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He insists he wants to continue as a freelance consultant and as
a future endeavour wants to primarily develop original animation
content and explore possibilities on Indian television.
On the state of animation in India, he says: "We have reached
a plateau as far as 2-D animation is concerned. A large number of
studios all over India cater to studios in Taiwan, Korea and Philippines.
Though contract work has increased, it is not proportionate to the
number of studios mushrooming in the country. As a result, work
is being spread thin and there is no likelihood of of growth in
that direction."
Ram Mohan sees the advent of Cartoon Network as a positive since
it has given a much required boost to the profession in the country,
but it according to him, it still has a long way to go. "Ninety
per cent of the programmes on the channel (Cartoon Network) are
sourced from abroad. It is just recently that the channel has started
using Indian content such as The Ramayana and the Pandavaas,"
he says.
Ram Mohan has been drawing cartoons ever since he was in school.
But it was a chance encounter with Clair H Weeks, veteran Disney
animator, who was in Bombay in 1956 to help the government of India
set up an animation studio, that led to a job in the cartoon film
unit where he worked for the next 12 years and paved the way for
his career in animation. He has made countless commercials, some
children's films (including the White Elephant for UNESCO), one
animated feature, the Japanese production of The Legend of Ramayana
(which he co-directed with Koichi Sasaki) and the Meena and Sara
series for UNICEF.
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