Mumbai, 27th January 2010: Visual Computing Labs (VCL), a division of Tata Elxsi Ltd and a leading animation and visual communications studio, has bagged two coveted honors for mind blowing animation and visual effects at the 56th National Film Awards for 2008. Roadside Romeo, India’s first purely-entertainment animated theatrical motion picture, created by Tata Elxsi Ltd.’s Visual Computing Labs (VCL) division has won the “Best Animation Film” National Award for its technical achievements to further the craft of animation for mainstream audience. Mumbai Meri Jaan has won the “Best Special Effects” award for the stunning use of technical effects of visual shorts to mirror a man-made disaster.

Instituted by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, these National Awards for VCL are a fitting testimony to the kind of high end animation and visual effects work that VCL has become synonymous with over the years. This is the second instance where VCL has won a National Film Award. VCL had previously won the “Best Special Effects” honor at the 53rd National Film awards for the super-hit Tamil movie Anniyan.

Expressing delight and commenting on the award wins, Mr. Pankaj Khandpur, Creative Director, VCL, Tata Elxsi Ltd said, “This is an exhilarating moment for all of us at Tata Elxsi’s VCL. Our goal with Roadside Romeo was to create a quality production that would set the standard for future 3D animated Bollywood movies and we are happy to have achieved that. Indian animation has truly come a long way and with Roadside Romeo, we are happy to have advanced it to a totally new altitude.”

Roadside Romeo is the first original and exclusive 3D animated feature to be tailor made for Indian audiences as part of the alliance between Yash Raj Films and Walt Disney where VCL is the animation partner. It is the story of a cute pet dog, Romeo, who was leading a happy life until the family decides to move. They abandon him on the mean streets of Mumbai. Romeo faces the hardship of a stray dog but with time, he adapts to the roadside life style, finds love and settles into a normal life.

Roadside Romeo was released worldwide on October 24, 2008 and has since then received rave reviews on the quality of animation portrayed in the movie. VCL executed the complete visual design and animation for the movie. Credit for film Roadside Romeo as under:

- Pankaj Khandpur – Creative Director
- Sherry Bharda – Creative Supervisor
- Shrirang Sathaye – Animation Director
- Suhael Merchant – Animation Director

Another invigorating work of VCL can be seen in the film Mumbai Meri Jaan, produced by UTV motion pictures. Mumbai Meri Jaan is based on Mumbai train blasts of July 11, 2006. The story deals with lives of 6 people in the aftermath of blast. VCL recreated the CG blast to bring out the severity of incident. The depiction is seen to be photo real in nature to have the desired impact on audience. The work for this CG blast in the film was executed by VFX supervisor - Govardhan Vigraham and Creative Director Pankaj Khandpur.

The 56th National Film Awards were announced on Saturday, 23rd January 2010 in New Delhi. The National Film Awards is administrated by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals and is the most prominent film award ceremony in India, as also one of our country's oldest awards.

About VCL
VCL, India’s preeminent VFX and animation studio, employs around 250 VFX artists and animators at its facility in Mumbai. It has created visual effects for Bollywood hits like New York, Rab Ne Bana DI Jodi, Drona, Bachna Ae Haseeno, Jodhaa Akbar, Taare Zameen Par, Tara Rum Pum, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Dhoom 2, Rang De Basanti and many more. Its clients are some of the biggest and most well known production companies in India including Yash Raj Films, UTV, Dharma Productions, Aamir Khan Productions, Ashutosh Gowarilker Productions Pvt. Ltd etc. In 2008, VCL executed India’s first fully 3D animated mainstream Bollywood theatrical feature, Roadside Romeo, a co-production between Walt Disney Pictures & Yash Raj Films. VCL was nominated at the 7th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards for Roadside Romeo in the “Outstanding Animation in an Animated Motion Picture” category. VCL has executed projects for US companies including Disney, Sony Imageworks, ILM, MGM, Lionsgate, Hasbro, Mike Young Productions and many others. VCL has also worked in many television commercials for leading brands & agencies such as Pillsbury, Coke, Reebok, Microsoft, Colgate, Lux, Pepsi, Toyota, Sony, Nissin, Ariel, Ponds, Volvo, Cadbury, Thums Up, Chevrolet, Zee TV, JWT etc.

About Tata Elxsi
Tata Elxsi (www.tataelxsi.com) is a technology-led creative and design services company and part of the $70 billion Tata Group. It has a global delivery footprint through offices and centers in India, the US, the UK, Japan and Germany. It is a company focused on delivering outsourced Product Design and R&D services and creative solutions to customers worldwide. Headquartered in Bangalore, India, Tata Elxsi is a SEI CMMi Level 5 company, listed and traded on the Indian stock exchanges (NSE: TATAELXSI)

For more information please contact:

Kunal Saigal / S Devnath
Visual Computing Labs (VCL)
M: + 91 – 98201 41006