Toonz working on Hanuman animation series

Thursday, 31 July 2003, 19:30 IST
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Children thirsting for an Indian taste to animated superhero action can look forward to seeing Hanuman beat up the bad guys on television soon. Toonz Animation, based at the Technopark campus in this Kerala capital, says it has begun pre-production work on 13 half-hour episodes of a series on the Hindu monkey god that would be aired on Cartoon Network next year. K. Jayakumar, operations manager of Toonz, said pre-production work is nearing completion and by the end of next month production of the serial would commence. "We expect close to 400 people to work full time on it and we have to deliver on time to Cartoon Network who have secured the distribution rights for India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan," Jayakumar told IANS. Toonz creative director Atul Rao, an American citizen of Indian origin who has previously worked with Warner Brothers and Walt Disney, is leading the team working on the new serial. Rao said currently his team is animating the first four episodes and the goal is to present the Hanuman story as a classic but with lot of modernity so that it would be acceptable worldwide. "In the story, Hanuman is still alive (in the modern times)," explained Rao. "What I have done for modernity is to see that I include characters that are present everywhere like arms dealers, villains and also demons." Rao said the serial was loaded with values that mix the past and present. "It is quite interesting and would be acceptable and easily understood by anyone. The first episode is expected to open with the war that took place in Lanka," he said. According to the epic Ramayan, Hanuman was a devoted follower of Hindu god Ram and helped him rescue his abducted wife Sita from the clutches of demon Ravan, the king of Lanka. Toonz's earlier production "The Adventures of Tenali Raman" is already being aired on Cartoon Network. Headed by Bill Dennis, who was earlier with Walt Disney, Toonz has been operating out of Technopark since 1998.
Source: IANS
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