Hyderabad may have been an established hub of animation and related industries for several years, but the scenario has turned bleak now, with mounting costs and lack of fresh talent forcing dozens of studios to shut shop every year.
With the city losing quality work to Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Manila and animation experts blaming it on poor funding, the government has assured that the new Gaming, Animation, Media and Entertainment (GAME) policy would help solve many problems.
With its financial and infrastructuralbenefits,the new policy is supposed to bail out the ailing industry but experts in the field are cynical and unsure if it would see the light of the day as the government has merely been talking about it for long.
Meanwhile, industry professionals estimate that around 35-40 per cent of animation studios in the city call it quits every year. While new onesdocrop up,their numbers are not enough to replace the lost ones. “Many don’t have a proper roadmap in this sector. After dabbling for a while, they do not stick around,” said Sumedha Saraogi, senior vice president of the Hyderabadbased DQ Entertainment, which creates content for local and international markets.
Currently, the state has around20big namesin the animation industry and 250-300 smaller firms dealing with digital media. But revenue has gone down for most companies. In fact, 7seas Entertainment Limited, which raked in Rs 18 crore as revenue in 2011-11, could scrape together only Rs 10 crore revenue in 2012-13. With no dedicated governing body, the animation and gaming industry continues to be under the genericNationalAssociation for the Software and Services Companies (Nasscom). “There is a lot of potential in this industry but we need to resolve a few fundamental problems first,” said A Sunil, producer and VFX director with city-based Makuta VFX, which did the visual effects for the movie ‘Eega’.
With high production costs, the animation and gaming sector is capital intensive. A quality licensed software, which is essential for all projects, can cost as much as Rs 1 lakh or more. Such software, being creative products, have highVAT andservicetaxesimposed on them. Devices such as 3D graphic cards, cameras andothersequipment also add to the expenditure.
Further, unhindered electricity supply to studios is critical as all the work is done using computers and electronic gadgets. But with the state facing a huge power crisis, this proves to be difficult.
Experts say genuine talent is also hard to come by as youths in general do not perceive the gaming and animation industry as a very viable career option. Some clients are making a beeline for Malaysia and China in recent years mainly due to fresh ideas and low costs. “We have lost several projects to these countries due to funding. Their governments get actively involved in cases where an international project is involved and also chips in with funding,” said a VFX professional in the city, who has been in the industry for over seven years.
The exodus of projects must be examined to understand how Hyderbad can evolve for the better, said Sumedha Saraogi. The new GAME policy islikely tohave a provision to promote local talent and dedicated time slot on television for programmes to encourage the youth to take it up. “There currently is a lacuna in thedemand andsupply of talent in the industry. With the implementation of the GAME policy, we hope many current issuesof thesector can besorted out,” said Maruti Shanker, managing director, 7seas Entertainment Limited.
