ALIBABA: Alibaba and 40 Thieves was a 90-minute animated film made at $15 million by the Chennai-based Pentamedia Studios. It took just nine months from concept to completion.

The script was written by noted Tamil writer Sujata Rangarajan and was made using 3-D motion picture technology. The songs and background music for the film have been composed by Canada-based composer Praveen Mani and the audio was sold to Universal Studios worldwide.

Alibaba and 40 Thieves was accepted for Oscar screening under the animation category last year.

Pentamedia Studios has created a number of animation shows and is considered one of the pioneers of the industry.

The first film from the Pentamedia Studios was Sinbad The Sailor; and the second, The Pandavas, The Five Warriors, which won the National Award for Best Animated Film and the second Best Animation Feature Film Award at the prestigious Vancouver Animated Film Festival in 2001.

Pentamedia is now working on Son of Aladdin, a 90-minute 3-D animated feature film with a line-up of 21 lead characters, 55 secondary characters, 25 sets and 300 properties. Son of Aladdin is a sequel to Pentamedia's earlier series, Aladdin.

The Indian animation industry is set to register exponential growth, says Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom. The total animation production by India is likely to grow from $0.6 billion in 2001 to $1.5 billion by 2005.

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