Meera Ralhan (Animation, 2024) drew inspiration from her Indian heritage and childhood years spent with her grandmothers in the kitchen for her senior capstone film Nanis’ Kitchen, a playful and heartwarming film that explores the connections–and conflict–between generations when it comes to celebrating one’s heritage.
The message of the film is the importance of understanding other people’s culture, and seeing that it’s OK to mix old with new when it comes to cultural traditions. Delivering that message in bite-sized, colorful chunks was a fun challenge,” shares Ralhan.
Ralhan’s animated short was inspired by her desire to explore her evolving relationship with the traditional Indian foods she grew up with. When she was a child, Ralhan’s grandparents would invite her into the kitchen to work alongside them making traditional Indian recipes. She found delight in learning how to make a dish and putting her own contemporary, creative spins on them. (Peanut butter and jelly dosas, anyone?) While Ralhan’s grandmothers supported her creative culinary takes, Nanis’ Kitchen explores the conflict that can arise among generations when it comes to cultural customs or dishes passed down among family members.
Ralhan says Columbus College of Art & Design Animation classes that explored theory, visual narrative, and storyboarding guided her approach to moviemaking. “The typical animation pipeline starts with visual development of a story, which can be anything from scripting to character design. During that stage, I really enjoyed researching traditional Indian patterns and working on my food designs,” says Ralhan. Her animated work benefited from her deep dive into the cultural heritage themes of her story, paired with thoughtful editing encouraged by her professors.
WATCH BEHIND-THE-SCENES FOOTAGE AS NANIS’ KITCHEN GOES FROM SKETCHES TO DRAFT FRAMES TO THE FINAL ANIMATION
With Nanis’ Kitchen, Ralhan hopes to bring Indian culture to the forefront and show how to blend old traditions with new ones. In an interview with Columbus broadcaster 10TV, she shared, “I don’t really get to see a lot of my food represented within the media or even in animated forms. [Through my film] I was trying to call more attention to the cultural heritage I have and show that old can meet new halfway in the middle, and people can appreciate both traditional recipes along with innovative twists on them.”
RALHAN CHATTED WITH 10TV NEWS ABOUT HER ANIMATION SHORT NANIS’ KITCHEN.
Nanis’ Kitchen debuted at Chroma: Best of CCAD, CCAD’s annual faculty-juried campus wide exhibition showcasing outstanding student work from the college’s academic programs. Ralhan intends to submit the animated short to local and regional film festivals in hopes of taking her story mainstream. In the meantime, Ralhan is a motion graphic assistant at event agency and production company Bartha—a position sparked via CCAD’s annual Connections Career Fair—and aspires to one day work in visual development for children's animation.
"Anything that teaches moral or life lessons to both children and adults and has bright colors is right up my alley. Nanis’ Kitchen is just the start,” she says.
Learn more about CCAD’s Animation program or apply here.
