PEAKLIFE

A double Limca Book Record holder and known for the screening of her films at over 50 film festivals, she forayed into the world of visualization and studied sculpture installations at Delhi College of Arts, along with a master’s degree from Canada.

Charuvi, one of India’s leading Artpreneur is transforming animation, filmmaking, and visual art landscape for generations to come. She is the founder and director of her animation studio Charuvi Design Labs (CDL). Best known for technologically enabled large-scale physical artworks, animated short films, TV shows, and immersive experiences (VR/AR).

Charuvi dazzled the world with glimpses of her animation films out of which her biggest achievement has been the visualization of The Hanuman Chalisa in 2014. She has even created a 25 feet tall Hanuman sculpture using almost 26000 small brass bells, known as the “26,000 Bells of light”.

She is currently working with multiple Tv show pilots, exploring Metaverse, creating unique content for India’s rich museum legacy, and giving new horizons to fine arts. In a candid conversation with PeakLife, she talks about exploring Metaverse, her endeavours in visual technology and animation and tells us what’s next for her.

What or who was your inspiration behind pursuing art as a full-time career?

I was always inclined towards fine arts and as early as age, I was drawing and making small sculptures. My family noticed this early on and helped me with training, guidance and all the support possible. With time, as I became aware of great artists and creators, my desire to create better art only became more dominant. Post finishing my bachelor’s in fine arts, I decided to move to digital arts as this was an area of interest while still nascent in India. It was a new canvas for me and one that, I believe, allows for the next evolution of art.

Take us back to how did Charuvi Design Labs happen and what was the idea behind it?

Post finishing my master’s from Sheridan and a job stint in Canada, I decided to set up a studio in Delhi to focus on making digital art, 3D films, installations and other forms of digital creations. It was a creative laboratory in essence and hence the name Charuvi Design Labs.

What was the most significant turning point in your life professionally?

Making our short film, Shri Hanuman Chalisa 3D was the biggest one as it led to us becoming a mainstream studio in the high-end animation space in India. It spawned a TV show, installation art and other content created for a host of related industries. It also allowed me to understand the industry ecosystem in great detail and especially the areas where we needed to innovate while making 3D films.

You have created numerous mythology-inspired figurines, paintings, and augmented reality projects, including the ‘Shri Hanuman Chalisa’. Can you explain your philosophy and ideas behind creating them?

It actually starts by picking up books or reading up on the subject and going into intense depths. You must be exceptionally versed with your subject before even endeavouring to put something on a canvas, be it cotton or digital. Post that, it is indeed a function of imagination, some experimenting and using the skills developed so far to put things in place. Sometimes, they fall flat and one has to restart. Other times, one sees a balance and you keep moving on from there.

You’ve spearheaded the concept of animation in India through multiple projects, but initially while experimenting with augmented reality, what were some challenges you faced?

Art is meant to enthral, engage and inspire. It is an expression and the only thing which is a variable is the medium. In the initial days, the challenge (and to a certain extent, even today) was that in the digital space, there were more ‘tech’ people than actual artists. We needed artists and those who understood tech in the way that was needed for AR, VR and other immersive content (as it is known today). In the west, artists learn tech and become digital artists. In India, it is the reverse and that was and still remains our biggest challenge.

What’s next for you?

Making our own TV shows which would air sometime this year.