With the vision of creating original fictional characters for the Indian Audience, Anil Saigal, Founder and Creative Head of Ashee Media, has launched a DVD titled ‘Giddoo The Jungle Adventure’ at the recently concluded Comic Con in Delhi.
This DVD is an audio-visual depiction of a comic book by the same name, launched during last year’s Comic Con. The DVD tells the entire 100 page story, which orbits around the story of a wild dog (dhol) called Giddoo, the naughty sheep Raju, alongwith secondary characters BANSI, TARA, SONI, MOTI AND HAKLU.
The 100-page comic book of Giddoo was released in Hindi and English languages last year by Ashee Media and has received a great response with around 3500 copies sold till date. Due to this success, Anil, the creator and writer of Giddoo decided to take the comic book to the next level by launching it in DVD format.
According to Anil, Giddoo is an effort to create original Indian fictional content and bring about loveable Indian characters, which are appreciated by children.
Speaking to AnimationXpress.com’s Zeenia Boatwala, Anil Saigal shares, “The idea behind Giddoo is to create characters that have the potential to entertain children for the next 50 years, just the way Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, etc. have done. We also believe that children should be exposed to new fictional characters in addition to the characters solely / mostly based on mythology.”
At Comic Con Delhi, Ashee media sold around 100 Giddoo DVDs and Comic Books. They also introduced Giddoo merchandise including mugs and T-shirts and gave away numerous Giddoo flyers with puzzles and games to children.
Anil adds, “We had a great time at the Comic Con Delhi and enjoyed introducing Giddoo to a lot of children!”
The targeted audience for Giddoo DVD is between the age group of 2-12 years and it has taken 6 months to convert the comic book into a DVD format, which is a one-hour audio visual show in Hindi as well as English languages.
He also adds, “We have given the DVD a complete animated look and feel with varied transitions and effects that would appeal to the children and also included voice over’s with music, effects and background sounds.”
Interestingly, Anil wrote the story of Giddoo way back in 2001 envisioning it as a full-fledged animation feature film script and then converted it into a comic book during 2008 – 2011.
He says, “Giddoo started as an animated feature film project, but with passing time it got converted into a comic book and a DVD. Currently, it is in the process of becoming an animated feature film. I strongly feel that Giddoo has the potential to become an Indian animation feature film that will appeal to all audiences of all ages in cities as well as in villages.”
Illustrated by Nirupam Borboruah, the entire color treatment of Giddoo is given keeping the 3D animation medium in mind. The artworks of Giddoo are created in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign.
At this year’s Comic Con Delhi, Ashee Media sold Giddoo DVDs at the pricing of INR 200/- and they have plans to launch the DVD soon in local markets with the Giddoo Book and DVD Combo Pack Offer.
Anil Saigal also shares, “In the coming years, we plan to have a series of Giddoo comic books with independent stories having the same characters like the Asterix and Tintin series.”
“Giddoo – the jungle adventure ”,comic book is available as an iPad App on iTunes. You can also watch videos of songs and see the promos on Ashee Media’s YouTube channel www.youtube.com/asheemediaindia and can visit www.giddoocomic.com to keep in touch with the latest updates.