Mumbai: Maya Entertainment Ltd. (MEL) and BriliP Edutainment India, a new children-centric intellectual property (IP) company, have inked a partnership to adapt The Aditi Adventures, popular series of children’s books by UK-based Indian fabulist Suniti Namjoshi, for animation.
The series adds to a slate of service and IP work totaling over Rs 300 million (Rs 30 crores). MEL recently bagged work on a new season of the Noddy series, one of the most beloved characters in the world of children’s literature. On the IP side, MEL’s first high-end theatrical feature Ramayana – The Epic is nearing completion, and it is also developing The Magic Racquet, a series in alliance with Leander Paes’ sports company.
The Aditi Adventures, published by Tulika Publishers, follows a group of young adventurers comprising a girl called Aditi and her friends Monkeyji, Beautiful the Elephant and Siril the ant.
The adventurers hate fighting but fight with courage when they have to. Their adventures take them all over the world – to the Great Barrier Reef, to the heart of London, to Hong Kong, to Mt. Vesuvius and to other places. With their dragon friends, Goldie and Opal, they encounter strange situations and extraordinary creatures. Eight books are in print and five more are in the pipeline, forming a ready base for multiple episodes of a series.
Maya EVP Jai Natarajan said, "We were drawn to the project due to its core fantasy element, modern themes, and worldwide locations. Animation is a natural medium for this series and will involve an investment of Rs. 8 crores. Our goal is to be known internationally for our taste and sensibility. In fact the first Aditi book has also been selected to be read aloud on a children’s program on BBC Radio 7 in the UK early next year." he added.
BriliP MD Jayaram Rajaram added, "Our focus is to identify great children-centric properties and content, with positive values and to adapt these properties into various mediums to entertain and educate children. Our Co-Production deal with Maya for the Aditi Series is a significant step towards adapting extremely high quality Indian content for the global markets."
BriliP is also creating an innovative story and animation based life-skills training program (BRILSKILLS) for schools and will be using the Aditi franchise as a core part of this curriculum. Suniti has brilliantly used an open-ended questioning style which fits our experiential training methodology very well.
Suniti Namjoshi added, "I’m tremendously pleased that BriliP and Maya Entertainment want to take the stories into a new medium. The Aditi Adventures are ‘What If?’ stories – the children, the readers, find answers and ask more questions. The four adventurers and the readers who accompany them have to use their brains all the time in order to delight themselves, to explore their world and quite often, in order just to survive."
Radhika Menon of Tulika Publishers said, "Aditi is seen through Indian eyes though it might happen anywhere. With animation, this can result in a startling visual impact. We are looking forward to the new ways of seeing and understanding which will evolve from this partnership."
