It's a country of story-tellers, but when it comes to penning a good tale for a world-class animation flick or a television series, there's indeed a dearth of novel ideas.

At the session on 'Developing Content for Animation' during the recently-concluded Frames, the annual media industry conclave organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Mumbai, participants were of the view that the Indian animation industry was way behind in terms of appealing to the global audience.

While they concurred that India had an excellent manpower and state-of-the-art infrastructure to deliver the outsourcing deals from the West, there was very little original content that could be tagged world class.

The reason for such a perception, said E Suresh, creative director of Famous House of Animation, is India lacks good story writers who could create globally appealing content.

"There isn't a single research body in the country that can facilitate creating compelling content. Most importantly, there's a dearth of voiceover talent to bring alive the animation content," said Suresh. He feels these three areas should be addressed if we want to create animation content that matches global standards.

"I don't think the animation industry in India is still ready for the world. Most of the content available here are mythology-focused and content creators don't look beyond what already exists in the market," said Nina Elavia Jaipuria, senior vice-president and general manager, Nick India.

Most of the animation content that we see on TV or theatres revolve around epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata or are based on mythological characters such as Ganesh or Hanuman.

"There are no fresh ideas, no sense of story telling and no strong endearing characters that connect with the audience. There is a great need for risk appetite and vision within the industry to move away from mere executors to great content creators," Jaipuria said.

Thinking global at the conceptualisation stage and creating content that can be executed in a 360-degree manner will bring longevity to the concept and characters, making it larger than the medium it is showcased on. This approach helps in connecting with the audience at every point, thereby optimising the revenue generation possibilities, feel experts.

Ashish K Tiwari/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication