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Today we bring to you the NASSCOM Super Pitch for 2007. Held as part of the Animation and Gaming Summit on 1st and 2nd November in Mumbai, the intention was to discover new talent and encourage more Indians to come forward with their original ideas. There were 7 finalists for this year’s second installment, the first being in Jan this year in Hyderabad.
The winners were:
1st Prize – Shri Gajanan Society (Prosenjit Ganguly, Toonz)
A dilapidated apartment block in Mumbai is home to eccentric families from across the length and breadth of the country, displaying a myriad cross-cultural idiosyncrasies! There is the Maharashtrian family of singers, the Gaekwads. Then there is the Ghosh family, Bengalis who love their fish and collecting newspaper articles. The Bucketwallas who love watching videos all the time. The Punjabi Bhatti family of ‘healthy’ people with a skinny kid. There is also the Dosa ‘Don’, the head of the Iyer family. Ronnie Mehta and Preity Kapoor, the society’s lovebirds, Father Gonzales, Goman Thapa and Colonel Singh are the other colourful characters in the story.
While the sparks keep flying in this dynamic neighborhood, it is the kids who often keep things under control. However, just across the street, the posh Tower Condoes and its occupants, the Shastris, pose a serious threat to the existence of this hilarious unity in absurdity, called Shri Gajanan Society.
The co-creators are – Rathan Sam George, Atul Rao, Shekhar Shimpi.
2nd Prize – Nano – Perfection in imperfection (Yogi Chopra)
He introduced the pitch by saying “Imagine when all your problems had only one answer – Do it yourself”.
Nano is an intriguing character, the resident of a weird world that is vast and expansive, where other beings are far and few in between. There’s only Nano and his everyday problems. Nano is smart, slow, funny, lazy, patient but occasionally becomes hysterical. He is a bit crazy
The environment – it is a world where one relies on technology for every single activity. It is a do it yourself world, a world of failed technology. What happens when the technology is very un-user-friendly? It brings conflict into the story. Nano is perpetually in conflict with the environment. The environment is the antagonist in the story. The twist in the tale is a mysterious character who is trying to kill Nano.
Yogi listed a number of written episodes – Nano at the airport, Nano goes to the restaurant. Nano goes grocery shopping, Nano and his ATM woes, Nano and the automated unhelpful Mobile helpline, Nano at the monopod shop, Nano the mountaineer.
The idea is to have 3-5 minute power packed short animated clips set to music. It could be aired in the form of episodic television stories. Nano is a creation for Indian audiences yet it is an international product with no cultural or linguistic barriers. Stories are about universal problems.
3rd Prize – Angelina Joe Lee ( Nishith and team, Turtles)
A story about three frog friends named Angelina, Joe and Lee and the everyday events in their lives. The two male frogs are room mates and constantly vying for the attention of Angelina, the fashion-conscious, popular female frog. While Joe is innocent, talented but clumsy, Lee is smart but loses out to Joe all the time. He therefore constantly schemes against Joe but never wins.
The jury members were-
Muslim Kapasi – MD, Excel Home Videos
Smita Maroo – VP, Shemaroo
Ashish Kulkarni – CEO, Anirights
Jyotirmoy Saha – UTV
Franck Malmin – Def2shoot
Nelson Recinos – Producer & Director
The contestants had a minute and a half to introduce themselves and five minutes to present their pitch. This was followed by a questions from the jury. The judgement criteria were –
Originality and freshness
Story
Characters
Overall project design
Licensing/ leveraging possibilities to different platforms
Relevance to the target group
Business logic
Local appeal
Quality of pitch
The other shortlisted pitches were:
1. Shekhar Iyer (Percept Picture Company) : A Comic Book Adventure
The story is about a nerdy orphan obsessed with comic book superheroes who gets invited into their world. To his dismay he finds out that the superheroes have lost their powers, their princess has been kidnapped and it is up to him to save the day. It is based on the book, A Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell. The execution was done using Macninima Tools.
2. Greg Acuna (Pala Flicks) : Earthlings
Greg, a maker of socially conscious content, made a pitch for a TV series in which 4 aliens come to earth and befriend 4 children. It is based on the lines of Sesame Street where fun and games combine with learning.
3. Shridhar (AntimaFX) : Gulli Cricket
For the first time, gaming content has been included in the Super Pitch. The first such pitch this year was Gulli Cricket by Sridhar of Antimafx. Since it is such a popular game with indians and South Asians worldwide, it will find a large user base. It is based on the street cricket that we see being played all over the country in its lanes and bylanes, therefore called “gulli”. With an unusual interface and popular theme, the game will be single player as well as multiple players, on a variety of platforms.
4. Ashish Nangia (DQ Entertainment) : Tuk Tuk Mania
The pitch by Ashish Nangia of DQ Entertainment. was again a game – Tuk Tuk Mania. It derives its name from the sound made by an auto rickshaw. He thought of the idea while working on the assets for another game. Tuktuk Mania is an action adventure game, where the player plays the role of the driver who has to drop passengers to their destinations, maneuvering his way through the chaotic traffic and narrow streets. The madness and mayhem of the Indian streets elevate the challenge of the game which is to drive fast while making sure you cause the least damage to the rickshaw.
(photos courtesy Prosenjit Ganguly and Yogi Chopra)