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TollywoodIn #WatchWithTNM, we revisit Sekar Kammula’s cult film that saw massive success among a college-going audience. Balakrishna GaneshanAmong the hit films in Sekar Kammula’s filmography, Happy Days was a popular crowd pleaser that wowed audiences when it was released in 2007. The film was a massive success among its intended audience — urban upper caste/class students — but the phenomenon wasn’t surprising. The Telugu film industry has a severe dearth of coming-of-age stories, particularly around the college experience. Earlier films set in colleges used the backdrop to tell dark and violent tales, such as Shiva, Ram Gopal Varma’s 1989 directorial debut, or college life was merely used as an afterthought for comic scenes. Happy Days, which follows a group of friends in their college years, felt both real and refreshing. It simultaneously gave former students a chance to reminisce about their college days, while perhaps giving somewhat unrealistic expectations...

Thiruvananthapuram, April 16: The city is set to host the Indian Animation Masters Summit, starting April 25, which will be attended by the best animators in the country later.

Organised by Technopark based Indian animation major, Toonz Animation, the two-day event will see the likes of Devdutt Pattanai, Ajit Rao, Dhimant Vyas, Sanjiv Waeerkar, Nina Sabnani, Prosenjit Ganguly,Gitanjali Rao, Shekhar Mukherjee, Chetan Sharma,Vaibhav Kumaresh, Manisha Mohan, Gayatri Rao and Ranjit Singh Tony taking part in the summit.

The event is being organised as part of the 15th anniversary celebrations of Toonz.

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Shilpa Ranade

S hilpa Ranade, a well-known figure in the Indian animation industry, presented her latest feature The World of Goopi and Bagha at the Mumbai Film festival 2013. Produced by the Children’s Film Society of India (Cfsi), the film had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival this year.

How do you strike a balance between teaching industrial design at the Indian Institute of Technology (Iit) and making animation films, both creatively and professionally?

My work at the Iit is the kind of work that allows me to practice and teach and to do research. So for me this really forms the basis of all that interests me. I must do all. I can’t just be a practitioner and then not teach, if I am just a teacher then I would not be a good practitioner. So I think it’s all hand in glove. You need to work like that,...