Filmmaker Statement

Meow or Never was conceived as an idea of a friendship love story between two dissimilar, odd characters. Neeraja Raj, the director, had always envisioned making a whimsical comedy musical stop-motion animation film, and these two characters - Pucha, the catstronaut and Blip, the space pup came naturally to the forefront of her imagination. She wanted to tackle a deep philosophical question in a lighthearted manner, with some jokes sprinkled in between and so with the help of Diana Podra, the producer and Vanessa Rose, the co-writer, the story of a cat looking for the meaning of life emerged. Based off of Neeraja's watercolor illustrations, the characters were brought to life as puppet armatures by the model making team and 7 different beautiful sets purely made out of paper were created, mimicking her initial designs. Neeraja worked with MBE-awarded, Olivier-winner actress Sheila Atim and Jayne Wisener of Sweeney Todd fame to sing the characters to life.