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Home / Courses / The Story of Indian Animation / Episodes

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    The Story of Indian Animation

    History and Journey so far
    by
    Swati AgarwalandProf. Phani Tetali
    IDC, IIT Bombay
    Episodes
     
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    Indian Animated Television Series

    Before the army of satellite channels invaded India it was Doordarshan which animated our lives until then. 1990s was an era which brought children running home from school to dive into an imaginary world of cartoons like ‘Tom & Jerry’, ‘Mickey Mouse’, ‘Donald Duck’, Japanese 'Jungle Book', 'Tales-Pin', 'He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'. As these animations were played during a fixed time-slots, they became etched in stone and were religiously followed by little children.

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      Gradually local artists began experimenting with a different format of animation, for instance 'Ghayab Aya' was the first Indian animation series created by Bengali artist Suddhasattwa Basu. Ghayab's success made Doordarshan realize the importance of telecasting animation serials. The role of Doordarshan in propagating animation in India is acknowledgeable, as it commissioned these series and many other animated films.

      The satellite television revolution came during the mid-90’s creating a place for animators to showcase their talent.

      Cartoon Network was the first to occupy the hearts of Indian children with animations like Johnny Bravo, The Powerpuff Girls and Dexter’s Laboratory.

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        Soon, during the late 90’s some other players like Nickelodeon, Fox Kids, Pogo, Hungama, Disney XD entered the market.

        To capitalize amidst this competitive environment Cartoon Network developed a strategy - localizing its content by dubbing its cartoons in Hindi and Tamil. ‘Toon Tamasha’ being the first one in the plan; they went onto dub series like ‘Scooby Doo, ‘Flintstones’, ‘Swat Kats’, ‘The Mask’ and many more which occupied 9 hours in a day and were well received.

        With its growing popularity Cartoon Network announced its 24-hour non-stop service thus, introducing some localized animated shows as well. Other channels also began accepting Indian content by finding their subjects from mythology and folklores. Series like ‘The Adventures of Tenali Raman’, ‘Chhota Birbal’, ‘Vikram Betaal’ and ‘Little Krishna’ hit the small screen.

        The accepted form of Gods from Ramayan and Mahabharat, as percived by our forefathers is very different from the new age Tele - Gods. Today they play Ice Hockey and tal on mobile phones. ‘Roll No 21’, ‘Kumbh Karan’ and ‘Chhota Bheem’ are some good examples.

        Though the advent of channels like Pogo, Disney and Hungama have partially opened up doors for the Indian animators to work on their own content; they still remain choosy and provide a limited time slot for domestic animations. A little relief for animators may come in the form of the Information and Broadcasting Minister of India who is planning to launch a separate DD channel for children in 2014 which will surely boost the potential of our country.

        Here is a chronological list of the Indian Animated Television series:


        1990 - Ghayab Aya
        1992 - Lok Gatha
        1995 - MEENA and SAARA
        1996 - Tara Ki Duniya
        2003 - Chota Birbal
        2003 - The Adventures of Tenali Raman
        2004 - Bongo
        2005 - Vikram Betaal
        2005 - Jo Bole Toh Jaadu
        2006 - Akbar & Birbal
        2008 - Chhota Bheem
        2009 - Little Krishna
        2009 - Krishna Balram
        2010 - Kumbh Karan
        2010 - Roll no 21
        2010 - Chorr Police
        2011 - Keymon Ache
        2011 - Mighty Raju
        2012 - Motu Patlu
        2013 - Kid Krish
        2013 - Pakdam Pakdai
        2013 - Chakra
        2013 - Vir - The Robot Boy
        2017 - Shiva
        2021 - The Legend of Hanuman

        1990

         
        Ghayab Aya
        Directed by Suddhasattwa Basu
        Produced by IFEKT Production
        Broadcast By Doordarshan

        1990 - Ghayab Aya
        Image source: Sudhasattwa Basu

        It was in 1990 when the director and animator Suddhasattwa Basu got his 10-part animation series-‘Ghayab Aya’ telecasted on Doordarshan. The fun filled stories of the friendly little spook ‘Ghayab’ who could appear and disappear at his own will, became popular among children of all ages.

        Self taught animator Basu with painting and illustration skills developed his animation proficiency by practice. His growth as an animator could be seen from the first episode to the last episode.
         

        I did Ghayab with Ms. Bizeth Banarjee (Co-owner of IFEKT) on profit sharing basis. I came to know her when she was making a tele serial for Doordarshan  called 'Police File se'in the year 1985. Then I was working with The Living Media (India Today group) as an illustrator and chief designer of their children's magazine TARGET. Since Bizeth was already producing for DD, I asked her to send a proposal for 15 min slot. I was somehow confidant of sailing through. It was difficult to convince DD since we didn't have substantial work to show. The approval came only after submitting the first episode as a pilot.”
        — Suddhasattwa Basu


        The stories were spun out by his author friends of TARGET (Viji Ghose, Rupa Gupta, Viswajita Das) He acquired a 16mm camera, designed his own animation stand and worked for five years with a skeleton team of 6 assistants on this nationally and internationally acclaimed series.

