Five young minds, all aged below 12 years and whose creativity took them past 14,000-plus others from across the country in ‘Kahaani Masters,’ a story-writing contest held by the Technopark-based Toonz Animation India and Disney India, are putting their brains together to make their stories come alive on screen.
Suhani Shrikande, 10, from Nagpur; Animesh Nigham, 7, from Bhopal; Atri Garg, 11, from New Delhi; Mayul Verma, 11, from Agra; and Aryan Sharma, 9, also from New Delhi, had won the contest, meant for children aged between six and 14 years, and are in Thiruvananthapuram from Thursday for a three-day workshop at the Toonz Studio. Here, under the mentorship of well-known animation film designer Prosenjit Ganguly, the five young story-tellers will design and colour the characters from their stories, enrich the story background, and enhance the story.
The organisers said the idea was to make the children believe in themselves and instil confidence in them. Each of them would be supported by an animator from Toonz. Once the three-day workshop was over, a three-month process by a Toonz creative team would begin to create five animated short films, strictly keeping in mind the designs and stories of the children. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow would be in the form of these short films being telecast on Disney channel during January 2015.
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As for the stories, Aryan’s nine-year-old talent delves into friendship, sacrifice, and celebrating with the family, while 11-year-old Mayul brings to the storyboard a magical toy that makes a big difference in the world. Suhani conveys a message, in a funny manner, that arrogance leads to one’s fall. Animesh lets his imagination run riot while bringing stationary articles to life and letting them take matters into their hands, while Atri narrates the hilarious story of a boy and his mischievous pet.
Toonz CEO P. Jayakumar, in a statement here, said Toonz was ‘spellbound’ at the magnitude of creativity that came to light through the entries for the contest, which was organised in connection with the 15th anniversary of Toonz.