After the announcement of the 63rd National Awards, most of the debates are around who deserved it and who didn’t. But in the clutter of opinions, a team is celebrating their victory. Fisherwoman and TukTuk, a 15-minute film won the Best Animation Film. “It’s an honour to be recognised in our own country,” says Suresh Eriyat, its creative director. Last week, the film bagged the award for excellence at the prestigious Tokyo Anime Awards Festival 2016.
Fisherwoman and TukTuk is a story of a middle-aged fisherwoman who dreams of owning an auto rickshaw and the subsequent consequences. “In India, animation is not recognised as a medium of storytelling and our aim has been to spread awareness that this is an important medium as well,” Suresh says. “This is a film that we have produced on our own and it is at par with international standards,” he adds.
In the niche animation fraternity, the NID alumnus carved out a name for himself much before he opened his own animation company Eeksaurus in 2009. But it is with long form storytelling that he wants to create an awareness for animation in the country. “We make commercials and other animation films while expanding awareness about this,” he explains.
Fisherwoman and TukTuk is the first of the three films that Suresh had started to work on. In the future, he plans to make a feature length animation as well. Defying the general notion of the film audience, Suresh explains how this is not a ‘cartoon’ film — “Aesthetically, this short movie is very Indian in nature — it has got bright colours, the character are loud but it is not a cartoon. There are quite a few experiments we’ve done to set the standards high.”
Film distribution in India is infamous for its harsh complexities. To give a theatrical release to films like Fisherwoman... is a distant dream for Suresh. But he plans to release it on video hosting sites, soon. “There is no platform for animation distribution. So to make it big in this industry, you have to convince those people. There is no other way,” he concludes.