        1992

        Lok Gatha
        Directed by Bhimsain Khurana
        Produced by CFSI
        Script Anamika
        Camera Himanshu Khurana
        Editor Vasant Narvekar

        Series of six 22 minute hindi animation films based on folk tales from different regions of India.
         

         
        Rani Aur Goli
        Directed by Bhimsain Khurana
        Produced by CFSI

        Rani Aur Goli
        Image source:
        Film Catalogue: Children's Film Society of India

        A farmer had two daughters the fair and beautiful Rani and the dark and ugly Goli. Their mother hunt favours Rani and makes Goli work. One day Goli, finds a magic land where her hard work is rewarded with a bag of precious stones. The greedy mother on hearing the story from Goli, sends Rani to the same place thinking her beauty will lead her to get more wealth. But can she? This is a folk tale from Punjab.
         

         
        Oonth Aur Seeyar
        Directed by Bhimsain Khurana
        Produced by CFSI

        Oonth Aur Seeyar
        Image source:
        Film Catalogue: Children's Film Society of India

        A cunning, old fox that has lost the ability tohunt makes friends with a camel. He climbs on his back andhunt conveniently. However, when the camel, after threedays of hunger, begins to eat melons the fox begins singingalerting villagers who beat the camel. Desirous for revengethe camel devices a plan in this film based on a Rajasthani folktale.
         

         
        Seedha Sahukar
        Directed by Bhimsain Khurana
        Produced by CFSI

        Seedha Sahukar
        Image source:
        Film Catalogue: Children's Film Society of India

        There was once a good money lender. Afterdraught in the area, he decides to go out and earn for hisfamily. On the way, he is thirsty and goes toa well and drawswater. A deer, crow and fox come out of the well and beghim to set them free. He does so. The fourth one is a man,who instead of gratitude imprisons the money lender. When the three animals hear this, they device a plan to free the money lender in this Rajasthani folk tale.

         
        Dal Badlu
        Directed by Bhimsain Khurana
        Produced by CFSI

        Dal Badlu
        Image source:
        Film Catalogue: Children's Film Society of India

        In a forest, the animals decide to have a democratically elected government. Two parties are formed, the animal party and the bird party. As the two parties fight for power a bat first joins the bird party and then joins up with the animals in this film based on a folk tale from Maharashtra.

         
        Kushal Mangal
        Directed by Bhimsain Khurana
        Produced by CFSI

        Kushal Mangal
        Image source:
        Film Catalogue: Children's Film Society of India

        Kushal and Mangal are two heads of the the same bird who work in unison and protect the forest with their wisdom. Kalia, a vicious snake, schemes and lies to both Kushal and Mangal separately and sows the seeds of suspicion in their mind. The two loving brothers now want to kill each other in this film based on a folk tale from Madhya Pradesh.

        Juun Maari Nadi Laal

        An old woman kills a big louse and throws it in the river. This causes the river to turn red. When the river tells a bulls how it turned red, the bull's horn fall off. When the bull tells his story to the tree, its leaves fall off. The sequence goes on fill the story reaches the king in this film based on a folk tale from Punjab.

         
        Chalak Kauwa
        Directed by Bhimsain Khurana
        Produced by CFSI

        Chalak Kauwa
        Image source:
        Film Catalogue: Children's Film Society of India

        A crow always keeps fighting with a innocent little bird. To bring peace betwer the two, a squirrel asks the two to do something togeter. However, the crow is dishonest and instead of farming together, he lazes around and makes some or the other excuse while the little bird slogs in the field. When the bird and squirrel realise that they have been cheated, they decided to teach the crow a lesson in this folk tale from Gujarat.

         
        Gadhe Kay Peche Gadha
        Directed by Bhimsain Khurana
        Produced by CFSI

        Gadhe Kay Peche Gadha
        Image source:
        Film Catalogue: Children's Film Society of India

        After a washer-man hears a maulavi (teacher) say that he could turn donkeys to humans, he urges him to turn his donkey as well. When he does not relent, the maulavi asks him for money and tells him to leave the donkey for six months. When the washer man returns six months later, the maulvi tell him that the donkey is now a high government official. After being humiliated by the said official, he urges the maulavi to turn him back into a donkey in this folk tale from Hyderabad.

