films such as Krrish and Hanuman, MEL plans to explore this option for its proposed films.

In Chennai to inaugurate a training centre under MEL's training wing, Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics, Mr Turakhia spoke to Business Line about the shortage of animation and visual effects professionals in India. "We need about 40,000 professionals to handle the work coming into the industry today versus the 10,000 available," he said. Adding to this constraint is the increased demand from television channels and creators of soaps for visual effects-based programming. The company has worked on soaps such as Shararat, Hero and Son Pari. "In the last 2-3 years television budgets for visual effects have grown to Rs 2 lakh-3 lakh an episode from Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000 an episode," he said.

This has resulted in salary hikes for existing professionals and triggered attrition of up to 35 per cent in the industry. To cater to the talent crunch, MEL plans to add more training centres to its 55-strong network including centres in Malaysia, Fiji, Australia and the US. It has centres in Dubai, London, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Singapore.