'West Bengal will soon emerge as animation hub'

Kolkata, Sep 10 (IANS) West Bengal will emerge as one of the leading hubs of the animation, visual effects and gaming industry in the next three years, DQ Entertainment (DQE) chairman and CEO Tapaas Chakravarthi said here Wednesday.

'West Bengal, though a late starter in this sector, has shown a steady growth rate in the last five years. I am sure it will be the next big thrust in the animation, visual effects and gaming industry,' Chakravarthi told reporters during the launch of DQE's first production centre in Kolkata.

'This centre is the first of its kind in West Bengal with advanced IT infrastructure. Our thrust is manpower growth in this sector as there is no dearth of talent here. We have started off with 300 people at the Kolkata centre and will triple it in the next two years,' he said.

DQE will also animate some of veteran filmmaker Satyajit Ray's films along with some stories of Rabindranath Tagore and Abanindronath Tagore and poems of Sukumar Ray to popularise Bengali literature in the international market.

'We are in the process of translating, writing screenplays and working on the visualisation of the 'Feluda' series of Ray and two children classics - 'Raj Kahini' and 'Khirer Putul' - by Abanindronath Tagore,' he said.