Animation Film

Synopsis of the Project

“India moves to a deeper and greater life than the world has yet imagined possible….”
– Sri Aurobindo

Description

A short animation film on Sri Aurobindo, based on our research into his role in India’s freedom. It will cover the period of Sri Aurobindo’s life from when he returned to India after his education in England (1893) to the eventful meeting of the Mother with him (1914). This is the most visible part of Sri Aurobindo’s public life and most thrilling to the youth of India and the world. His further work at Pondicherry will also be suggestively included.

Purpose  

• Introduce Sri Aurobindo to the youth of India and the world, to inspire them
• Do this in a modern medium of communication as a work of timeless art

Film Style

• Animation, of a high artistic quality and aesthesis
• Technically & technologically on par with international standards

Film Duration

Apprx. 20 min.

Project By 

AuroYouth & SAFIER, the youth & educational initiatives of Sri Aurobindo Society, Puducherry

Timeline

Trailer to be ready by May 2021

Full film to be ready for release on 15th August 2022, the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo

Film Budget

1. A seed fund of Rs. 16 lakhs is needed immediately for a short trailer. The creation of the trailer will help us to derive the style of art and characters. It will give us a taste of what is being made and can be used as a means for raising funds for the full film.
2. The full project cost INR 1.4Cr to 1.5Cr.

This is an offering to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother by all of us who work for the realisation of Their vision.

Why Are We Making This Animation Film for Youth?

15th Aug. 2022 is the 75th year of India’s independence and also the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo, a freedom fighter, writer par-excellence, spiritual poet and Yogi.

As a freedom fighter during the early 20th century, Sri Aurobindo fired up all of India to fight for Her Poorna Swaraj, complete independence, through his brilliant writings and subsequent political actions. His integrity, intense patriotism and political acumen lead to the view of the British Government which was clearly expressed in what Lord Minto, the then Viceroy and Governor-General of India, wrote about Sri Aurobindo: “I can only repeat … that he is the most dangerous man we now have to reckon with.”

We are making an animation film on Sri Aurobindo’s role in India’s freedom movement, to inspire the youth and students of our country about the salience and importance of Sri Aurobindo’s contribution as a nation-builder. The upcoming 150th birth anniversary will be the perfect time to bring out this film keeping in mind the spirit of the youth. And in a medium and language that resonates with the young.

Highlights of the Animation Film

The animation film plans to highlight:

• How Sri Aurobindo brought the power of an active spirituality into politics and worked for the birth of a Free India.
• How he experienced the source of Indian culture as a spiritual power which constantly guides and renews; recovered the true sense and importance of Vedas
• His planting the seeds of a revolutionary national education which has its roots in Indian spirituality and is meant to prepare future citizens of India, well-rounded in their growth and capacities, to work for building the nation.

Sri Aurobindo not only lit the fire of complete freedom for his country which was under the rule of the British Raj and worked for the renaissance of its culture, but also, later, opened the doors of the future while living a secluded life in Pondicherry. His life is a vast synthesis of Matter and Spirit, the Ancient and the Modern, the human and the Divine.

About The Animation Style of the Film

Film Style

The medium of animation film allows for fine artistic expressions. Sri Aurobindo has written highly about the Bengal artists like Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose and the renaissance of India’s artistic genius through their work. We wish to derive the art style of the film based on their works to capture the essence of that spirit.  We want to create something of timeless artistic value that can be shown in any of the international film festivals and inspire the generations to come.

Film Director and Production Studio

We have commissioned this film to an animation studio in Mumbai http://studioeeksaurus.com who are well established in this field with many national and international awards. The director and lead animator of the film will be Suresh Eriyath who is the founder of the studio with 20 years of experience.

Inspiration for the Animation Style

We want this film to be a fine work of art expressive of the spirit of India that can be shown in any of the international film festivals for not only its message but also for its artistic value. Besides, we want the film to be of timeless value. To do so, animation is a perfect medium, especially to make it as a work of art. But which artistic style and spirit shall we follow? A guiding light can be found in Sri Aurobindo’s own words.

He wrote in 1909 in Karmayogin under the title ‘The Awakening Soul of India’: “In Bengal, again, the national spirit is seeking to satisfy itself in art and, for the first time since the decline of the Moguls, a new school of national art is developing itself, the school of which Abanindranath Tagore is the founder and master.”

These two paintings, first one by Nandalal Bose and the second by Abanindranath Tagore, are some of the finest examples of the new creation in art in Bengal of that time.

Later in 1918, Sri Aurobindo wrote in his essay ‘The Renaissance in India’:

“This [renaissance of national art of India] is a true new creation, and we may expect that the artistic mind of the rest of India will follow through the gate thus opened, but we may expect it too to take on there other characteristics and find other ways of expression; ….”

This is the spirit we wish to express through the film and the art style of the animation is to be closely derived from these examples representing the timeless spirit of India in new forms.

For more information, please write to:

Shivakumar – Director, AuroYouth & SAFIER Sri Aurobindo Society No. 11, Saint Martin Street Puducherry – 605 001, India

M: +91 94426 25637 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.aurosociety.org