The Hindu Business Line : Virgin Comics to showcase Indian mythology to the world

Virgin Comics and Animation (VCA) is betting on Devi, a female Indian mythical character, to help the country take the big leap into the creative global animation industry.

"India has so far remained only an outsourcing destination, with IPs being held outside the country. The time has come for us to do a reverse cultural colonisation," said filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, Director and Chief Visionary of Virgin Comics and Animation, and partner at Intent Media LLC.

The Bangalore-based company is a joint venture between Intent Media, promoted by Mr Kapur and writer Deepak Chopra, and Virgin Group Ltd, promoted by the high-profile British tycoon, Mr Richard Branson.

Devi was launched in the US last month and now figures among the top 100 comic titles launched there.

"The Indian comic book industry has to change and characters have to be in sync with global trends," said Mr Kapur at the India launch of Devi in Bangalore today.

VCA's other titles include Sadhu, Snake Woman and Ramayana 3392 AD, which will soon be launched in the country.

The company is also in talks with a media house to create a film and video games of Devi, Mr Kapur said.

"We plan to mine the 5,000-year vault of Indian mythology and showcase it to the world."

The comic book, priced at $3 in the US, will be sold for Rs 10-15 in India and will soon be published in all Indian languages.

Plans are already on to launch the comic in other international languages such as French, Japanese, Spanish and Italian, according to Mr Sharad Devarajan, CEO & Publisher of VCA.

The global animation industry is growing very fast and Asia is likely to corner a significant share of the huge market, Mr Kapur added.

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