MUMBAI: UTV has invested approximately Rs 240 million in its animation division. The investments have gone into an animation facility with 225 workstations replete with blade render farms and Max software, at its Andheri Studio in Mumbai.

Presently the work output is for 15 movies for Direct to Home Video of some of the popular international classics of all time, plus a 52 episode TV series in addition to 20 short series. The facility operates 24X7 with a built up capacity to execute over 150 minutes of high quality animation a month in 3D.

The 25,000 square feet workstation equipped for High Definition (HD) work mainly caters to UTV's clients in North America and Europe, states an official release."We believe we are executing the single largest work flow out of India, presently, - and our excellence in 2D and now in 3D has been acknowledged by our growing repeat customer base from Disney and Fox to Cine Group and Saban," says UTV COO Ronald D'Mello.

Adds UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala, "We were the pioneers in animation out of India and in the next 18 months our focus is to emerge a clear leader out of South Asia - not just for service outsourcing but origination of content. In the next 60 days we will announce two animation movies we are green lighting - primarily for Asian audiences but with appeal for a growing cross over audience too."