How important are graphics and animation in Indian cinema?

Cinematographer PB Chaki and editor Arghyakamal Mitra spoke on the importance of graphics and animation in Indian cinema at Kolkata International Film Festival. “I started reading newspapers with Aranyadeb and Mandrake and would wait to lay my hands on Handa Bhona and Batul The Great,” said Chaki. He said the film industries around the world woke up to the importance of a comic book character after Batman won an Oscar.“Bollywood came up with Roadside Romeo about a stray dog in collaboration with an American studio in 2008. Both Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor lent their voices for the project. By then, animation had already come to India in a big way,” he said.

Arghyakamal said people still confuse cartoons with animation films. “There are serious animation films like Loving Vincent and Persepolis. It’s time we understood the difference between the two.”