The Godawan
Ad Film
When a corporate giant chooses to resurrect the lives of birds facing extinction, with no direct impact on revenue or business growth, there has to be a reason that goes far beyond marketing.
And that is the reason we at Studio Eeksaurus latched on to this film and dedicated the past eight months to creating it from thin air.
The team at Godawan and 22feet, led by Rahul Mathew, approached us with an idea that immediately felt like it was up our alley: to tell the story of the rise of the phoenix, the firebird, through a medium that itself emerges transformed after being burnt and fired.
Blue pottery.
The combination felt magical.
But working with pottery is also an exercise in surrender. You shape the clay, draw on it, animate it, fire it, and then let nature have the final say. What comes out of the kiln is never entirely in your control.
This film demanded the same kind of surrender.
A surrender to the artists and collaborators who came on this journey with us. To the limitations of time and resources. To the material itself. And, most importantly, to the trust and confidence placed in every single person and entity involved.
The result, as it often is with a process like this, was full of surprises. And brought us a kind of joy that no other medium can quite offer.
On a good day, we could create just two to three seconds of the film. Sometimes while working simultaneously across three different setups.
The music by Rajat Dholakia became the backbone of the film. Lyrics born from the imagination of Harsukh Dhayal, and the soulful voice of young Nishant Gupta, brought life to the egg that narrates our story. Resul Pookutty and team made the audio scape come alive.
The film began with meticulous 2D drawings and animation. Every frame was then painstakingly transferred onto ceramic surfaces, turning those fragile pieces of pottery into the heroes that finally stood in front of the camera. Fragility became the spirit that guided us through this entire journey.
What went behind the making of this film will always remain, in many ways, behind the film itself.
But we wanted to share a glimpse of that journey. So, for everyone who is curious about how this little world was created, watch the making film till the very end.
And perhaps, in doing so, give a salute to the relentless effort, patience, craft and sheer valour of our soldiers of art.
This one was made with immense love.
CLIENT
Godawan Estuary
YEAR
2026
DIRECTOR
Suresh Eriyat
CREATIVE AGENCY
22Feet
CREDITS
Director – Suresh Eriyat
Executive Producer – Nilima Eriyat
Music Director – Rajat Dholakia
Director of Photography – Arun Kumar
Sound Design – Resul Pookutty (CAS, MPSE), Vijay Kumar (MPSE)
Master Percussionist – Taufiq Qureshi
Lyricist – Harsukh Dhayal
Lead Singer – Nishant Gupta
Art Direction – Team Eeksaurus
Stop-Motion Animation Director – Aman Gupta
2D
Script and Storyboard – Suresh Eriyat
Animatics – Adithi Krishnadas, Tanvi Palathinkal, Kratika Sunkar
Style Exploration – Nijin Nazeem, Rajib Mandal, Tanvi Palathinkal, Soham Samant
Layouts – Adithi Krishnadas, Nijin Nazeem, Rajib Mandal
2D Animation – Adithi Krishnadas, Rajib Mandal, Tanvi Palathinkal, Kratika Sunkar, Neelesh Ram, Nijin Nazeem, Rebecca Paul, Sakshi Kamat, Trusha Rahate
Cleanup & Colour – Adithi Krishnadas, Rajib Mandal, Tanvi Palathinkal, Kratika Sunkar, Neelesh Ram, Nijin Nazeem, Rebecca Paul, Sakshi Kamat, Trusha Rahate, Swaraa Soni, Bella George, Atharva Karandikar, Samika Shivraman
