ACK Media’s IP Suppandi Suppandi is being developed as an animated TV series of 26 episodes x 11 minutes by ACK Animation which is responsible for stories, scripts, new characters, production design, sound design, casting, direction. Around 70+ artists from ACK have contributed to the Suppandi Suppandi! Production and the first batches of episodes are in the final stages of post-production. Cartoon Network is the broadcaster for this show and would probably broadcast Suppandi Suppandi! this summer. ACK Animation Studio is the key studio behind this production and the initial episodes were being produced with Cornershop.
Suppandi Suppandi! is a comedy with bucket loads of Suppandi wit and slapstick humor in spades. To this add a whole new cast of strange & hilarious characters, who the studio thinks are going to become instant classics much like the protagonist.
Talking to AnimationXpress.com Kushal Ruia, Creative Head ACK Animation Studio shares, “ACK Animation Studio’s biggest contribution to the Suppandi legacy is the creation of a whole new cast of characters like Hoshyar Singh, Bunty, Sona, Heerachand, Shaitan Singh, Dhenchu the Donkey etc that did not exist in the original Tinkle universe. Suppandi’s world is now even bigger, crazier and of course funnier because of these new characters!”
Suppandi has an iconic look and a silhouette that any Indian could recognize. ACK refrained to mess with such a distinctive design language. In fact the studio used that as an inspiration to design the other characters too with a strong emphasis on shapes. Same is the case with the look and feel of the backgrounds. The series is set in the town of “Aram Nagar” and hence has very organic and gentle shapes with pleasing pastel colors.
About the challenges faced Kushal says, “The biggest challenge on this was to live up to 30 years of expectations and how to make a character that was created that long ago in comics relevant today and in animation. Suppandi in many ways was tough to crack as a TV series. We wanted to respect the original stories but at the same time had to contemporize it. The same way Tinkle too needs to do it for the print counterpart. This had to be done without deviating from the established character”.
“Then there was the format. The comics usually have simple one-page stories with different supporting characters in every story. For a TV series we needed something more complex and more involved to make it work as a 22 or 11 min narrative. Eventually we came up with so many good ideas and concepts, that one TV series just does not seem enough. There might be some surprises in the near future!” Kushal adds.
The music and opening theme is provided by Abhishek Nailwal. There are number of scriptwriters for the series who are led by Divya Chandel who is the key story & script supervisor. She works very closely with Kushal Ruia, the series director/ producer to get Suppandi Suppandi to work not only as an innovative TV series but also stay true to the iconic personality as portrayed in the Tinkle comics.
According to Kushal, Suppandi is appealing to all ages and cuts across all demographics. “I think die-hard Suppandi fans as well as the newer generations will embrace the loveable Indian goof in his newest avatar”, Kushal Ruia adds.
2012 will see up to 4 new projects being released by ACK Animation Studio. Besides Suppandi Suppandi! the animated series, they have announced their first theatrical feature length animated movie, “Sons of Ram”(written & directed by Kushal Ruia) which comes to cinemas on 10th August 2012 in stereoscopic 3D. The other projects will be announced very very soon.
Key Members of the Suppandi Suppandi! Team includes Concept & Series Director – Kushal Ruia; Inspired by- Anant Pai’s “Suppandi”; Written by- Divya Chandel, Kaushik Chawla, Jyoti Singh, Debashish Irengbam, Vivek Kumar; Music by- Abhishek Nailwal; Creative Producers- Krishna Desai, Shilpa Verma, Kushal Ruia; Executive Producers- Vijay Sampath, Monica Tata, Samir Patil; Episode Directors- Santosh Palav , Kushal Ruia
The latest news, exclusive behind-the scenes art and sneak-peaks on all ACK’s upcoming projects follow the official ACK Animation Studio page on facebook.