Storybook characters come alive

If your kids love going on adventure trips in their imagination after listening to interesting story tales from Karadi, the bear, then there is even more reason for them to rejoice. Having existed for over a decade now, children’s popular talking books, Karadi Tales, has made a foray into television.

Karadi Tales includes 26 titles in the television series directed by Soumitra Ranade. The soundtrack features Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad, Saeed Jaffrey, Javed Jaffrey among other celebrated artistes with a rich background score created by the music band 3 Brothers & A Violin. CP Vishwanath, CEO, believes that differentiation won’t be a problem for them amidst the already cluttered animation programming on TV. “We don’t fear competition. Karadi Tales is best known for its unique Indian elements. Most of the animation programmes on TV today feature content which is foreign. Our content featuring characters and stories from Panchatantra, Jatakas, Puranas, Indian epics and folklore is already a hit with kids,” he says.

Children have a very fertile imagination. Has this factor been difficult to deal with while making the animation series for TV? Vishwanath remarks, “No visual medium can be the answer to a child’s imagination. We are just sticking to the Indian look and feel of storytelling in the series.”

The animated characters and backgrounds in the animation series of Karadi Tales is stylised along the lines of the Indian mask-making tradition.

The series will feature the first 13 animated episodes till December 2009, every weekday on Disney channel at 9.30 am.

Next 13 episodes will be telecast next year.