Chernin Makes New Indian Investment

MUMBAI: Peter Chernin‘s Asian investment arm, which already holds a stake in Endemol India, has acquired a minority interest in the comic book and animation outfit Graphic India.

CA Media says it has acquired a "large minority stake" in Graphic India, a comic book and animation company focused on creating mythological and superhero characters, comics and stories for the Indian youth market across mobile and online platforms. The company was set up in 2012 by Sharad Devarajan, Gotham Chopra and Suresh Seetharaman as a subsidiary of their American comic-book company, Liquid Comics. Devarajan has been tapped as CEO of Graphic India, now jointly owned by Liquid Comics and CA Media.

The venture aims to develop animated shorts, digital comics and other content around mythological and superhero characters for India’s booming youth market; the country boasts 500 million consumers under the age of 25. It has already partnered with Stan Lee‘s POW! Entertainment to develop an Indian superhero in Chakra The Invincible, and is planning to roll out digital content inspired by Liquid Comics properties such as Devi, created by Shekhar Kapur; The Sadhu, created by Gotham Chopra, which is being developed as a theatrical live-action film in Hollywood; and Ramayan 3392AD, which Mandalay Entertainment is developing as a theatrical.

"Following our successful entry into the traditional media space, we are very pleased that Graphic India marks our first investment in the digital space," said Rajesh Kamat, CEO of CA Media India. "CA Media’s aim is to create an ecosystem of diversified assets across media, where each asset not only unlocks its own value, but also adds to the rest of the portfolio. Graphic India is a valuable addition to this mix, especially in the youth segment. We look forward to working with the company to create heroes that inspire the next generation of Indian consumers.”