NEW DELHI: In a bid to strengthen ts local content, Cartoon Network has gone in for its fourth local acquisition in two years. More such acquisitions, like an animation series on Hanuman, the monkey king, and one on the canny minister from Emperor Akbar's court, Chatur Birbal, are also in the pipeline.
In sync with its localisation strategy and commitment to acquire content relevant to its viewers in India, Cartoon Network will launch The Adventures Of Tenali Raman, on 14 June, to air Saturdays at 5:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. Indian toonheads can travel back in history to the 16th century splendour of King Krishna Dev Raya II's reign and enjoy the comical and witty adventures of his favourite court jester, Tenali Raman. Produced by Thiruvantharam based Toonz Animation Studios, The Adventures Of Tenali Raman will be available in both English and Hindi.
At a press conference held here today, Turner Entertainment Networks Asia senior vice -president and general manager Ian Diamond said: "Showcasing relevant Indian content is an integral part of Cartoon Network's localisation strategy for India. And I am proud that within a short span of two years The Adventures Of Tenali Raman is the fourth locally produced animation acquired by the Network for its Indian audiences. As leaders in kids television entertainment in India, we are extremely excited that The Adventures Of Tenali Raman will have its world premiere on the Network."
"Encouraged by the positive response received to the earlier three acquisitions of animations based on Indian story-telling, we are delighted to showcase The Adventures Of Tenali Raman, another entertaining tale based on age-old stories we all have grown up with", said Turner International India Pvt Ltd managing director Anshuman Misra.
Toonz Animation India Pvt Ltd that occupies more than 18,000 square feet of space inside Technopark in Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala, have produced the toon series using classic 2D animation, the 13 half-hour episodes of The Adventures of Tenali Raman revolve around the clever adventures of the popular folklore character Tenali Raman, one of the eight wise men who adorned Vijaynagara's King Krishna Deva Raya II's court.
The King's court is the arena where most of the outrageous battles of wit between Tenali Raman and his adversaries take place. The intellectual royal court jester, besides being the king's favourite, cannot resist challenges - verbal or otherwise - and one-way or the other wins out in the end!
Toonz Animation studio that has been commisioned 26 x 11 episodes of The Adventures of Tenali Raman.
Besides The Adventures of Tenali Raman , the international kids channel, currently available in English, Hindi and Tamil languages, has sucessfully aired locally bred programmes like Pandavas - The Five Warriors, Sinbad - Beyond The Veil of Mists and Ramayan - The Legend Of Prince Ram dedicate. It has also a dedicated lunchtime viewing band targetting pre-schoolers and mothers Tiny TV.
