Moral Ground

Among other things,‘edutainment’ is emerging as one of the prime focus in animation in India

It’s no longer about telling a bedtime story and switching off with a ‘sweet dreams.’ When out of the six to seven waking hours in a day,your child spends approximately two (in some cases,more) glued to the telly,you’d want him/her to roll their eyeballs on something substantial,more meaningful,and preferably,educating. “That’s why we,at Nick,have two filtering stages – one which checks the program for violent,aggressive material and two,we make sure there’s an undercurrent of humour,” Nina Elavia Jaipuria,Senior VP and GM,Nick India guards this gatekeeper’s trust fiercely,because “children’s minds are highly impressionable,and we need to keep a check.” In a time where every child has access to computers,mobiles,television and even money,Nina makes a plausible observation,especially when the visual medium’s content is getting aggressive,explicit and more violent by the TRP. “Animations like Pokemon,Maruko,Ben Ten,Doraemon,Shin Chan,Power Rangers,Turtle Ninjas are nothing but a whirlwind of action. What are the children learning? To fight?” points out a harried friend and mother who makes sure to sit with her child when she turns to the telly. “This is where we’ve stepped in,and present Little Krishna,” says Nina as she runs a preview which leaves us in awe. Nick,in collaboration with Big Animation and The Indian Heritage Foundation are on air with Little Krishna for a week now and are already reaping the benefits. “It is Indian epic’s most legendary and endearing character who has a universal appeal,” reasons Ashish,taking Krishna worldwide in 13 episodes which took them years to research and develop. “Having a character to look up to is one of the most important things in a child’s life. It’s his topic of discussion at school,with friends,because he develops an intangible and tangible relationship with this animated endearing character,hence who better than Krishna,” add Nina and Ashish,working hard on kid’s content,licensing and merchandising for it knows no boundaries. Interestingly,while the English dubbing of Little Krishna’s been done by an eight-year-old girl,its Hindi voice over is by 33-year-old mom!

In the meantime,Ashish’s working on another feature which involves environment. “Edutainment is something that’s missing from children’s lives,and another is environment. Children are cooped up inside all day and have stopped interacting with nature. With this feature,I’m trying to reconnect them with environment,” he says. On the other hand,history is Balakrishna Muddar’s medium to reach out and instill some knowledge among children. MD Mediatech Studios,Founder Member and President ABAI (Association of Bangalore Animation Industry),he has raised the issue of aggressive content in animations in the country,and feels that it’s detrimental to a child’s emotional and cognitive development. “Once a child is emotionally attached,nothing can replace it. Hence we need to be more careful,” which is why Muddar’s making animated features on leaders like Gandhi,Swami Vivekananda et al.

Another channel that’s going to be as spaced out is Spacetoon. With its nine planets of knowledge and information aligned to entertain children,MD and CEO Rajiv Sangari believes they are going to change the nature of animation. Like Maddur,he too has taken the moral high ground and will have fillers in the form of soothing music,little lessons,how to take care of your parents,grandparents,ethics,hygiene,traffic rules,manners et al in between the programmes. “It’s a hit in the Middle East,” he tells us,adding how they’ve bifurcated the channels into planets which will cover everything from science,history,alphabets,maths,movies etc. “TV has become a very important part of kids’ understanding today. The two TV per home concept allows the child more access and the impact on their psyche as a result is huge. With aggressive animated content from US and Japan making its way in,filtering,censorship is needed,” he says stressing on more creative,educating stuff. While they’ve invested millions in these moral fillers,Rajiv also indulges in merchandise which will soon be available in stores. In the meantime,lookout for Spacetoon at DT Mall on the May 22,23 and 24 and press E for Edutainment!