Ram Mohan (26 August 1931 – 11 October 2019) was an Indian animator, title designer and design educator, who was also known as father of Indian Animation and was a veteran in the

Indian animation industry The Indian Animation Industry encompasses traditional 2D animation, 3D animation and visual effects for feature films.

, who started his career at the Cartoon Films Unit,

Films Division of India The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcastin ...

, Government of India in 1956. He was chairman and

chief creative officer A chief creative officer (CCO) is the highest ranking position of the creative team within a company. Depending on the type of company, this position may be responsible for the overall look and feel of marketing, media, and branding associated wit ...

at Graphiti Multimedia, a

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

-based animation company which was established in 1995, and later he also established the Graphiti School of Animation in 2006. He had won the

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...

for Best Non-Feature Animation Film twice, ''You Said It'' (

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

) and ''Fire Games'' (

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

). He was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the 2006

Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It ...

and was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

the fourth-highest civilian award given by

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

in 2014.

Early life and education

Graduated in Chemistry from the

University of Madras The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

and later moved to Mumbai for his post-graduate studies but gave it up to join the Cartoon Films Unit, Films Division, Government of India in 1956. He received training in animation techniques from Clair Weeks of Walt Disney Studios, under the US Technical Aid program. Weeks was at the time serving a two-year stint as the head of the Cartoon Films Unit. Another important person to join at the same time was Bhimsain Khurana, who also became a notable animator (''

Ek Anek Aur Ekta ''Ek Anek Aur Ekta'' or "One, Many, and Unity" (also known as ''Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiyan'' after the title song) is a traditionally animated short educational film released by the Films Division of India (Government of India). It was released ...

'').

Career

Mohan worked as an animator with the Films division till the late 1960s, and thereafter founded Ram Mohan Biographics, in 1972. It ultimately merged with UTV Toons, a division of United Studios Limited (USL) in 1998. Mohan started out by doing character design and story boards for ''This Our India'', an animated film adapted from a book by

Minoo Masani Minocher Rustom "Minoo" Masani (20 November 1905 – 27 May 1998) was an Indian politician, a leading figure of the erstwhile Swatantra Party. He was a three-time Member of Parliament, representing Gujarat's Rajkot constituency in the second, ...

. He scripted, designed and animated many of Cartoon Film unit's productions from 1960 to 1967, including 'Homo Saps' which won the National Award for Best Experimental Film, 1967, and 'Chaos' which won an Award at the Leipzig Festival of short Films in 1968. He participated in the 1967 world retrospective of Animation Cinema in Montreal. In 1968 he left Films Division and joined Prasad Productions as chief of their animation division. In 1972, he established his own production company, Ram Mohan Biographics, which worked on commercials, and the animated feature '' Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama'' (1992), which he co-directed in collaboration with Yugo Sako from Japan. Ram Mohan's film credits include several animation sequences for mainstream filmmakers – an animated song for

B.R. Chopra Baldev Raj Chopra (22 April 1914 – 5 November 2008) was a famous Indian director and producer of Bollywood industry and television series . Best known for directing Hindi films like '' Naya Daur'' (1957), '' Sadhna'' (1958), '' Kanoon'' (196 ...

's '' Pati Patni Aur Woh'' (1978), a

title sequence A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with vi ...

for

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of ...

's ''

Shatranj Ke Khilari ''Shatranj Ke Khilari'', also subtitled and later internationally released with the translated title ''The Chess Players'', is a 1977 Indian film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name ...

'', a sequence for

Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...

's Hindi film, ''

Bhuvan Shome ''Bhuvan Shome'' is a 1969 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Mrinal Sen based on the story of Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay. The cast includes Utpal Dutt (Mr. Bhuvan Shome) and Suhasini Mulay (Gauri, a village belle). Sen based his fil ...

'', and for films such as '' Biwi-O-Biwi'', ''

Do Aur Do Paanch ''Do Aur Do Paanch'' (Hindi: दो और दो पांच, Bengali: দুই আর দুই পাঁচ, English: Two and two make five) is a 1980 Hindi action comedy movie produced by Devar films and directed by Rakesh Kumar. The film ...

'' and ''

Kaamchor ''Kaamchor'' is a 1982 Bollywood drama movie. Produced by Rakesh Roshan, the film was directed by K. Viswanath, a remake of his Telugu film ''Subhodayam'' (1980). The film stars Rakesh Roshan, Jaya Prada, Tanuja, Sujit Kumar, Suresh Oberoi, Shr ...

''. Ram Mohan was also responsible for the spread of animation in India. Many of the leading animation professionals active today in India started their careers in his studio.

Death

Ram Mohan died on 11 October 2019 in Mumbai at the age of 88.

Filmography

Awards

* 1969– National Award for the Best Film on family planning, "Baap Re Baap". * 1972– National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Animation Film: ''You Said It'' * 1974– He was commissioned to script, design and direct a series of educational films on population and environment, "Down to Earth" for the

International Planned Parenthood Federation The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global non-governmental organisation with the broad aims of promoting sexual and reproductive health, and advocating the right of individuals to make their own choices in family ...

and the Family Planning Association of India. *

– National Award for the Best Animation Film: ''Fire Games'' * 1996–

Communication Arts Guild Communication Arts Guild or CAG is an organisation dedicated to the Indian advertising industry. Located in Mumbai, this is the only organisation which has the complete record of the growth of Indian Advertising since Independence. History CAG was ...

Hall of Frame award for Life Time achievement. Series director:“Meena” for UNICEF, a series of 13 episodes dealing with issues concerning the girl child in south Asia. * 2001– Advertising Club Award 'ABBY' for Life Time Achievement. * 2003– I.D.P.A. 'Ezra Mir' award for Life-Time Achievement. Broadcast India * 2014 –

, India's 4th highest civilian award by Govt. of India.

References

Bibliography

* Lent, John A. ''Ram Mohan and RM-USL: India's Change Agents of Animation''. Animation World, August 1998.
''Design In India'' on Ram Mohan

External links

Graphiti Multimedia, Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohan, Ram 1931 births 2019 deaths University of Madras alumni Film and television title designers Animation educators Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Indian animators Indian animated film directors Indian animated film producers