Print Management
Print Supervisor – Bhavaya Mehra
Print Setup Artists – Akshay Shelake, Tejal Sonawane, Bhavaya Mehra
Print Vendors
Vinyl Print – Kwality Xerox
Plate Print – Shakti Ceramics, Lamba enterprise
Ceramic Vendors
Plates – Ikea, Nathani Traders, Nitori
Tiles – Mitesh Marbles
Laser Cutting – JS Graphics
Camera & Lights – Ravish Equipment, 1 Stop Cine Digital, Naveed Sheikh
Stop-Motion Animation
Lead Animators – Aman Gupta, Kush Koyani, Gia Sudhakaran
Animators – Sakshi Kamat, Sanjay Patkar
Assistant Animators – Hrithwik Paresh, Tejas Vanjare, Durvakshi Patil, Krusha Vakharia, Himanshee Lal, Siddhi Gandhi, Shruti Bhise, Utkarsha Bhagwat
Frame Arrangement – Aman Gupta, Kush Koyani, Nikhil Patil, Gia Sudhakaran
Prop Department
Prop & Set Design Lead – Nikhil Patil
Prop Manager – Advait Rajadhyaksha
Senior Prop Artists – Mayank Dobwal, Krusha Vakharia, Ramesh Jadhav, Sanjay Patkar
Pottery Artist – Sanjay Patkar
Prop Assistants – Himanshee Lal, Siddhi Gandhi, Nishita Kamble, Durvakshi Patil, Tejas Vanjare, Shruti Bhise, Hrithwik Paresh, Utkarsha Bhagwat, Nina Nambiar, Sakshi Kamat, Gia Sudhakaran
Live Action Shoot
Production Designer – Nilesh Choudhari
Art Director – Shailesh Choudhari
Pottery Artist – Sanjay Patkar
Cinematography & Lighting
Associate Director of Photography – Jishnu Valsan
Assistant Cinematographer – Abhijith K
Assistant Cinematographer – Lijumon Chacko
Gaffer – Arunkumar, Jishnu Valsan, Abhijith K, Lijumon Chacko, Ramesh Sadrani
Cleanup
Cleanup Supervisor – Toash Bhat
Cleanup Artists – Soham Samant, Kush Koyani, Bhavaya Mehra, Archit Gite
Compositing
Compositor – Hardik Joshi, Dhiraj Pathade, Bhavaya Mehra, Muskan Garg
3D – Dhiraj Pathade, Pranav Rupala, Riya Deshpande
Editing
Offline Edit – Muskan Garg, Tushar Sivan, Nishant Ajay Nandgaonkar
Online Studio – Jumpman Studios
Online Edit – Hardik Joshi, Aniket Pandey, Fayyaz
Colour Grade
Senior DI Colorist – Avinash Shukla
DI Studio – Gammaa Labs
Managing Director – Vikas Shukla
Associate Colourist – Krishna Shetty
DI Producer – Sreejith Mohanan
Conformist – Kirti Rathod, Karan Bogati
Office Boy – Viraj Shigvan
Music
Rhythm (Dholak) – Dharmveer Saroj
Ravan Hattha – Iqbaal Warshi
Morchank – Pratap Rath
Harmonium – Aditya Oke
Music Recording Studio – The Sanctuary Audio Visual Studio
Recording Engineer – Vedant Uttarkar
Assistant Engineer – Aniruddh Khanna
Music Mixing Engineer – Prathamesh Dudhane
Assistant Engineer – Praneeth Kumar
Mixing Studio – Bombay Live Studios
Sound
Re-Recording Mixer – Pranav Mangla
Sound Editor – Vijay Kumar (MPSE)
Foley Studio – YRF Studios
Foley Artist – Shankar Singh, Raashid Khan, Rahul Kunkerkar
Foley Supervision – Foleywood
Foley Engineer – Atul Gawai
Studio Assistant – Bablu Bhatiya
Management
Project Manager – Nishant Ajay Nandgaonkar
Production Management – Jay Gondalia, Bhavaya Mehra, Nishant Ajay Nandgaonkar
Post Producer – Bhavaya Mehra, Nishant Ajay Nandgaonkar
Production Runner – Kalpesh Palkar, Dipesh Eranna Uludrolu
Spot – Upendra, Dipesh Eranna Uludrolu, Vaibhav Sadanshiv, Jitendra Ji
BTS
BTS Camera Man – Krishna Bal
BTS Editor – Muskan Garg
IT Support – Satish Gautam
Accounts – Chetan Varia, Mohit Darji
Support Staff – Kalpesh Palkar, Shubangi Salvi, Reshma Bhogwekar
Special Thanks To –
Hiren Dedhia, Geetanjali Chhabra, Rahul Mathew, Vishnu Srivatsav, Shyam Nair, Shikha Davessar, Zubin Sheriff, Varda Choudhary, Ishant Gulati, Ankit Vohra, Jamuna Poovaiah, Devika Bakshi, Janvi Jain, Gokul Anand