Maac plans 2 more centres in Hyd

Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (Maac), the academic wing of Maya Entertainment Limited, is planning to set up two more training centres in Hyderabad by the end of December this year.

There are already two training centres of Maac in Hyderabad at present out of the 40-odd in the country.

Maac provides training in the areas of computer graphics, animation, visual effects for feature films, film scanning and recording, compositing and editing. It is promoted by producer-director Ketan Mehta and actress Deepa Sahi.

Speaking to Business Standard, Aruna Kumar, general manager (operations-south), Maac, said, "There is a lot of demand for animation courses over here and we are, therefore, looking at setting up two more centres in Hyderabad by the end of this calendar year." Maac will soon be setting up a centre in Coimbatore.

In south, it has set up four centres in Bangalore and one each in Chennai and Kerala. "We are also looking at expanding our presence in Chennai," she added.

"A career in animation and visual effects is well-paying. While the starting salary can be around Rs 8,500, we have seen it growing to Rs 15,000 within just six months of work experience at a studio," Kumar said, adding that every student of Maac gets to do a three-month internship at Maya Entertainment Limited.

Maac students have been involved in developing the visuals and special effects used in the recently released movie The Rising.

"With mobile gaming becoming increasingly popular, we see a lot of our students joining the gaming entertainment industry," Kumar said, adding that most of the students now willingly stay in India instead of going abroad as the opportunities are numerous here itself.

"In fact, we have noticed that students from Hyderabad do not like to shift to Mumbai for job opportunities as well," she said. Hyderabad is home to studios like Color Chips India Limited and DQ Entertainment Limited.

Jesh Krishna Murthy, who has been involved in computer-based animation since 12 years, has joined Maac as a strategy consultant. Murthy has done work for various Hollywood movies like Batman Begins, Tomb Raider and Josie and the Pussycats.