I haven't seen this movie. i have seen the trailer. So, its very clear I am talking about the quality of animation alone.
Now many Rajni fans claim this movie should be supported because this is the first time an Indian film is trying motion-capture. The reasons could be the following (ofcourse, other than being Rajni fans) :
a. Anything that comes with the tag 'New Technology' is very warmly welcomed by South Indians, esp tamil industry, which is one of its greatest strengths, and has in the past given us such wonderful visual treats.
b. new technology means more budget and more cost...so 'supposedly' better the visual.
Now any VFX person will surely tell you, the movie hasn't spend enough on Animation. This is what
Phil Stilgoe said in an interview with DNA :
'-While 'Kochadaiiyaan' was made on a budget of Rs 125 crore, Stilgoe clarifies that not all motion capture films incur high costs. "The perception that you need to have high budget to use motion capture technology is wrong. For instance, if you were to go to a location and need a crowd of thousand people, you can create that with just two people in a studio in a few hours using this technology and save a lot of cost," he said.-'
Now what i am trying to tell is that 'Motion-capture' is just a technology that helps to record movement. Full Stop. The actual work of what happens on screen comes later, with the animators sitting day and night working on the textures, lighting, etc. Here, I don't think 'Kochadaiiyan' has given their best.
But i was still happy that somebody tried it.
...until the Rajni fans came into the picture, and started bashing up anybody who would comment on the animation. It is bad, please accept that. For that its a shame you compare it with 'Avatar' or 'LOTR', and say it was made in 1/10th of their budget.
First of all, I hate it when fans pose like 'saviours of Indian Animation', and actually that is the only reason why I am writing this article. They only care about Rajni and his image. All other claims like 'Making india a superpower in animated films', 'Experimenting with new technologies', 'nurturing new talents', etc are just BULL-shit. Because if all that was true (except for experimenting with new tech- south has been doing that for a long time) you would have encouraged many other animation movies, of better quality that has come out in the last few years.
And dont say india doesn't have good animation studios or the budget. See this for example :
See 'Delhi Safari' :
Can you see the clarity in the expressions. Can you see the details in the rendering.
Now you decide, where 'Kochadaiyyan' stands.
I have nothing against this movie, and hope it does well, else everybody including rajni fans will blame 'motion-capture' technology for it, and new ventures who are ambitious, (and ofcourse business-minded), will not go through with it.
a low budget war game
Now budget - Kochadaiyyan was made in 125 cr, while 'Avatar' in 1300 crore rs. Yes the budgets are not same or fair, but so is the comparison. Kochadaiiyan is a fully animated movie, while Avatar is a a live action movie with VFX. Hollywood does make costly animation movies too, but did you know, the recent superhit movie 'LEGO-the movie' was made on 300 crore rs budget,ie, just about double the cost of 'Kochadaiyyan'. Well, its still a lot more, but quality was achieved even for that low a budget for hollywood movies. 'Kochadaiyyan' but couldn't, because there is lot of other distractions in mind than making a good animated feature.
- Assassin's Creed 2 (2009) - $24 million
- Kochadaiyyan ~ $21.5 million
- Assassin's Creed (2007) - $20 million
So, thats all. People go see and enjoy the film.
PS: I am south Indian, and loved' Sivaji' and 'Padayappa'.