Shemaroo Entertainment has extended the contract with noted writer and comic artist, Sukhwant Kalsi regarding his fun IP Moorkhistan, a series of cartoon strips for Tata Sky.
“My first contract was for two years 2017-2019, and the renewed contract is for another year, 2019-2020,” Kalsi told Animation Xpress.
Kalsi is also the writer of the upcoming 3D animated show, Johny Lever based on the legendary Bollywood comedian, Johnny Lever. He also co-owns the IP with the production house, Yolo Media.
Commenting on the inception of Moorkhistan, Kalsi said, “I created Moorkhistan 32 years ago for the cartoon column of children’s magazine, Nanhey Samrat which I have also been editing since 1988. The idea behind Moorkhistan was to create a fun world, the land of ‘idiots’ where only intelligent people live. It’s a non-political show and has been largely accepted by all age groups of readers, audience as this is something that kids haven’t seen till date and the concept is unique and unexplored. It’s very popular on social media and I am in talks with a few prestigious production houses of the animation industry, who wish to acquire the rights and create animated series out of it.”
Moorkhistan cartoons got great responses in both print and digital media. The official Facebook page has more than 10,500 followers. The cartoon strips are circulated daily by Kalsi himself on WhatsApp which gets viral in no time. On Tata Sky too, its viewership is in millions.
Moorkhistan cartoon characters are also quite popular in the merchandising space, given its posters are already available on amazon. Further publication of books, T-shirts and prank gadgets of Moorkhistan are in the pipeline.
Moorkistan has also been appreciated and advocated by well known comedians like johnny Lever, Sunil Pal, Raju Srivastav, Ahsaan Qureshi, Sudesh Lehri, Upasan Singh and other industry people.