Meet Shaila Paralkar, India's First Woman Animator

Animation is and was more than just Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse. It is a means of exploring any story's specialty and bringing it to life with imaginative elements. The first female animator in India, Shaila Paralkar, was the steady hand behind the design of the National Award-winning film "The Thinker." When Paralkar received an offer for a summer internship in 1958 to help pay for her applied arts lessons at Sir JJ School of Art, she unintentionally fell into the world of animation.

Paralkar's Animation History

During her 40 years of creative output at the Films Division of India (FDI), Paralkar produced some of the best-animated films that were widely acclaimed both domestically and internationally. In 1979, she screened her self-written anti-alcohol commercial, "Bottled Cannibals," at international film festivals in France, Moscow, Greece, and Portugal. The short features a red alcohol bottle that pours fear into neighboring tea kettles, cups, and saucers.

The same year, a state award-winning save-oil campaign called "The Last Drop"—in which a dropper's rubber end deflates a planet—was screened at the 5th International Film Festival in France, China, and Denmark. 

She started off at FDI as a Grade II artist and advanced fast. She even turned down a job offer from Walt Disney Studios because of obligations to her Mumbai-based family. Paralkar would have accomplished much more, in the opinion of her daughter Namrata, "if not for the politics in those days."

The Chief of a Mumbai-based animation company Gayatri Rao couldn't agree more. "She never got to head the Cartoon Film Unit of the Films Division where she was the most talented and hardworking of them all," she adds, recalling her first animation internship under Paralkar at FDI. She was marginalized in this largely male-dominated field of animation for whatever reason.

She retired in 2000 at the age of sixty, shortly before technological advancements shined on. She made gorgeous rangolis for Diwali every year, fashioned cufflinks into jewelry, and knit sweaters for her loved ones up until 2021. Her right side became immobilized after a paralytic stroke caused by her sister's unexpected death in 2022.

Paralkar can no longer paint, knit, or draw. The ex-Mumbai resident now enjoys playing with her fish, dogs, and cats in her bird-friendly, lush Pune penthouse.

A few works of her include:

• "Mukti"
  Debutant film as a Director and an Animator
  
  •  "The Tree of Unity" or "Ektaa ka Vruksh"
  Designed and animated by her.
  
  •  "Bottled Cannibals"
  Scripted, designed and animated by Shaila Paralkar. Exhibited at International Film Festivals in D'Annecy, France,Moscow, Greece and Portugal in 1979 while in the following year in Hong Kong.
  
  •  "The Thinker"
  Received her first National Award in 1982. Also showcased at D'Annecy, France, Czechoslovakia, Tampere Film Festival and inHK during the year 1981-82.
  
  •  "The Last Drop"
  Done in 1993. This film won the State Award and was showcased in the fifth International Film Festival in Lausanne,France, in Shanghai, PR of China, and in Okomedia, Denmark.
  
  •  "Freedom"
  Got showcased at Shanghai Film Festival and Chicago International Children's film Festival.
  
  •  "The Savior"
  Won two President's award each in the category of Best Director and Producer for Best Family Welfare film about child health care and immunization program in India.