Khasi Tales Make WAVES
Khambor Batei Kharjana from Meghalaya is among the top 42 finalists at WAVES AFC 2025 for his animated project Lapalang: A Khasi Folklore Reimagined. Discover how this Khasi tale is making WAVES in the world of animation.
Khambor Batei Kharjana of Meghalaya has landed himself a spot among the top 42 finalists in the Animation Film Makers Competition (AFC) of WAVES 2025. His project, ‘Lapalang: A Khasi Folklore Reimagined’, has been selected as part of the Create in India Challenge Season-1 — and frankly, we’re chuffed to bits.
Now, before you raise your eyebrows and mutter “Khasi what?”, let us assure you: this isn’t just your average bedtime tale with a splash of colour. Kharjana’s work dives deep into indigenous storytelling, dragging a beloved local legend into the twenty-first century with the help of snazzy visuals, technical wizardry, and a generous helping of heart.
Speaking with an enthusiasm that could light up the Shillong monsoon, Kharjana remarked, “This feels like a huge step forward for animation in India. The door’s wide open — now it’s up to us to take that leap of faith and see where it leads.” Quite right, too — it’s not every day you find folklore rubbing shoulders with virtual reality.
The 42 finalists will showcase their projects during the WAVES Summit, to be held in Mumbai from 1st to 4th May 2025. Expect everything from traditional hand-drawn artistry to the sort of high-tech VFX that might make even a Marvel exec sit up and pay attention. Throw in some AR, VR, and virtual production, and you’ve got yourself a veritable smorgasbord of creativity.
As for the top brass, they’ll be walking away with a cool INR 5 lakh each — not too shabby for a few hundred hours of rendering and sleepless nights staring at screens until their eyes resembled boiled gooseberries.
But don’t be fooled — the selection process wasn’t some slapdash lucky dip. It was a nine-month-long marathon curated by the good folk at Dancing Atoms alongside the WAVES team, and judged by a jury so esteemed it might’ve needed its own green room. National and international experts sifted through a whopping 419 entries from students, professionals, and the odd genius working out of their mum’s basement.
More than just glitter and graphics, this competition is about serious business. Each animated VFX feature film, they say, has the potential to generate employment for anywhere between 100 to 300 individuals. That’s not just storytelling — that’s economic storytelling, if you will. And the ambition doesn’t stop at the borders; WAVES AFC 2025 aims to spark international co-productions and show that Indian animation can hold its own on the global stage.
Backed by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and led by Dancing Atoms, this initiative is the first of its kind to unite all four verticals of the AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics) sector under one digital roof.
With nearly 1,900 registrations and a kaleidoscopic variety of entries, one thing’s clear — India’s creative talent is raring to go. And with chaps like Khambor Batei Kharjana leading the charge, the future of Indian animation isn’t just bright — it’s positively technicolour.
So here’s to Khasi tales, digital dreams, and a lad from Meghalaya who dared to reimagine folklore and ended up riding the WAVES. Bravo, that man!
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