“Don’t give kids crap just because they are kids,” asserts iRealities, CEO, Prasad Ajgaonkar as he ventures for the first time in the Indian broadcast space. Indian kids are hungry for quality content, but are we satisfying their hunger? Well, Ajgaonkar aims to stand out from the rest and creates quality animated feature film content for TV, bearing in mind ‘kids’ as the major target audience.
Picking up Mayapuri Group’s Hindi comic magazine Lotpot’s character ‘Sheikh Chilli’, iRealities has tweaked the character and weaved a story for a 90 minute feature film. With Apsons Entertainment as the production company, iRealities has executed the entire project right from scripting, character design, animation production to post production and final creation of the film.
Around 100 artists have worked on this 3D film to complete it in just six months. It has been created in two languages; Hindi and Tamil. “Not only is Sheikh Chilli and Friendz going to be a film but also an episodic series for Discovery Kids. The episodes will have different stories than the film and we have completed the work on the first season. The whole project of Sheikh Chilli and Friendz is about fun. Indian kids need to be exposed to such fun content.” It is left to Discovery Kids to decide when the episodic series will be aired.
Ajgaonkar further adds, “We have worked very cautiously and precisely to shape up and create each character. The character design are all of the feature film level for the big screen; there is absolutely no compromise in terms of quality. We have used hair, fur and minute texturing to bring out the feel of each character in a strong way so that the whole film looks quite distinct then the usual content being broadcast on TV.”
As far as the storyline and script is concerned, there are several primary characters in the film like Sheikh Chilli, talking donkey, genie, witch and her talking broom and many more. The characters are based in the modern world and are well equipped with technology so that kids of this generation can connect to it. The script has been worked and reworked by some eminent writers and filmmakers of the film industry.
iRealities is known to have raised the benchmark for animated feature films in India with their creation of theatrical film Chaar Sahibzaade (2014) which grossed over Rs 50 crore domestically. “With Sheikh Chilli we want to do the same, we want to raise the benchmark for animated content on TV. Our kids are mature and really need some good quality content which grips them completely.” iRealities is known to have taken risks, and now they have ventured into a completely new side of business which is the Indian broadcast space.
“It is my first step in the broadcast space and we are lucky enough to have supportive players to work with. Discovery Kids is a unique broadcaster because their involvement in the animation production is incredible. Apsons Entertainment has also given iRealities the freedom to work with their characters without much of restrictions. So all in all, collaboration is important and we have it all for this project,” concludes Prasad.
Sheikh Chilli and Friendz will broadcast on Discovery Kids on 15 August, 2016 at 10 am. iRealities is currently working on three animated feature films to be released in 2017. One of the projects is the animated film Durga- The Epic and here is the poster of the same.
