Yali Dream Creations, publisher of graphic novel (GN) Rakshak that’s now being made into a Hindi feature film by Sanjay Gupta, has also signed a deal with a major OTT player to adapt its horror GN, The Village into a web series.
Yali Dream Creations CEO and publisher of the graphic novel Asvin Srivatsangam revealed to AnimationXpress, “The Village has been acquired by a major OTT platform, (whose name I can’t disclose now), for a web series adaptation. It will be made in Tamil and would be largely shot in Tamil Nadu. Former AD of filmmaker Mani Ratnam, Milind Rau of Gruham, Aval fame, is all set to direct it. It’s in the scripting process as the content is being constantly developed. We were supposed to start filming this August, but due to the pandemic, we have moved it to early 2021.”
Srivatsangam also hinted that The Village web series would involve a good amount of VFX, though nothing has been officially confirmed yet. The Village is a horror comic at its core and depicts a tribal conflict between the upper caste Thevar family and the untouchable Koda tribe at the backdrop of mysetrious circumstances.
The synopsis reads: A bus carrying wedding party disappears on an Indian backroad near an abandoned village. Almost two decades later, a young man enters a bar in the village of Navamalai seeking help. His car broke down on that same back road, and he left his wife and daughter in the car to seek a mechanic in Navamalai. He receives it from the village patriarch, an older blacksmith, and the bartender. Little does the young man know that he and his family have been caught in a decades long tribal feud involving deception, corruption, and murder. He and his family may not live to see the morning.
The pandemic has also affected Yali’s printing of the graphic novel, The Caravan: Vengeance, sequel to its popular Caravan. The company might release it digitally on its Android app if the situation is such. He further added that they are also in talks with a few creators, producers to adapt this too for a web series under Yali Dream Works.
“Yali Dream Works is an offshoot company of Yali Dream Creations, that I have co-founded with Vivek Rangachari [of Ugly fame]. The company is dedicated to audio-visual adaptation of our comic book content. In principle, it is similar to Marvel comics and Marvel Studios,” Srivatsangam noted.
The graphic novel publisher has also completed first of the three issues of Rakshak Crackdown, sequel to Rakshak and would be announcing a brand new property by the third week of August.
Srivatsangam further stated that Yali Dream Creations would also be expanding its creative team by the end of the year, and is looking forward to adding some exciting new writing talents.