It is ultimately the past that creates the present. This project is aimed at understanding the story of Indian animation. Initially, animation in India was the result of experiments by Indian film makers who were inspired by Disney. After independence, it was mainly the government that started to encourage animation through the Films Division. A significant part of this report is dedicated to the detailed study of animation films made by the state-funded Films Division. Especially the period between 1956 and 1969 is of significant importance since some of India's best-known animators worked in the Films division during this time. The earliest attempts at animation were the outcome of experimentation by the founders of Indian cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke, who used time-lapse photography due to a shortage of films. Subsequently, other animation films inspired by Disney's animation films were being made at periodic intervals until the end of British rule in 1947.

The Films Division was established in 1948 for the production of documentaries and news reels. An animation film called The War That Never Ends was made in 1949 by British animator Myna Johnson, with J. S. Bhownagary serving as the script writer. The Cartoon Film Unit (CFU) was set up at the Films Division in 1955 and, for the first time, received an animation camera under the Indo-American Technical Aid programme, accompanied by the services of Mr. Clair Weeks, a former animator at Disney Studios.