KOCHI: Long ago there was a red-tinted box in the streets that stored love-scented letters that carried the sorrows, delights and aspirations of a generation. The box was linked to the eagerness and anxiety that was passed on from the person who wrote the letter to the one who earnestly read them. However given how much our communication patterns have altered with technology, we are at that juncture where the post-box is threatening to become a thing of the past, an archival artifact.Jinesh Ambaloor, a budding animation film director through his 10-minute award winning animation film ‘Once Upon a Time’ narrates the frets and frail of the post box, which once was an inseparable part of our lives. The film has already won laurels, winning the best animation film award in the Avathar International film festival held in Chennai. As the story begins, we see an excited post box, brimming with energy. The box is in a dancing mode, so thrilled is it to be privy to everyone’s innermost feelings. The post-box works untiringly through all seasons, but is shocked one day to see a mobile tower. Gradually the number of towers increase and the letters in the box start to dwindle. The box is devastated. A day comes when it gets only one letter. Slowly everybody forgets the letter box which stays all by itself deserted in a corner.A earth-mover picks the box and deposits it in a place where the old worn-outs are piled. The post box when it looks around is surprised to see its position among gramophone, type writer and other items which we now consider archaic. From the junk yard, the box reaches an archeological museum. The film ends with a note that there was once a box named post-box. Jinesh says that ‘Once upon a time’ is a reminder of a culture that we once had, the culture of sending letters. The film is a reminder of all these wonderful things that we seem to be leaving behind in the globalisation era. This is Jinesh’s first animation film, and is winning him critical acclaim.Jinesh has been active in the field of amateur theater for the last 9 years and has directed five albums, a documentary for Dooradarshan and two telefilms. The drama team that he trained made it a habit of winning awards at school and college youth festivals for years. Currently, Jinesh is making an animation film for children, ‘My Back Papers’ about our rigorous academic curriculum and the struggles of children.Jinesh says though he has been involved in theater for long, it is children’s animation films that interests him now.
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