NEW DELHI: As any Indian child of the ’90s can attest, when it came to the Ramayana there were three visual interpretations: the Amar Chitra Katha comics, the Hindi live-action series, and the animated movie in both Hindi and English. These three sources were invariably in the background, whether in one’s own house or a neighbour’s or relatives’.
The cartoon movie, titled Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, was especially epic, not least because of the formidable voice casts in both languages.
The English dub had narration by James Earl Jones, and had Ram voiced by Bryan Cranston, while the Hindi one had Amrish Puri voice Ravana, with Shatrughan Sinha as the narrator, while Ram was voiced by the Arun Govil, who essayed the role in the iconic live-action TV series.
And given the animation’s distinctive manga aesthetic, the involvement of Japanese filmmakers was patently obvious.
The 1992 film was made as a part of the 40th anniversary of India-Japan diplomatic relations and was worked on by teams from both countries.
Ishiguro Megumu, a famous Japanese animator who worked on the movie as a production supervisor was in Delhi earlier this week to conduct a workshop organised by Media & Entertainment Skills Council (MESC) in association with Japan Foundation and AiMAP.
Born in Tokyo, Ishiguro Megumu is a renowned Japanese animator and director, who has worked on popular Manga films and series. He is the animation director of Ikkyu San.
The workshop’s theme was Anime Production and Process with 110 participants learning about the Anime Animation processes and what goes on behind the production processes for an anime film/series. During the workshop, Mohit Soni, CEO, MESC, said, “Gaining insights into one of the most popular animation processes is quite insightful for the students. We are really thankful to Mr Ishiguro and the Japan Foundation for making this a reality for the students.”
Megumu, speaking at the event said, “In the event organised with the help of MESC, a lot of young people who were interested in Japan and it’s culture came. They all put up extremely good questions so the time just flew by.”