Dubbing for the main character is completed....

We completed the dubbing of the main voice of Punyakoti. We are so grateful to actress Revathy for her cooperation, commitment and dedication. In the picture taken at the studio is Revathy and Ranga, our Sanskrit coach, who is also an Infosys employee. Ranga coaches Infoscions who appear for the various Sanskrit exams out of pure passion. He is my go-to-person for all queries regarding Sanskrit. This is apart from architecting some of the complex financial products. Hats off Ranga and thanks a ton, Revathy madam. We are blessed.

The Process - Why does it take so long to make an animated movie?

One of the biggest challenges in making an animated movie is putting together a production pipeline. The biggest of the studios struggle to get this piece right and which has been a point of failure for many projects in India in the past. As much of each of this depends on the skill of the people who are leading each of these departments. While in the West, the level of specialisation and skill are more mature, Indian animation industry is getting there. While we are not sure if we have cracked it yet, here is the process that we have put in place. Sharing the process we follow at Punyatkoti for a limited 2D animation (flash based) so that it is useful for the rest of you who are contemplating doing something similar.

1. Script
2. Screenplay
3. Shot breakdown
4. Thumbnail
5. Storyboard
6. Animatics - Line up
7. Moving and timed animatics
8. BG Layout
9. Character Layout
10. Painting
11. Sketching
12. Tracing
13. Cleanup
14. Rigging
15. Pre-staging
16. Staging
17. Animation - Action
18. Animation - Expression
19. Animation - Walk and Run Cycles
20. Animation - Lip
21. Quality check and fixes
22. Line-up
23. Editing
24. Compositing
25. Colouring
26. Effects - Ambience
27. Visual Effects
28. Dubbing
29. Scratch music
30. Sound - Ambience
31. Sound - Mixing
32. Rendering

Punyakoti - Teaser 1

Punyakoti - Teaser

Helping Miracles happen...

In 2014, A bunch of us decided to make the first Sanskrit Animated Movie, but did not know how to go about it. In 2015, Punyakoti became the largest crowd funded project of its type. In 2016, we won a special mention at the Social Media Empowerment Award 2016 for setting an example in crowd-funding. 

How did this happen? Because a lot of friends, relatives, colleagues and their friends, relatives and their collegues kept sharing about the project onFaceBook and Twitter. Soon animators, Sanskrit lovers, animation lovers, India lovers, music lovers, film buffs, students, film makers, plainclothes-philanthropists, the-silent-little-change-makers and folks of all shades and hues trickled in.

Someone knew someone who could help and we raised 41 lakhs that has helped us complete 30% of the production. All, at a fraction of the cost that it usually takes to make an animated movie.

And now you can help us reach that one co-producer or institution who can take our production to completion. In case you know a producer or institution, let us know. Else, all you have to do is to invite all your friends to 'like' thePunyakoti page. You never know, whom one of your friends may know. Your next click could make magic happen!

Help us out. Please....

How do I get what I want in life?

So many people ask me why I am making a movie. I have a decent job and good salary. Why would I undertake the risk of making an animated movie in Sanskrit when it is not even clear if anyone will watch it and on top of that, why do I want to crowd fund it. And how did I find the time and money to do what I want to do in life. And am I successful. Many also admit that they also want to do many things in life, but never find the time or money to do what they want. Yet, others say that they don't even know what they want to do in life. Here is a tip that I wanted to share, in case it helps someone. And if there are others that I don't know, share them with me.

One question that I asked myself (thanks to some coaching) was - if I had everything in life, what will I do? - To me, it was a list of things like learning Sanskrit, learning alternate medicine, learning about mural art, write books for children, making an animated movie, learning yoga. learning and composing music, painting etc. My coach asked me to start doing all of this without waiting until I got everything in life. He said life will eventually adjust around all these activities and then I will start to feel as if I have everything in life. After I started doing all of this, it dawned on that I will not be successful in many of the things that I am doing. Yet, they were things that I wanted to do. So I found fulfilment in what I was doing and not waiting for the results (success). I had earlier only read the message from the Gita about working without expectations of results and knew it only as a message. But today, I am not only practising it but also experiencing a certain 'completeness' of life.

I have tried to talk to people about my experiments and what I get. But few take the plunge. And over time I realised why others were struggling. And here is a mega secret tip. I realise the reason many never get to where they want to get is because they are using their own brains to figure things out. Our brains are good enough to survive. For getting beyond ourselves, we need good mentors and coaches. That is why the best of players have them and not the mediocre ones. So you want to get beyond what you know, follow someone else blindly who wishes well for you. Your smartness can only keep you safe and out of trouble - it is designed that way, don't use it to elevate yourself. It is like making your Chief Risk Officer as the CEO of your company.

Actress Revathy will render the Sanskrit voice of Punyakoti