Dhaka in a Gotham setting with neon logos of Mimi, BTV, Sunlite, Keya, Nabisco staring back at you; a distant news bulletin rumbles about the possibility of a terrorist attack while you smoke away your woes in the darkness of a skycraping rooftop: the scene shifts to a spaceship, and the remains of the beloved Star Cineplex somewhere near Ashuliya- “….and cut!” Much to our dismay, the animated short film “Anarchy Part I” ends right there.
Why?
“I wanted the 90’s kids to feel the nostalgia- smell of Keya soap from vacations with grandmothers, watching cartoons on BTV while snacking on Nabisco biscuits, and so on…Once the nostalgia set in, the idea was that I would transition into the warzone but I got lazy. So the cliffhanger remains, you’ve got to watch part II – no spoilers,” says Tanvir Islam Riyad, when asked about the abrupt ending to this uber-captivating 3D animated shortfilm, released on his YouTube Channel and Facebook profile on June 28, 2021.
“I uploaded this part early to gauge the reactions of the audience; the initial plan was that I would make a full-fledged film but my computer and body had been working at it for 5 weeks straight, which is a very strenuous load,” fortunately, he has a cumulative range of around 300,000 views, so that means Part II isn’t far off, right? “I mean, everyone can pretty much predict what happens, but you’ll have to wait it out till the hype dies.”
The 3D animation, the setting and the plot of the film have a very futuristic, Terminator-like vibe to them, so it easily gathered nods from the sci-fi lovers of the country; moreover, responses are still pouring in. “People had never seen Dhaka city this way, not even in movies; so being a 90’s kid, I wanted the past to meet the future, hence the common identifiers. I always wanted to create something in the sci-fi genre but I was very self-conscious before uploading this- I expected a certain group of people to watch this but I did not think it would go viral this way!”
Who was Tanvir before Anarchy?
“Actually, I’ve wanted to become a film-maker ever since I watched Jack Snider’s 300 in my sixth grade; I decided that when I grow up, I’d make a movie like this about the Liberation War.” The burning passion lured into the world of animation and he would spend hours finding tutorials on YouTube, trying to learn as much as possible.
As a CSE student during his undergraduate, Tanvir had the exposure to coding, graphics and gadgets; once had built his own PC with all the components needed for 3D animation, he entered a 3D animation competition with a few friends and won the Grand Prize of 10lakhs. He invested his share of the earnings into a partnership Obscure BD, an ad agency, where he could now use the professional tools and start
working towards his dream. “I did finally have a studio, equipment and a platform, but we were doing client projects to keep the cash flowing; I mostly animated while others did the cinematography and drone shots. Due to the lockdown, I used my R7 2700xn CPU and igame rtx 3080 vulcan GPU to create this animated film.”
Does an artist ever stop making art for pleasure?
Tanvir entered a concept art competition just a few weeks before the release of Anarchy and won the first place for his 3D art, Metalsnow, but the challenge of depicting a story on a still image was more overwhelming for him than creating Live animations. In his words, “There are too many scopes of making mistakes, and I would hate to create something with a flaw! I am very serious when it comes to perfection, and I can point out a hundred things wrong with my work which the audience wouldn’t notice.” The perfectionist didn’t rest, however; to satiate his inner innovator, he created the most talked-about animation in Bangladesh today.
In April 2021 Tanvir began working on Anarchy; the setting was clear to him, but the plot?
An impending terrorist attack and the unsettling calm before the storm.
“Since I already had a war setting in my mind, I added elements to it that are more appropriate for our times- neon lights, skyscrapers, spaceships, billboards, and ominous sound effects. It wasn’t easy to come up with a story but when all the elements were put together, everything somehow fell into place,”: added the prodigy.
Bangladesh has a low fan base when it comes to the sci-fi genre and film-makers often avoid it because of the highly commercialised nature of the industry which focuses less on the elemental excellence and more on the ticket-picks. Ironically, the Marvel and DC movies are the highest grossing films globally, and usually they need at least a two-month screentime in Bangladesh because the cinema halls are always jam-packed, which is untrue for most Bangladeshi films.
“When my family found out that I was spending so much money behind building a high-end PC to make 3D animations, they were appalled. I heard similar things- You can’t make Iron Man or SpiderMan, who will watch your films?” This mindset, apart from the lack of technical support, is the biggest reason why most Bangladeshi filmmakers don’t go for Sci-Fi, and Hollywood domination continues- according to Tanvir.
“This is a niche I want to touch upon, because online OTT platforms are doing really well these days and the Bangladeshi audience are paying attention to Bengali films now; if we’re able to give them some value for it, they will definitely watch a good film.”
Tanvir reveals at the end of his narration, that he eventually dropped out of university and took this great leap of faith, which, to his fortune, has been working out greatly for him. “I know there are more talented people around with the same vision but they’re not being able to do it for similar reasons, but the market is growing, our time is coming.”
One advice that he has for the young creators: investing on a good computer is much better than investing on animation courses because free tutorials are available on Youtube, which saves a lot of time and cash, and can be personalized.
Why should we watch Anarchy?
“You should watch Anarchy, because this is a message to everyone that you don’t have to be an expert artist to make an animated film, all you have to be is passionate, and persistent. If I could do this from my home, you can, too. And for perfectionists like myself- I may not be the best at everything, and it’s not possible to be the best either, but I know enough of everything that I need for the best outcome.”