Conceived, crafted and produced by Hyderabad based Green Gold Animation, Kans Vadh, the final feature of Cartoon Network‘s four part Krishna feature series is all set to be telecast on Cartoon Network on September 4 (Gokulashtami).
The Krishna series from Cartoon Network is the highest ratings grosser on kids channels on Indian television (Jan 1 to June 9, 2007) with Krishna: in Vrindavan leading the list with a TVR of 2.5., Makhan Chor with 2.3 and The Birth with 2..1. Kan‘s Vadh is expected to take the ratings gross to even greater heights.
As part of this programming special on Janamashtami, Cartoon Network will host the Indian television premiere of the Krishna: Kansa Vadh, the final feature of the four part Krishna movie series on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 at 12:00 p.m. As a prelude to Janmashtami, Cartoon Network will also air the other three movies of this series including, Krishna: The Birth on September 1 at 12:00 p.m., Krishna: Makhan Chor on September 2 at 12:00 p.m. and Krishna: In Vrindavan on September 3 at 12:00 p.m. Krishna: Kansa Vadh takes the count of local animations acquired and showcased by Cartoon Network to sixteen.
Speaking exclusively to AnimationXpress.com, GreenGold MD Rajiv Chilakalapudi shared, “During every project there are challenges, but on this project, the no. of Challenges were huge. In March 06, when we started to work on the first part of Krishna, we were understaffed and terribly short of funds. We had mostly inexperienced people and most key positions were vacant. It looked like we would need a year to complete the first part itself, but I believed that somehow I would find a way. And magically things started to fall into place and within 15 days we had signed a home-video deal and we also entered into co-production/JV with PMI. This made it possible to increase our team size and also hire accomplished artists.”
Monica Tata, Vice President, Advertising Sales and Networks, India & South Asia, Turner International India Pvt. Ltd., said, “Cartoon Network has always believed in the potential of Indian animation and has been supporting the Indian animation industry since 2001, by acquiring quality local content. In fact moving a step ahead, the Network has been working closely with production houses and adding value in the creative process of content development. Green Gold Animation has been one such important associate and creative partner. We are delighted that the Krishna movie series have delivered exceptional ratings, reiterating that Cartoon Network understands the entertainment needs of Indian kid’s best. I am sure Indian families will enjoy watching the concluding feature, Krishna: Kansa Vadh, of the hugely popular Krishna movie series.”
It was a challenging dead line to meet. The movie Series of Krishna, with about 300 minutes of animation, has been completed from start to end in 18 months. From Pre-Production to Production, everything has been done in-house. Like Hanuman, has given a new hope to Indian Animation Filmmakers, Krishna has re-defined Indian Animation for Television and has proved beyond doubt that Indian Animation works big time. Krishna has set new records with it being the top kids show for the year so far (Jan 1 – June 9, 2007), across all kids channels.
Green Gold has always promoted the idea of doing something special for Indian kids all over the world and we thank Cartoon Network for giving us this wonderful opportunity. We also thank the wonderful team at Cartoon Network for supporting us throughout the series and for standing by us during difficult times. I thank PMI, for their support and cooperation during the entire Krishna Series. And most importantly I thank the entire team of Krishna for their relentless efforts without which this dream would have only remained a dream”
The team at GreenGold is excited too, their creativity and hard work has paid off.
Anirban Mazumdar, chief story board artist who has worked on the series shared about the experience, “Krishna is like a dream for a creative artist to work on and for me to storyboard the wonderful narratives and visualize KRISHNA was great fun. I wanted to give a very natural looking personality. I have worked on the entire story board, the deadlines were tough to maintain. But it was done well finally”
“My favorite part is the Kans Vadh Kalia sequence, I also enjoyed working on the Eternal love song. Our team equally enjoyed working on a few sequence of Baby krishna, the acting and gestures, we studied mannerisms of babies for that”
“I am here at Green Gold for past eighteen months and all my classmates from ToonzWebel Academy Kolkata are here too. Its fun working and like one big family” he concluded.