Ram Mohan: The Legend of Animation

Mr.Ram Mohan

    It’s often observed that great personalities have the ability to create opportunities to seize the moment rather than waiting for it to come by. Way back in 1956 when Indians were drawn to the craze of bollywood films, this gentleman named Ram Mohan gave up his post-graduation studies to enter a field which wasn’t even talked about then. Close to six decades have passed by since then. Today he’s one of the pioneers of Animation in India and fondly called as the Father of Indian Animation. All it took was a meeting with Clair H Weeks, a Disney Animator who appreciated the cartoons drawn by this young man. And since then his hobby got transformed into a profession and with him, a promising emergence of a new perspective towards animation in India.

Recounting is initial tryst with animation, he says,” during my school days I had a fascination to draw moving cartoons on the right side of my notebook. As you feathered through the pages of the book you cold see the little characters moving. Cartoons by Virgil Partch and those from Punch Magazine were one of my favorites." The above example clearly showed where the interest lies even though he kept pursuing his higher education in physics. But it was only a matter of time when the love for implementing his creative imagination led him into a different field. He started sketching cartoons for an editorial column by CR Mandy, the then editor of Illustrated Weekly of India.

Meena Series highlighted on
various social issues

As time passed by, after his experience at the Films Division of India, he set up his own firm called Ram Mohan biographics in 1972. The firm started out by making small commercials. However he slowly began to face the crunch of skilled artists to take up bigger projects. Hence he decided to tie-up with Ronie Screwavala from UTV and set up RM-USL, which went on to take up outsourced work. In the mean time he also trained over 450 artists in the span of five years to keep up with the demand. This firm is still credited for coming up with the popular ‘Meena Series’ for the UNICEF.

What makes him different from other animation experts of the industry is his constant highlight on creating animators with creative minds than creative technology. He believes, with latest software an animator can only give the best movements to the character, but beyond that it’s essential to imbibe distinctive emotions, physical features into them, which creates the real impact and more significantly highlights the skill of a true professional.

In a recent interview he expressed concerns of animation schools becoming a commercial business as the industry is expanding. “There are institutes coming up which promise degrees in specialized courses in just 6-7 months, thus creating raw professionals which become a liability and waste of Talent." This according to him has directly affected the attitude of professionals entering the industry. Back in the 1990's youngsters learned animation with a sense of satisfaction that their creativity is being put to use on a larger platform but today many of them wish to look at the salary even before they get a hold of their field.

"It's unfortunate to see today's youngsters learning animation with an eye on the pay packet rather than enjoy the essence of this field"

He established Graphiti School of Animation in 2005 with a clear intention to create professionals with creative minds rather than just learn the software and drag around in the field. The curriculum is based on meeting the current demand of the industry.

Mr. Ram Mohan has reached an age where many others plan of having a peaceful retired life. But this genius still has a burning passion to spend most of his time at the Graphiti studio to supervise and work upon new characters. On a lighter note he mentions, "With over six decades of animation gossip hidden inside, I would better put it to use in the field than let it go by."  As time progresses we hope this veteran animation guru continues to nurture and set new levels for himself and the industry, which he has been effectively doing since past few decades. 




To know more about Mr.Ram Mohan please check out the following link:
http://www.designinindia.net/design-thoughts/masters/ram-mohan/biography.html
You can also interact with him on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ram-Mohan-Animation/226503654032029