All you need to know about Punyakoti.
Check out the making of Punyakoti, from inception to final output – ideation, conceptualization, challenges of making an Animated movie, crowdfunding, music, release on Netflix and many more.
How the concept of Punyakoti emerged?
The journey of Punyakoti, the first Sanskrit animated feature film, started in 2013 when Ravishankar, an employee of Infosys, heard the story of Punyakoti during a bus ride. Ravi was touched and moved. But there were some questions that went unanswered in his mind. How did the cow come out of its grazing grounds? Why did Arbuta step out of the jungle?
Ravi was also a storyteller and writer. He wrote an imaginary back story of the cow and the tiger. The plot was around the village where mindless deforestation of the jungles around the Kaveri River was destroying the habitats of the animals nearby.
The book was translated and published by Samskrita Bharati in Sanskrit with beautiful illustrations by the famous artist BG Gujjarappa.
How Punyakoti became Animated?
Ravi had worked in the multimedia department of a famous publishing company earlier and was fascinated by the Art and technology of Animation. He had a dream of making an animated movie for many years. He and his animator friends thought that Ravi’s story could make an interesting feature film.
In 2014, they started a website called punyakoti.com and started looking for animators who could work with them in the movie. They approached several producers and animators, but few were willing to partner with something as risky as this. The team approached the legendary composer Sri. Ilaiyaraaja who readily agreed to support the movie whenever it gets produced. He liked the script. This was a big confidence boost.
A few friends in Infosys suggested that the team meet Sri. Mohandas Pai, the former CFO of Infosys and a philanthropist. Mr. Pai recommended Wishberry – a crowdfunding platform to help launch the movie instead of looking for a single producer.
In 2015, the team raised 41 lakhs, a record for any such venture through Wishberry by whipping up a social media campaign around the project. It also got attention and some publicity. The team was confident of taking the movie to production and seek completing funds.
Pre-production and dubbing were done by 2016. The team roped in popular actors like Roger Narayan and Revathi for the voice cast. Prof. Leela, who had more than four decades of experience in Sanskrit drama who took over the entire responsibility of supervising the dubbing. Dr. Shankar Rajaraman, a doctor and poet readily wrote the songs for the movie.
Ravi and the team had come out with a unique model of production. As all the animators were freelancing with regular jobs, they would all come back from their day jobs and connect through Google Hangouts after dinner. Each sequence was shared using the screen-share feature. Ravi directed each shot and the team would work through the night. This was the first time a movie was getting assembled with the teams working remotely in 7 different cities. There was no single studio or supervisor. The teams took joint decisions and wanted to give their best for the movie. There were also many trials and errors.
Everything seemed to be going well but not for long. Animation was a costly affair and Ravi was not willing to compromise on quality. By end of 2016, the team ran out of funding. Many of the animators abandoned the project. There was no one in sight to invest in the idea though the team had approached several people.
Ravishankar’s dedication and passion inspired his wife Sindhu who came forward to support him. They used their savings and kept the project going forward. Some good friends also stepped in to offer financial and moral support. Professor Leela who had earlier supported Ravi with dubbing offered up her savings.
But it was like moving a mountain. The prospect of stopping the project was unthinkable. I would rather lose money than respect, Ravi said to the team. Ravi spent sleepless nights. Many people made fun of him for attempting to doing something foolish like this. Some wanted him to just give up and move on. There was a time when I did not want to pick up the phone, Ravi recalls.
It was then that Girish, who was the main animator came forward and quit his job and work full time to complete Punyakoti. The team got together once more to complete the production. In 2018, they approached Mr. Pai again, who offered to help them financially once more and recommended that they go back to crowdfunding again, this time for completing the post production.
By then, the trailer of the movie was released on YouTube and it went viral with over 2 lakh views within a few days. It was a testimony that the movie had potential. Today, the trailer is close to half a million views. The second round of funding through Wishberry was also a success. By now, more than 450 people from around the world had now donated to the making of Punyakoti through both the rounds of funding.
At last in June 2019, Punyakoti was completed with 4 songs and background score by Sri. Ilaiyaraaja. Manoj Kannoth, the national award-winning editor who cut the film into its final shape reassured the team that they had a winning product. It was a milestone in Indian Cinema.
It caught the attention of the animation industry and won 4 awards (for the best digital film, character design, voice and screenplay) at the Annual Animation Network Awards in Mumbai.
Punyakoti on Netflix:
The response from Indian exhibitors has been lukewarm. Indians urban families would rather spend a thousand rupees at McDonald’s than watching a Sanskrit movie is what one distributor said which summarises the attitude that we have towards our culture, Ravi acknowledges sadly. Ravi had also approached the government, both central and state but with little results. They have so many other priorities, I presume, says Ravi.
Now ‘Punyakoti – A Truthful Mother’ is available on Netflix. It is the platform that is taking Punyakoti to all lovers of Sanskrit and Indian culture. Ravi calls the movie as the most popular Sanskrit product in the world at present. The 85-minute movie has English subtitles and could be an invaluable tool for familiarisation in Sanskrit. Surprisingly, a lot of interest in the movie has come from Europe.
Check out the link of Punyakoti on Netflix.
https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81260948