KOCHI: A little over a decade ago, award-winning animator, filmmaker and ad guru Suresh Eriyat found himself, not unusually, stuck in a traffic jam in Mumbai. As he waited for the bus in front of his car to move, a fisherwoman passing on foot attempted to squeeze past the two vehicles parked close together. Wedged in between and unable to make her way, the portly women banged on Suresh’s bonnet and hurled abuses at him before wrangling out with much difficulty. Taken aback, Suresh tried to reason with the woman’s unprovoked outburst only to come to the conclusion that it could have been a concomitant reaction to the drudgery of her mundane life, one weighed down by needs, necessities, hard work and responsibilities.
The image of the woman stayed with Suresh. What if she could have what she wanted? What are her aspirations taking off? This propelled Suresh to make a self-funded animated short film which took five years to make. In his version, the fisherwoman protagonist longs, above all else, to buy an autorickshaw and zip through the city’s streets. Her desire is ultimately fulfilled when she finds a pearl inside one of her catches.
Titled ‘Fisherwoman and tuk tuk’, the short film was released recently on YouTube after having premiered in film festivals across the world over the last few years and winning 18 awards including the national award in 2015. With a prolific body of work that has seen Suresh collaborate with over 300 brands, his film production company Studio Eeksaurus has come up with some of the most iconic ads we have seen in the past few years including the ‘chintamani’ series for ICICI.
As an established animator and designer, Suresh has endeavoured to provide a fillip to art animation and inspire budding animators in India. In this regard, ‘Fisherwoman and tuk tuk’, rendered with CGI in bright, saturated colours was a conscious experimental attempt by the director’s own admission. “Among the art animation community, there is a certain disregard for CGI animation as it is considered very commercial, mainstream and hence lacking in character.
I had this urge to take that very medium and sort of bend it. The other experiment we did with the film was to have a protagonist who was far from the stereotypical good looking woman. I wanted to see how the audience connected with this character. In terms of the colour palette, I wanted the film to resemble a retro Indian movie poster with their bold, kitschy tones. Also, there is a certain loudness and vibrancy to the Indian culture in general in terms of our clothes and celebrations,” says Suresh.
The 15-minute film presents the central character as unabashed with herself, hardened by the experiences she has had in life. “Society has ‘boxed’ her as only a fisherwomen, she is expected to do only that but privately she harbours a dream of owning an auto. The auto is her escape, her only relief and almost even her lover,” adds Suresh. As the film takes an unexpected turn, the viewer is forced to mull over topics of class, gender, companionship and even deeper questions on the eventual meaning of life.
Although independent Indian animation still has long strides to take, Suresh is enthused about the growing patronage it has been receiving in the recent years. “However, we need more data on how animation is being received in the country. Take Japan for example, animation is extremely prominent there. Even director who were traditionally doing live action movies have now branched into animation.” With multiple international collaborations in the pipeline, Suresh’s team is also working on a first-of-its-kind Malayalam animation project currently under wraps. Watch ‘Fisherwoman and tuk tuk’ on YouTube channel @ Studio Eeksaurus