Pramita BoseLaadli, an animation film by the Kolkata-based Metaphor Studios, has won the United Nations Fund for Population Activities award for most insightful depiction of female infanticide."It was as if good had triumphed over evil," said Shankar, animation expert and studio head. The studio has previously done work on socially relevant themes. "So we knew the basic nitty-gritty," said Shankar. Still, "it posed a challenge as an offbeat endeavour."Shankar and his team of 15 animators completed the project in a little over 20 days."We just sat down, chalked out the basic areas, laid down the storyboarding and made a quick assessment of the work-profile. The entire film was conceptualised and prepared barely within three weeks," Shankar said. The inspiration came from UNFPA’s banner.The message of the three-minute film isn’t aimed merely at the rural audiences but cuts across all demographies."The irony is that foeticide exists in the first world nations too and in high-society metropolitan cities too," said Shankar."Families from all walks of life resort to female foeticide, irrespective of their cultural and educational backgrounds or the post-modern contemporary age that we live in. There has been irreverent misuse of technology. It’s justified to detect a child’s disability before birth through ultrasonography but not his sex," said Ranjini Mukherjee, COO, Metaphor.UNFPA has posted Laadli on the Internet and is available for easy download."We never intended to make a patronising film nor did we want to sound didactic or preachy by cramming too many facts and figures into the storyline. Barring a man’s audible voice and an ambience music played at the backdrop in few portions, the film rests on visual appeal minus any dialogues. We didn’t want to wipe out the fun element from the film. The essence of enjoyment is very much retained in the plot for family viewing," she says."As a cinematic medium, I guess, animation serves up a visual treat to the eyes. It also doubles up as a potent communication material. Incidentally, this UNFPA sponsored project is meant to be an ideal tool for campaigning against this mass malaise. Within its given parameters, an animation despite being a cost-effective medium enables certain things to be acceptable and convincing which otherwise wouldn’t be viable on screen. And finally, we also conveyed a message in a limited time. Incidentally, while designing the character and location, we were careful about not portraying a biased view of a specific geographical site. Since it was a national level competition, so we kept it at a pan-Indian level," Mukherjee said.Armed with a commendable repertoire of films on issues like paedophiles and child subjugation in Goa in partnership with a Mumbai-based NGO, child labour, AIDS, cleanliness, water and hygiene, this leading animation studio plans to showcase its short-length mini movies."We are equipped with animation skills but not with content. By screening these productions in the related sectors, we can actually obtain necessary inputs from specialised workers plus associates and together join hands to mobilise our efforts and merge our skills to make the animated output more meaningful in the long run," Mukherjee said.Incidentally, Metaphor Studios had also bagged an award for technical excellence in 2006 from Seagates.Having notched up a nomination in the short film category, Metaphor Studios clinched the top honours as the champion of national creative excellence awards for social change, 2008. This apart, there were categories for story boards of TVCs/films/animation films. Laadli was essentially created with the objective of generating awareness through the involvement of social workers supporting the cause and creating social consciousness on the issue, collectively. The key denominator was the need for quality material against sex selection.