“From before the nation building animations of Films Division to the child god franchises of post-liberalization India, this book introduces global readers for the first time to the old and new revolutions shaping India’s varied animation sector.  As the editors note, domestic animation has been treated as the ‘proverbial poor cousin’ of the nation’s booming live action industry and Western imports. Drawing together practitioners, scholars, and animators from around the world, this pioneering anthology finally sets the record straight, revealing the breadth, depth and rich diversity of Indian animation. Bravo!”

- Dr. Priya Jaikumar, Professor of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California



This volume brings sustained scholarly attention to the evolving and often underrepresented field of Indian Animation. Situating it within postcolonial frameworks, contributors trace key transitions, from outsourced production for global studios to independent, artisanal and ethnographic practices. Through critical essays and practitioner interviews, the collection explores wide-ranging processes of creation and circulation, highlighting the sector’s exciting heterogeneity and its significance for rethinking the parameters of animation studies.

 

Timothy Jones is Associate Professor of Media Arts and Director of the Academic Media Center at Robert Morris University, USA. His work on animation, education, and industry appears in journals such as Animation Practice, Process & Production, Animation Studies and Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, as well as in the edited collections Reconceptualizing Film Policies (2018) and Animation and Advertising (2019). Tim contributes regularly to Animation Studies 2.0, and co-hosts the podcast Spirited Animation.