Interviews - Artists


Hemant Singh is a Special Effects Technical Director at Charuvi Design Labs in Delhi. Before attaining this position at CDL, he was a Technical Generalist there. Mr. Singh spent a short time as a Technical Artist and Developer Consultant. He filled the positions of Pipeline Engineer, Rigger and Developer at Ittina Animation Studios. Hemant received his education at Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) and Rajiv Gandhi Technical University, Bhopal.


Hemant SinghCG Today : Mr. Singh, it is a pleasure to have you with us.

Hemant : Thanks.

CG Today : Mr. Hemant, you are currently the Special Effects Technical Director at Charuvi Design Labs in Delhi, a fledgling company begun in 2009 by Charuvi Agrawal. What makes this a studio with which you want to be affiliated?

Hemant : Well, I am working with CDL from the beginning and I found it to be really a nice place to work. The most amazing thing I like about CDL is its nice working environment. We are a small team; we all work together, learn, share and admire each other’s work. It is good to be a part of such an excellent team. And since this is a new company, I have got the chance to set up the production pipeline and experiment with my innovative ideas as well.


Mr. Deva Saravanan is a creative and animation director based out of Chennai. With more than 15 years of experience in the animation industry and having worked on many 2D and 3D animation projects, Deva is certainly a treasure house of knowledge when it comes to creative animation. He is currently leading a strong team working on several interesting projects. He has extensive knowledge in various aspects including character design, concept design and caricatures.


Deva SaravananCG Today : Mr. Deva, Thank you for agreeing to talk to us. Please accept our warm welcome.

Deva : Thank You.

CG Today : We would like to start this interview with a question we seldom get a chance to ask. 15 years and counting in the animation industry is quite an accomplishment. When did you decide this line for a career at a time when animation wasn’t anywhere near what it is now in India?

Deva : It was accident. Well a very interesting accident. When I was a student in Chennai collage of arts and crafts I got a chance to see the movie “Lion king”. In that movie there was a scene where Simbha the cub will cry in front of his father’s dead body “help me… anybody... Somebody,” I was moved in to tears, it’s so amazing that an Animator can make audience laugh and cry. Yes art has that capability to bring emotions in to the people mindset and let them go vivid with their imagination. Animation is a structured way for making the audience think what you are thinking or what you want him to think, that’s the power of animation and that has been keeping me moving on all these years.

Animation was not a well heard name those days; it was Mr. Chandrasekhar, Managing Director of Pentafour software & Exports Limited (Pentamedia Graphics) who introduced us to this industry. After graduation I took up my career in Animation with Pentafour.


Kamal Krishna is, at this time, the Senior Interactive TV Designer at Astro Broadcast Centre, Malaysia. He has been Creative Director and Co-Founder of Shankh Media Studio, Technical Lead in the Multi-Media department of Astro, Malaysia, KL; Multimedia Consultant at Navayuga Infotech; Creative Designer at Tata Teleservices; and Creative Head at Eduempire.com. Mr. Kamal was educated at the School of Visual Arts New York City, Edit Multi-Media Institute, Osmania University, and Nalanda Junior College.


Kamal KrishnaCG Today : Kamal, we are pleased to have you as a guest on CG Today.

Kamal : Thank You.

CG Today : So, you were a painter as a child. At what point did you realize that art was going to be your life’s career?

Kamal : I never thought art was going to be my career. Though I got national and international awards for painting, it was always a hobby and I never saw it as a career.

I joined a multimedia institute just for fun as it seemed as another medium to paint. I never realized when my canvas became a computer. While I was a student in the multimedia institute I simultaneously worked as part of the faculty, which later extended my role as an animator in the in-house production team. Soon offers came in and this field has become my career.


Technical Director at Alvina Films, Sreedhar has also held the position of Animation Supervisor /Technical Director at Virtual Valley Studio, Technical Animator at Aurona Technologies, Animation Supervisor at Skyworks Studio, Freelance Animation / 3d Pipeline In charge, SyncereArts (Canada.), Assistant animator, DQ Entertainment Limited, Final Cleanup Artist, Penta Media Graphic Ltd., Drawing Teacher, Rishi Public School, Hyderabad. He attended Osmania University.


SreedharCG Today : Sreedhar, welcome and thank you for agreeing to speak with us.

Sreedhar : Thanks with pleasure.

CG Today : Music Director Aadesh Shrivastava had recorded the title song for the 3D animated feature film Bo Mamo with 10 known singers - Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Neeraj Shridhar, Kunal Ganjawala, Aadesh Shrivastava, Vijeta Pandit, Roop Kumar Rathod, Juhi Chawla, Richa Sharma and Kailash Kher. Aadesh Shrivastava has said “This is first time that ten known singers are singing for a 3D animation film” and yes, this is really BIG. How do you feel working in such a magnanimous project?

Sreedhar : First of all it is a challenge for my career to work with this project, Thanks to Mr. Shabuddin Chowdary, Creator and Director of Bo Mamo. I am proud to be a part of the unit, working with a mix of a young and enthusiastic team and also with some experienced and well renowned technicians in the Bollywood Industry. And regarding the song, yes it has happened for the first time in the Indian film industry and that too for a 3d Animation film. This is certainly an added advantage for this project. The lyrics are good, and all the world knows about the compositions of Aadesh Shrivastava. The song is good and our technical and animation team is currently working on the song to live up to the expectations of the audio.


Pavithra Ramamurthy works as a Trainee 3D Animator and Rigger for Studio Eeksaurus Productions Pvt. Ltd. She completed her graduation in 3D Animation & Visual Effects program education from Vancouver Film School and has worked as a visual artist and freelance animator for some time. She has also interned at Raj TV, a South Indian television channel and also at Ogilvy and Mather, an internationally acclaimed advertising agency.


CG Today : Welcome to CG Today and thanks for accepting our invitation.

Pavithra : Thank you! It is a pleasure.

CG Today : You have been working with Studio Eeksaurus founded by Mr. Suresh Eriyat, for 3 months now. Studio Eeksaurus serves on design, creative content development for TV and manages pre-production and production of ads, short films and feature films. How has your experience been so far?CG Today - Pavithra Ramamurthy

Pavithra : Its been pretty great when it comes down to being involved in a studio project. Till now I have been pretty much freelancing in Visual effects and animation while otherwise working on my own concepts and ideas for short films. It is a nice and different experience to have a certain amount of supervision and insight from superiors and its been great to work among a team of members where each play an important and intricate role. Eeksaurus is a very challenging studio with a small team working towards achieving a very particular image. An image that could probably represent them in the most creative and perfect way possible.