It’s quite common to see a comic book series getting its own movie wherein few issues are released related to the storyline of the film to promote it. However this scenario is something that’s unknown in the Indian market. Generally a comic related to the movie is released post the film’s premier (exception being The Blueberry Hunt). Seems like the Telegu film industry is now being open to the idea of not just incorporating VFX in their films, but also of using the medium of graphic novels to engage their audiences for their upcoming movies (like Baahubali). This time, its the Telugu movie writer and actor, Kirti Rambhatla who has collaborated with the Indian comic book publisher, Fenil Sherdiwala.
AnimationXpress learnt this heartwarming news from the comic publisher himself, Fenil Sherdiwala who’s the founder of Fenil Comics. Fenil Comics has more than 36 comic characters under its hood and with Taskara coming under its kitty, exciting times lie ahead for the comic company.
An Indian film made in Telugu language, Taskara was a neo-noir cyber heist thriller film with elements of geopolitics which got released on 8 January, 2016. The film was written by Kiriti, directed by a team at LME, music by Rohit Kumar and produced by Libra Media & Entertainment Motion Pictures. The story is about a mysterious hacker who steals Rs 10 trillion from the central bank of his country to show how easy it is to loot as a bank rather than stepping inside one and looting it.
You might be wondering, if the film is already out then how’s this something new? Well, we learnt that the film is going to get sequels, and for that the comics will act as a bridge.
When and how did this association take place with Taskara’s writer Kiriti Rambhatla?
I would like to first mention that I am a big fan of movies along with comic books and I watch all kinds of them including international movies and Indian regional language movies with subtitles. As I was searching for some cyber heist and technical thrillers in Indian movies, I stumbled across ‘Taskara’. It was under production and the teaser had been released which attracted my attention. I got in touch with the writer / actor of the movie and coincidentally he was a big comic movie fan too. Thus, started our association.
Since Taskara is a Telugu movie which has already been released, what new will the readers get to witness in the graphic novel?
The field of economics, hacking and crypto currencies is very extensive and new to Indian audience. These are the pillars on which the movie story was built. However, it is hard to convey the entire concept in two hours. Here is where the graphic novel differs. We will be building on the movie’s character, making him a superhero in the future editions from which he will then be adapted into motion pictures. Taskara’s superhero character will join the Fenil Comics league of superheroes ‘Universal Kings’ soon. That is what makes the graphic novel special. It has lot more layers to the character than the movie.
Can you elaborate a bit more on the storyline?
Taskara is relatively a new genre for Indian audience as I mentioned earlier. It is told in a ‘neo noir’ format which is a cyber heist thriller. But the plot is very intelligent and complex. Where Taskara invests the money he hacks is the big question. What he does after the heist and how he changes his identity are all answered in the graphic novel series in the future.
How many people are involved in this project?
There are six pillars to this graphic novel. Kiriti Rambhatla who is the creator of the character and has also written the screenplay of the motion picture. He also starred as the lead character in the movie. The story has been adapted to the graphic novel by Sudeep Menon who is a writer for the popular Doga series. Mohit Arya has illustrated all the pages of the first series with Zakir Hussain colouring the entire series. As for me, I have edited the series.
What kind of art style would we get to observe? And what’s the involvement of the filmmaker?
Fans will be treated to different styles of artwork in all three parts of the book. We have used state of the art softwares that are used in the comic book industry to bring the characters to life. The copyrights of the writer are independent of the film makers.
How many issues are you planning to roll out and how many pages will it consist?
Series 1 of this graphic novel will have 3 parts consisting of 32 pages each. The future series are under works and cannot be disclosed at the moment.
What will be the distribution channel and where all will it be distributed?
Fenil Comics has entered the distribution market in the year 2010. Initially, we have catered to Hindi speaking audience in the North Indian zone where we have established a strong fan base. However, with Taskara, we will be expanding our distribution all over India as the graphic novel is in the English language. Subsequently, we are also planning to distribute it in the overseas market including the UK and USA as well.
Being a Telugu film based graphic novel, how are you planning to market it pan India?
As I mentioned earlier, though the movie was made in Telugu, the content is very international. Infact, some USA based comic book portals have already previewed Taskara graphic novel for its unique storyline and content. So the content will find takers all over India and overseas. We plan to promote the book in conventions and fairs. There will also be a teaser of the book launched soon. English language is another advantage that the novel possesses.
What’s the target audience?
The graphic novel will follow the suit of the movie and will have universal content suitable for all age groups as it doesn’t have any mature content in it.
As for the writer / director of the movie Rambhatla, he believes that Taskara as a character has great potential to be an indigenous grown Indian super hero in the coming years.
The graphic novel is set to release on 20 August and it would be interesting to see how the book fares in the market as it sure has a unique plotline attached to it.
