As the supervising technical director at Pixar, University of Saskatchewan graduate Sanjay Bakshi has landed what many people would consider a dream job.

Responsible overseeing the more technical aspects of productions, Bakshi essentially makes sure that the animators are staying on track and acts as a source of communication between the technical and creative sides of the team.

What Bakshi enjoys most about his job is “working with directors and the story people to understand the story at a really deep level so I can make good choices on how to achieve those goals visually.”

Considered a top tier animation house, Pixar takes in applications from countless people involved in the computer graphics field. As such, the competition to work at the studio can be fierce. It was a long time before Bakshi even thought such a job would be attainable.

But after hearing a talk from U of S alum Darwyn Peachey, who had found a job at Pixar, Bakshi was inspired to pursue a career of his own with the studio.

Before moving to California, Bakshi spent 20 years in Saskatoon and met his wife at the U of S. He still tries to come back every year to spend time with friends and his wife’s family.

“When we come back, my wife and I always have a list of things to do,” Bakshi said, enjoying that Saskatoon still has that small city atmosphere with much to do in a single day.

When asked to name the defining film in his time at Pixar, Bakshi replied with clear and honest excitement for his current project, “I actually think that Monsters University is a very special movie and I can’t wait for the world to see it.” Bakshi said.

Where Monsters, Inc. focused on the relationship between Sully and Boo, Bakshi is confident that Pixar has applied that same amount of work to making sure Monsters University is full of rich and unique individuals for people to enjoy. He made note that Monsters University has the most characters of any Pixar film to date.

Bakshi had some words of wisdom for aspiring students who are interested in following his path. “The best thing you could do if you really, really love it — just keep working hard at it.” Bakshi said “My advice would not be to aim to work for a particular company or job, just work on what you love and really work hard at it. Choices that you never anticipated will be presented to you.”

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Photo: Supplied