Indian Animation – Roadside Romeo

One of the first of its kind in India, Roadside Romeo is truly a great attempt as far as CGI animation is concerned. Under the banner of YashRaj films and with the magical touch of Walt Disney Pictures Jugal Hansraj directed the movie and released for Diwali audiences. Everyone might be remembering that face with blue eyes singing "Ghar se nikalthe hi" , Jugal had done a wonderful job bringing new perspective to Indian Animation and played the role of scriptwriter too. The astounding part 'behind the scene' is that TATA Elxsi one of the subsidiary of TATA groups delivered the animation and visual effects. Described as Visual Computing Labs, Elxsi has involved right from the beginning including visual conceptualization, character design to animation and final output. The production lasted for two and a half years with an grand 150 member crew spending twenty one months on animation. TATA Elxsi’s EKA one of the world’s fastest supercomputers also played a significant role benefiting the production house with composition and animation .

Opportunity to change India

I believe more initiatives and people are spurting all over the country to support and enthrall economic as well as social change. PanIIT and AIDI is trying out another way to achieve it - this time through designs!.

This December designers have an opportunity to become the front-runner of ideas that changes the way society thinks and lives the Indian way. Inspire, Innovate and Transform are the key words of the conference. ‘60 days to transform India’ that’s what event organizers announced in the run-up to the conference that will be held at IIT Madras during December 19 – 21 of 2008.

Setting an expectation on the entries as ,‘Inspire’ new narratives, ‘Innovate’ with what you know and ‘Transform’ with a positive experience in the current context of India. They believe that every idea will have an inspiring story to speak about and their own way to innovate and Transform lives. The award winning entries will attract the attention of communities and customers to give them a practical outcome.

The purpose of AIDI-PanIIT Design awards is to
•Expand national understanding of design as an essential resource for solving the problems around us and envisioning new prosperous futures
•Introduce innovative ideas to business that can take these ideas towards conclusion
•Demonstrate how investment in design potentially impacts overall business success
•Highlight the critical role of design in enhancing quality of life in India

Any practical entries can be made which fits into the theme of competition and they are clearly mentioning that there is no distinction upon the entries as products and services due to the overlapping nature of both.

Featuring seven categories in the contest like
Work and Productivity
Home
Infrastructure
Healthcare
Entertainment and Media
Leisure and Personal
Automobiles and Transportation

Important Dates are:
October 13: Competition opens
November 15: Open for registration and accepting entries on the website
December 11: Last date for submission of entries
December 12-13th: Jurying process
December 13th: Invitation to finalists to attend Pan-IIT 2008 conference
December 21st: Announcement of Best of Category winners.

Start making your entries now,wish you Good Luck.

Theatre Festival 2008 at Ranga Shankara

Its glad for me to start this blog with an entry about Rangashankara.

Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival ‘08 starts on 31st of October and ends on 9th of November. Ten Days of Theatre extravaganza features Four top-line plays from across the country and two commissioned plays. Carrying two shows everyday 11.00 am (on 31 Oct)/2.00 PM (1 & 2 Nov; 7-9 Nov) and 7.30 PM the Fest also accompanies Second Edition of the theatre & Arts Appreciation Course 2008 organized this year by the culture critic Sadanand Menon. This time Rangashankara Theatre Festival will pay tributes to 'Company Theatre' which dominated the Indian Stage in the early part of the 20th Century. In addition to all these there are Film screenings, Featured exhibitions and evening Solo performances.

The Commissioned plays are Jagajyoti Basaveshwara and Sadarame and the festival opens with Theatre and Television Associates (New Delhi) performing Amal Allana’s “Nati Binodini” (in Hindi), noted for its use of five female actors to represent the protagonist Binodini. Theatre Academy, Pune will present Satish Alekar’s “Begum Barve,” while Bharat Natya Samshodhan Mandir’s production “Katiaar Kaaljaat Ghusli” musically narrates the rivalry between two classical music gharanas. Surabhi Company from Andhra Pradesh stages mythological, “Maya Bazaar” known for its spectacular special effects on stage including the descent of Narada on Earth and flying ladoos that land in the mouth of the hungry Ghatodgaja! The Journey of Kannada Sangeet Natak through its Music will narrate the history of 70 years of the Kannada theatre through its music. Conceptualised and directed by Y.K. Muddukrishna, the musical will feature singers from the Company tradition with music by the veteran R. Paramasivaiah.

Ranga Shankara is exhibiting a visual narrative of the Golden Period of Indian Theatre with rare archival photographs of Company Nataka in Karnataka, Sangeet Natak in Maharashtra, Parsi Theatre and Bengal Theatre.

Tickets: At Ranga Shankara and on www.bookmyshow.com

*Source of information Ranga Shankara website