MUMBAI: Popular comic character Chacha Chaudhary is set to make his debut in a 3D film.
Diamond Comics, owners of the rights to the comic book hero with a red turban, has decided to to co-produce the movie with a US-based company for $6 million.
Said Diamond Comics Chairman Gulshan Rai, "We have recently signed up with an American company to make a film on Chacha Chaudhary. This will be a one-and-half to two-hour-long film in the three-dimensional (3D) format."
Rai confirmed the budget of the film would be around $6 million. He, however, did not specify when the film would be ready for release.
The company, which has other popular comic characters such as Billoo, Captain Vyom, Chotu Lambu, Pinki and Mahabali Shaka, is also planning to promote and sell them on other digital platforms like internet, television, direct-to-home (DTH) and mobiles.
As part of the plan, the firm is converting all the physical copies of the old comics into digital ones to be sold online as well as through telecom service providers. Telecom service providers such as Tata Docomo, BSNL and Vodafone have been tapped to sell e-comics to their subscribers through mobile phones.
The company is currently working on converting a stock of between 3,000 to 4,000 comics that have been published since 1974 into digital format. These will be sold at a universal price of half a dollar on various websites, including Google and Rediff.
