Graphic India is leading India’s character entertainment revolution!

In the same way that America created superheroes and Japan created anime, Graphic is tapping into the creativity of India to launch a new wave of enduring characters and mythic heroes to captivate the imaginations of youths in India and around the world.The Company uses digital comics and animation to developnew stories targeting the 550 million Indian youth under the age of 25 and the 900 million person mobile market as they leapfrog directly to smartphones.

Led by media entrepreneur Sharad Devarajan, Graphic India is owned by U.S. comic book Company, Liquid Comics; media investment group, Start Media, LLC; and Emerald Media, the Asian media investment arm of The Chernin Group, LLC (TCG) and KKR. The companys partners and investors bring together decades of experience in building businesses in character entertainment, media and India.

Graphic is currently producing 200 episodes of animation across TV and digital platforms with premium global partners including Disney, Amazon Prime Video, Cartoon Network, Rovio, Viacom18 and others as well as live action theatrical films in Hollywood, Bollywood and China. Characters like “Chakra The Invincible” which was created with Stan Lee (co-creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man and Avengers) already have over 40 million views through mobile outside of India via Angry Birds’s ToonsTV platform. Graphic’s recent series “Astra Force” with Amitabh Bachchan launched on Disney Channel as an award winning new animated show. Graphic recently collaborated with Arka Mediaworks, creators of “Baahubali,’ the most successful film franchise in Indian history, on the launch of the new animated series, “Baahubali: The Lost Legends,” which premiered on Amazon Prime Video as one of the top 3 most watched shows on the platform in India.

Graphic’s other stories include, Ramayan 3392A.D., The Leaves, The Sadhu, and Monkey Master in development as theatrical live-action feature films; 18 Days, a reimagining of the great eastern epic, the Mahabharata, by acclaimed graphic novel creator, Grant Morrison; Devi, a female superhero from acclaimed filmmaker, Shekhar Kapur; Chakra The Invincible, the first superhero for India from legendary creator Stan Lee; and numerous other heroes and stories.

 

FOUNDERS

SHARAD DEVARAJAN  

CO-FOUNDER & CEO

For Devarajan, Graphic India is the culmination of his lifelong dream to launch characters, heroes and stories that tap into the unique creativity and culture of India but appeal to audiences worldwide. In the same way the West has created superheroes or Japan launched anime, Graphic India is transforming the perception of India in animation from being an ‘outsourcer” to being ‘the source.’ Devarajan overseas all aspects of the business and has had nearly two decades of experience in the character entertainment industry.

Devarajan is the Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Liquid Comics, an entertainment company that uses the medium of graphic novel storytelling to develop original content for various media platforms. Devarajan was previously the Co-Founder, CEO & Publisher of Virgin Comics LLC a company he co-founded, with Sir Richard Branson, authors Deepak Chopra, Gotham Chopra & filmmaker Shekhar Kapur.

Devarajan is also a Producer / Executive Producer on a number of theatrical live-action film and television projects in development including The Leaves with Summit Entertainment; Ramayan 3392AD with Mandalay Entertainment; The Sadhu with producer Mark Canton (‘300’ ‘Immortals’); Dominion: Dinosaurs Versus Aliens with filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld (‘Men in Black’ trilogy); Coming of Rage, with filmmaker Wes Craven (‘Scream’); Gamekeeper, with filmmaker Guy Ritchie (‘Sherlock Holmes’); and Marked, with Emmy-Award Winning writer James Manos Jr. (Sopranos, Dexter); Devarajan also worked with filmmaker John Woo (Mission Impossible 2; Face Off) as Executive Producer on the animated web series, “John Woo Presents: 7 Brothers.

In 2010, Mr. Devarajan led a project with the Open Hands Initiative, to bring together a group of American and Middle Eastern students with disabilities to work together and create a new superhero that reflected their shared challenges & values. The superhero, “Silver Scorpion,” received worldwide acclaim for promoting advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities in the Middle East. President Clinton honored the students at the Clinton Global Initiative, stating that the comic book “will help to establish trust and understanding between cultures, to empower young people with disabilities.”

In 2004, Mr. Devarajan worked with Marvel as the creator of a new reinvention of Spider-Man as an Indian boy growing up in Mumbai, transforming “Peter Parker” into “Pavitr Prabhakar”. Unlike traditional translations of western characters into foreign markets, the new series, “Spider-Man: India” was heralded as one of the industry’s first “trans-creations.”

For his activities, Mr. Devarajan was featured as CNNfn’s ‘Maverick in The Morning’ and covered in numerous media including WSJ, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Fox News, CNN, and NPR’s Fresh Air. He has been a speaker at various events including, TEDX Gateway, Fortune Magazine’s Global Forum, FICCI, and Harvard Business School.He holds a BFA from Syracuse University and an MBA from Columbia University where he is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School teaching, Media Marketing and Entrepreneurship; Transmedia & Transcreation; and Just Capital & Cause Driven Marketing.

GOTHAM CHOPRA / CO-FOUNDER

SURESH SEETHARAMAN / CO-FOUNDER

 

PARTNERS & SHAREHOLDERS:

 

Liquid Comics is a digital entertainment company focused on creating cinematic and mythic graphic novel stories with filmmakers, creators and storytellers. The company was founded by entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Gotham Chopra and Suresh Seetharaman and uses the medium of digital graphic novel publishing to develop properties for theatrical live-action films, animation and video games. Liquid Comics has created and is creating original graphic novels with acclaimed filmmakers and talents including John Woo, Guy Ritchie, Grant Morrison, Dave Stewart, Marc Guggenheim, Jonathan Mostow, Edward Burns, Nicolas Cage, John Moore, Wes Craven, Barry Sonnenfeldand many others. The company currently has a number of film and television projects in development based on their properties.

 

 

CA MEDIA – Majority-owned by The Chernin Group, CA Media has a mandate to build, manage, and operate media, entertainment, and technology businesses throughout Asia. Based in Hong Kong, CA Media is building a regional footprint primarily focused on India, Indonesia, and China. CA Media has acquired significant stakes and has partnered in the success of Endemol India, a leading television and film production business; Only Much Louder (OML), a music, live events, and youth media company in India; Legend Fighting Championship, a Hong Kong-based mixed martial arts promotion; and most recently Graphic India. CA Media is launching FLUENCE India’s leading ‘online influencer network’ around celebrities and brands. The CEO of CA Media, Paul Aiello, was formerly the CEO of News Corporation’s Star TV Asia. Prior to that, he was the Head of TMT investment banking at Morgan Stanley for the Asia region. The CEO of CA Media India is Rajesh Kamat was formerly COO of Viacom18 Group, CEO of Colors and founded the India operations of Endemol as its Managing Director.

 

The Chernin Group, LLC (TCG) is a privately held, independent media holding company founded by Peter Chernin and based in Los Angeles, CA. TCG has built, managed, operated and invested in businesses in the media, entertainment and technology sectors around the world since 2010. TCG’s assets include Chernin Entertainment, which produces feature films and television programs; a majority stake in Hong Kong-based CA Media, which builds, manages and operates media, entertainment and technology businesses across Asia; and several strategic investments in digital media companies, which have included Pandora, Fullscreen, Base79, MiTú, Tumblr, Flipboard and Scopely. Providence Equity Partners LLC; Qatar Holding LLC; Victor Koo (founder and CEO of Youku) and Chengwei Capital; and other shareholders are strategic partners of and investors in TCG.

 

Start Media, LLC is a privately held media company with interests in exhibition, feature film production and financing, content discovery technology and publishing. The company is acquiring and building content-driven companies designed to capitalize on dislocations created by an evolving media ecosystem.