Hyderabad based Greengold animation studios is in the midst of completing work on its first fully animated series, Mighty Little Bheem(MLB), for the Indian and International satellite TV market.
Speaking exclusively to Animation ‘xpress, Greengold directors Samir Jain and Rajiv Chilakalapudi informed that, “MLB is a 2D animated series and is being developed for Indian and International audiences. We are in advanced talks with some of the leading satellite kids entertainment TV channels for the telecast of MLB and plan to close the deal, latest by March 31 ’05”
“The series is 26 episodes of 11 minutes each, of which 12 episodes are nearly complete and the rest are in various stages of production” added Rajiv.
“The entire show, right from story and pre production to post has been done in India and mostly in house” beams Samir Jain proudly.
Bheem’s gang – Chutki, Raju and Jaggu
MLB is conceptualised as an action adventure comedy series. The story is set 2000 years ago in an imaginary town Dholakpur. Bheem the lead character is based on the Bheem from the legendary Mahabharata. He is a very adorable character and stands for all things good. He is strong, helpful, kind and intelligent. He loves eating traditional Indian sweets like Kheer and Laddoos.
Though all of them play together, the kids in the village of Dholakpur are divided into 2 groups. The first group led by Bheem includes Chutki, Raju and Jaggu the monkey, the other group is led by Kaalia Pehelwaan and includes the twins Dholu and Bholu.
Gung Ho about generating revenue from its IP, Greengold has already started working on merchandise, home video and comics for MLB.
Produced by Greengold Animation, the credits for Mighty Little Bheem include animation direction by Venu Gopal, music direction by Sunil Kaushik, Creative Direction by Kaukab Basheer, Script and Dialogue by Arun Shendarekar and Series Direction by Rajiv Chilakalapudi.
The title track recording and voices were recently done In Mumbai at Ziptrack and Om Studios in Andheri. Commenting on MLB, the Music director Sunil kaushik said ,”Doing background and titles for animation is very demanding. There are a lot of little things that one has to take care of while recording for animation. I am very happy with the way the title track has turned out for the show”
The second series of its maiden venture Bongo is ready for telecast even as the studio is readying MLB. Greengold has opted for an afternoon slot (Saturdays 2.00 pm) for the show which shall be aired on National broadcaster Doordarshan. The new series begins 19 Feb’ 05
The ASEAN rights for Bongo have been sold to Mumbai based PMI Entertainment India ltd which is headed by Ajay Patadia who was formerly heading finance at Balaji Telefilms. PMI is primarily into content production and produces content for various markets and in various languages including Bahasa for Indonesia and Malay for Malaysia.
Commenting on animation and distribution of animated content, PMI MD & CEO Ajay Patadia said that,” Bongo is our fist accquisition in the animation space. Even though we have a strong distribution set up in the ASEAN countries, we are more interested in co producing animation shows than simply accquiring them. We are looking to partner with content creators for the same. Greengold is a studio that we have identified as a good creative partner and we look forward to working with them in the future”
In India, creating localised original content and generating revenue is a tough ordeal. How does Greengold manage it? Answering the question, the directors replied,”We are looking at a business model where in we will have 2 divisions, one for original content production and the other for service work. While our passion is creating original content our bread and butter will come from the services”