(11 May 2009 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Students of animation from various studios of Mumbai have won awards for their works depicting various creative scenarios.

The students won out of over 1000 entries at Srijan 2009, one of the country's largest animation fairs. One best entry was chosen in each of the pre-production, production and post-production categories.

Anil Desai, a student from Mumbai, won the award in the pre-production category for Ghajini's Aamir Khan's image. Interestingly, another student from Mumbai, Souvik Roy, won the award in production category for his creative Classic Garage project. The post-production category was won by Shubham Gupta for his Broadway Image.

Srijan showcased actual animation works by existing students and film studios through live demonstrations and illustrations of animation production stages - pre-production, production and post-production activities. After this week's Mumbai edition it will move on to Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad, making it the premier edufair of its kind.

The two-day event saw several workshops, seminars and case studies presented by professionals like Kunal Saigal and Aijaz Rashid of Prime Focus, Jeetendra Bhagtani of Rhythm & Hues Studios India, Sameer Sanischer and Krishnaswamy of MAAC and Argha Sengupta and Priyam Chatterjee of Maya Entertainment Limited (MEL).

Gaurav Markan from Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) commented, "The event has seen some brilliant works of animation this year. The level of skill and quality is a testimonial to India's growing stature in the global animation industry. The animation experts themselves are extremely pleased at this year's results. We're happy to see that Srijan is able to bring out the best in the industry and hope to continue showcasing India's prowess in animation through this annual event."

"Srijan is an attempt to bring students and industry experts together on a single platform to bring about a dialogue between the two. The aim is to popularize animation among youth, showcase its future in various fields, and if required, clear myths and misconceptions about it," Gaurav added.