         
        Gaay Ka Sach
        Directed by Bhimsain Khurana
        Produced by CFSI

        Gaay Ka Sach
        Image source:
        Film Catalogue: Children's Film Society of India

        A cow that always spoke the truth gets lost in the jungle. Finding her way back she encounters a tiger. She pleads to the tiger to let her go one time so she could feed her calf. She promised to return soon after. The tiger does not believe her but lets her go. To his surprise the cow does come back as promised in this folk tale from South India.


        1995

         
        Meena and Saara
        Animation Director Ram Mohan
        Scriptwriter and
        Creative Director
        Rachel Carnegie
        Script
        co-writer
        Nuzhat Shahzadi
        Produced by UNICEF

        1995 - Meena and Saara
        http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/kidsspace_5107.htm

        How the medium of animation can be used well to portray some serious social issues and values easily in a comical way could be seen well in the Meena series.

        Addressing Asian countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Srilanka, Nepal and Maldives, Meena along with her brother and a parrot Mithu educates on issues of gender inequality and health care. Neill McKee, a Asia a US based communication consultant is the original creator of Meena Communication Initiative of South

        14 episodes of Meena were designed by Ram Mohan in his studio Ram Mohan biographics. But due to lack of infrastructures he joined hands with Fil-Cartoons Manila.

        On a similar terms Sara was built which addressed African girls. Over 150 artists, writers and researchers of Africa worked on the project. Similar to Meena, Sara’s animation direction was looked over by Ram Mohan.


        2003

         
        The Adventures of Tenali Raman
        Creative Director Roger Dondis
        Animation Director Dan McHale
        Produced by Toonz India Ltd
        Broadcast by Cartoon Network

        2003 - The Adventures of Tenali Raman
        http://toonz.co/distribution.html

        Cartoon Network’s mission to contextualize the channel for the Indian audiences lead to the creation of Raman Effect.

        13 episode (each of half hour duration) series is a classic 2D animation based on the Indian folklore. Roger Dondis, the creative director along with the scriptwriter Arial Prendergast worked on the stories and narrative of the complete series.

        The series was shown and appreciated at the Cannes film festival.


        2008

         
        Chhota Bheem
        Directed by Rajiv Chilaka
        Produced by Green Gold Animation
        Broadcast by Pogo

        2008 - Chhota Bheem
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhota_Bheem

        After working on various television series like ‘Bongo’ (aired on doordarshan in 2002), ‘Vikram Betaal’ and ‘Krishna’, Rajiv Chilaka decided to work on Bheem from Mahabharata in a different style. He put him in a different set-up, time zone, and new set of friends with new challenges, thus making him more connected to the kids. The series became immensely popular and merchandising pushed its popularity further.

        2009

         
        Little Krishna
        Directed by Vincent Edwards and Balasubramanian Rajasekaran
        Produced by Prafull Gade and Ravi Mahapatro
        Created by BIG Animation and India Heritage Foundation
        Broadcast by Nickelodeon

        2009 - Little Krishna
        http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/photo/little-krishna-168

        It is the first Indian ‘3D animated’ TV series in India. 5000 year-old stories of Krishna’s activities on the land of ‘Vrindavan’ have been wonderfully brought forward, virtually. A team of over 280 artists have researched and worked on this project.

        Vincent Edwards of the Spider Man TV series provided the direction and storyboarding for ‘Little Krishna’ and Emmy Award winner Jeffrey Scott has worked on it as a Script Writer.

        Simply watching the second episode of this 13 episodic tale of Krishna - where Indra rides on his Airavat (flying elephant) to the Govardhan Mountain on the earth, leaving behind dust clouds - will give you an idea of the type of effort being put into this series.

         

        2017

         
        Shiva
        Directed by Suhas Kadav
        Produced by Cosmos‑Maya in collaboration with
        Viacom18
        Broadcast by Nickelodeon India

        2017 - Shiva
        https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8861916/?ref_=ttfc_ov_i

        Shiva is a young boy who lives with his grandparents in a fictional city named Vedas. He is a child superhero with supernatural powers, he faces a lot of villains who try to harm or try to damage any people and property of his city.

         

        2021

         
        The Legend of Hanuman
        Directed by Jeevan J. Kang
        Navin John
        Produced by Graphic India
        Created by Sharad Devarajan
        Jeevan J. Kang
        Charuvi Agrawal
        Broadcast by Disney+ Hotstar

        2021 - The Legend of Hanuman
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Hanuman

        The series follows when God Mahadev incarnates as Hanuman to serve God Rama and his transformation from a mighty warrior to a god and how Hanuman became the beacon of hope amidst the harrowing darkness.

        • The Background
        • Journey
        • Long Ago
        • Organizations
        • Studios
        • Gurukuls of Animation
        • Commercial Break
        • In Theatres Now
        • Episodes
        • Maharathis of Animation
        • And the Award goes to
        • In-print and On-line
        • Aane Wala Kal
        • Video
        • References
        • Links
        • Contact Details
        • Credits

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