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“Have mothers on earth stopped giving birth to brave sons?” a booming voice asks in Sanskritised Hindi. Out steps Arjun, the third of the Pandava brothers, to resounding applause, as a host of spectators cheer. The sight is breathtakingly beautiful, and the rich colours create a visual feast.
The scene is a part of animation spectacle Arjun – The Warrior Prince, made by Tata Elxsi’s Visual Computing Labs (VCL). The division has succeeded in capturing on celluloid a slice of the Mahabharata, India’s longest epic and an intrinsic part of its mythology. The film depicts the journey of young Arjun, as he becomes the most powerful warrior of his time. Riding high on the acclaim earned by Roadside Romeo, its first animation feature film, VCL embarked on the journey to create Arjun in October 2008. The second animation film in its repertoire, Arjun was completely different from its predecessor and showcased the versatility that the division was capable of.
 Roadside Romeo was an important film in the context of VCL’s learning curve. It helped the division learn some valuable project management skills. Mr Nagarajan says, “There were unanticipated problems that cropped up during the making of Roadside Romeo, but we learned to solve them as we went along. Our experience of working on the film also brought to the fore our ability to manage a long form project. There are multiple things that have to be accomplished at different stages of any long-duration project. We applied these learnings to Arjun.” 
The production of these films was a feat, especially in a scenario in which the animation industry in India is still fragmented. VCL needed to deal successfully with a slew of challenges in its journey towards completing the film. These challenges included strengthening the capabilities of its infrastructure.
VCL invested in high-end computers and powerful render farms. The availability
of talented artists was another issue. In the absence of any degree course in
animation in India, VCL had to hire students who had completed diploma courses
and train them to be able to work on a theatrical film. “UTV, the film’s producers,” says Pankaj Khandpur, creative director, VCL, “gave us the story and screenplay along with the dubbed audio track and basic sketches of the primary characters. About 75 artists worked on the film.”  The work of creating the characters and backgrounds started in earnest. Storyboards were hand-drawn to give animators an idea of the general look of the film and to get everyone to think as a team. Numerous teams worked in tandem, creating the background, foregrounds and props, and fine-tuning the characters in the film. Mr Khandpur says, “We were given the basic character design for the primary characters, but beyond that the characterisation had to evolve. For example, Arjun had hair that flowed like a luxuriant mane.” A lot of effort was put into creating the backgrounds. In fact, the producers had commissioned two architect-designers to design the palaces and temples seen in the film. These architects went to Nepal, studied the ancient heritage structures there and designed accordingly. 
The detailing has added layers to the visual spectacle that is Arjun – The Warrior Prince. “The film,” says Mr Khandpur, “is a work of art, with a beautiful feel and texture. In that animated world, it looks as true to life as possible.” The film is a milestone for VCL. Mr Nagarajan says, “Before the film was released, we showed the trailer at MIPTV, a market in Cannes, where buyers and sellers of animation films congregate. We received very positive feedback there and have consequently been able to bag projects from buyers in France and the UK. We expect Arjun to help us to position ourselves in the world market.” Arjun has done much to raise expectations for the fledgling animation industry in India. Audiences will now wait eagerly to see what VCL comes up with next.
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