Crimzon Studio Presents Train of Thoughts

For what seems like a bazillion years, Bollywoood used the stock establishing shot of the Gateway of India to show its viewers that the story is indeed taking place in Bombay. In the last fifteen years or so filmmakers have switched to a more realistic cheat shot, that of the Mumbai local trains. The trains are one of the most identifiable features of the city, everybody knows that the local railway system is the city’s circulatory system.

Crimzon Studio taps into this rich vein of stories with its in-house graphic novel “Train of Thoughts”, which will be an anthology of stories based on the Mumbai ‘locals’. Working with a team of writers who have experienced the trains of Mumbai and international artists Crimzon Studio desires to capture the authenticity of the city, its trains and its people. The creators have spared no energy when it comes to recreating the vibe of the local trains and the people who travel in them, hammering down every tiny detail, from the colour to the language. After scripting it page by page and finalising the panel divisions they undertook research so that they could remain true to the city when it came to the ‘feel’ of the novel.

The first story in the anthology, named “The Bridge”, was written by Mumbaikar Khushnaz Bode, illustrated by Italian Leonardo Vergari and coloured by the creator and head of Crimzon Studio, Amit Ghadge. Chronicling the journey of four people on a regular ride on the train it takes a turn for the bizarre. After writing, each story is drawn in the traditional manner on paper and then coloured digitally.

So far Crimzon Studio has developed comics for other concerns, and also worked on boardgames, movie and ad storyboards and perproduction art. “Train of Thoughts” is their first graphic novel and to cover its development costs the creators are crowd-funding it. The project is listed on crowd-funding site Indiegogo, Crimzon is the first Indian publisher to seek funds online to cover their costs, and needs to raise $ 4000 to cover the costs of producing, printing and distributing a high quality graphic novel. You can check out their page here: here.