'Krishna aur Kans' chronicles early life of Vishnu avatar

Delhi Safari looks somewhat like FernGully, only with lower production values and fewer crazy bats.

Someone owes me two minutes of my life for watching through the bizarre trailer for Sons of Rama.

Anything featuring Narasimha, the lion-man avatar of Vishnu? When I do an image search, it almost always features someone being eviscerated, but occasionally there's less violent fan art.

Animation Xpress, July 9, has a feature article on the release of this on August 3, showing two theatrical posters.

http://www.animationxpress.com/index.php/latest-news/reliance-krishna-aur-kansre...

Animation Xpress, July 18, has a feature article on the CD release of the music and songs in Krishna aur Kans, including almost 45 minutes of music videos (in Hindi, of course).

http://www.animationxpress.com/index.php/latest-news/krishna-aur-kansa-rare-musi...

Animation Xpress, July 31, has a feature article on the Adobe CGI animation in Krishna aur Kans,

http://www.animationxpress.com/index.php/latest-news/adobe-powers-indias-first-s...

Reliance Animation leverages groundbreaking techniques to create a stunning visual experience

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that “Krishna aur Kans”, an animated feature film presented by Reliance Animation, has been powered by Adobe technologies including Adobe® Flash® Professional, Adobe Premiere® Pro, After Effects® and Photoshop®. Set for release on 3 August 2012, Krishna aur Kans will be India’s first stereoscopic 3D animated feature film marking a milestone in the Indian animation industry. A team of over 1,200 exceptional artists have worked over the last five and a half years on this movie using a host of Adobe technologies to bring to life the narrative of Krishna, who is set to mesmerize the audience with his charm and valor. While most of the global releases (in Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu) are in stereoscopic format, the film will also be released in 2D.

For this project, the team at Reliance Animation used Adobe Flash Professional and After Effects extensively, giving the age-old heritage of Indian story telling a digital avatar. In fact, the animation in the film has been done primarily using Adobe Flash software, crafting a magnum opus canvas to help viewers relive the time of Krishna. Additionally, the film has been specially made to support multiple contemporary platforms such as theatres, televisions, computers, tablet devices and mobile screens. The team also used Adobe Premiere Pro as one of the key software in their workflow for offline editing.

“It is indeed a proud moment for our team as we release this film in India. A lot of people have been pleasantly surprised when they hear the film is produced using Adobe tools like Flash, After Effects and Photoshop. For them it was impossible to believe that a full-length animation feature film of such international quality can be made on these tools. This film is a firm testament to the fact that Indian film makers and animators are capable of technical brilliance in film making and animation much touted in the west. Krishna aur Kans as an animated feature film assures ground-breaking quality and mastery of a gripping narrative,” said Ashish S K, Executive Producer of the film and CEO, Reliance Animation.

Commenting on the release of this film Umang Bedi, Managing Director, South Asia, Adobe Systems said “The Indian media and entertainment industry is undergoing a transformation as viewers today demand higher-quality and engaging content. We have been working closely with the team at Reliance Animation on this release and are absolutely excited with the level of technical excellence the team has brought into this animated feature. This film is set to raise the benchmark for the Indian animation industry, which has seen a robust growth over last few years.”

Director of the movie, Vikram Veturi, lists four key factors behind choosing Adobe tools to make this movie:

Seamless integration between Adobe tools including Adobe Flash, Photoshop and After Effects made the entire creative workflow time-efficient as well as economical.
The talent pool required for working on the movie with Adobe tools was easily available.
The learning, adoption and usage curve was not as steep for the above Adobe tools, enabling even newer artists working on the project to deliver superior results.
Adobe Flash technology was at the core of the movie’s production pipeline and utilized two amazing features: ‘Shape Tweens’ and ‘Motion Tweens’, enabling the creative team to create magical effects in the movie.
The voice cast of the film includes Om Puri playing the role of Kans and Juhi Chawla features as Mother Yashoda while Prachi Save plays Krishna. The film also features Manoj Bajpai, Anupam Kher, AK Hangal, Sachin & Supriya Pilgaokar and Mukesh Khanna lending their voices to various prominent characters. The movie also features songs sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal and Babul Supriyo. The music director of the film is Shantanu Moitra and the lyrics are written by Swanand Kirkire.
[email protected]

“Krishna aur Kans” is, of course, not the only Indian animated feature based on Hindu mythological figures from the Ramayana. “Sons of Ram”, an 86-minute feature about the adventures of Luv and Kush, the twin-brother sons of Rama, will be released on 2 November on 400 screens across India in Hindi, English, Tamil, and Telugu. "Sons of Ram" is not anthropomorphic, but there is a lot of Hindu fantasy in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqmbcqyH6vM

“Krishna aur Kans” has achieved something that would be unthinkable in America: tax-free status in six states, with probably more to follow, plus block-bookings by schools for their students, by companies for their employees, and by religious groups for their followers. That’s what happens when an adventure movie about the battles of monsters, demons, and conquering armies versus a 10-year-old god is released in a country deeply devoted to that god.

According to Animation Xpress for 6 August, “India’s first stereoscopic 3D animated feature film “Krishna aur Kans” has been declared “Tax Free” in states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Kerala, Chhattisgarh & West Bengal. Further key states like Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Madhya Pradesh are also strongly considering the proposal. This dual impact of tax-free status in major territories and the release of the film close to Janmasthami is already turning the film into a great success story. It has created a frenzy of advance block bookings across the country as seen never before for any animated film. Schools across the states have started doing block bookings of the shows for their students. Even corporate, social groups and clubs in various cities across the country have done block bookings for their employees and members through bookmyshow.com. Religious organizations like ISCKON and various others have their members booking the shows in advance. The film is released all over the country today.”

http://www.animationxpress.com/index.php/latest-news/krishna-aur-kans-declared-t...