Going Global & Managing Global Businesses Case Study

From Books to Animation: Indian Cartoons Going Global

OR

Abstract:
In global terms, comics, cartoons and animation were one of the rapidly growing sectors of the entertainment industry. In the case of India, the sector underwent resurgence in the 2000s. India, being the second largest populated country of the world, was a potential market for comics and animation with a large young population. On the other hand, on the cultural front, it enchanted the world with its rich heritage of mythology and folklore. By the mid-2000s, the Indian comics publishing houses were going multiplatform to bring out the Indian myths and culture to the world. At the same time, the originality of the Indian themes attracted global entertainment providers like Virgin Comics. However, the Indian animation industry was way behind the major global players like the US in terms of investment and quality. Nonetheless, some analysts felt that the originality of the Indian comics would attract a global audience.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand the factors supporting the growth of the Indian comics and animation industry
• To understand the transformation of comic characters from books to cartoon films
• To analyse expansion strategies of different publishing houses and animation companies to face global competition..

Keywords : Comics; Animation; Indian cartoons; Superman; Manga; Pokemon; Virgin Comics; Amar Chitra Katha; Mythology; Anant Pai; Western superheroes; Deepak Chopra; Cartoon network; Hanuman; Tintin