BANGALORE: Bangalore has added another feather to its cap with the city-based Synergy Images Private Ltd. announcing here that a $3-million animation studio will be up on a 75,000 sq. ft plot here. The studio is said to be the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region.

Chief Executive Officer of Synergy Images Private Ltd. Malini Subramaniam said the State Government had come forward to provide land.

Ms. Subramaniam said the studio would have a dormitory for workers. A training centre would also be included. Once the studio would be established the employee strength would rise to 500 from the present 150.

She said her company had created history in Hindi films by making "Zampano," an animated character for the soon-to-be-released movie Friends Forever with Ashmit Patel and Hrishithaa Bhatt in the lead.

"It is for the first time in the history of Indian cinema that the animated characters share over 36 minutes of screen space with live action sequences," Ms. Subramaniam added.

She said that it took 10,000 hours to create Zampano, which plays the hero's role in the film. "The team started by putting their concept on paper and then a clay model of their vision, Zampano got coloured on screen and went through several alterations before he got his body, clothes and facial features," she added.

Acquisition

To a question, she said her company was looking for acquisition of small and medium animation companies.

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