It is a well-known fact that India produces the highest number of films, but when it comes to animation films, India still has a long way to go. "There is no dearth of talent, but what we need is a proper channel and expertise to learn this technique with creativity," said Prakash Moorthy, visiting faculty at the National Institute of Design (NID).

"There is enough talent here, but we need to focus on teaching skills. Now there are many animation courses coming up, but they just teach you software. Luckily, we also have institutes like the NID and IDC, which teach the classical ways of animation for one year, including sketches, sculptors and other basic techniques."

Moorthy is at IFFI to showcase the budding talent of NIFD students as their short contemporary animation films are being premiered. Elaborating that this talent is mostly absorbed by the television or the advertising industry, Moorthy said, "These students always find their careers taking shape in places like Mumbai and Delhi. Along the way, they make these five- or two-minute duration films and send them to various film festivals that manage to bestow awards upon them."

In Moorthy's candid view, this talent is not well-reflected in full-fledged animation feature films. "It is due to the fact that for features, we need better script writers and monetary investment. Also, we do not have that much of experience and are still in the starting phase," added Moorthy.

When asked about the aspect of outsourcing, Moorthy has his apprehensions. "Outsourcing helps the industry no doubt, but it is like selling our art to them. There are people who, after outsourcing, realize later that they cannot do anything on their own."