Shaktimaan: The Animated Series

Last updated

Shaktimaan: The Animated Series
Shaktimaan The Animated Series Poster.jpg
Genre Action
Superhero
Based on Shaktimaan
Written byJeffrey Scott
Directed byVikram Veturi
Country of originIndia
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes26
Production
ProducerAshish S.K.
EditorJ.V. Varaprasad
Running time23 minutes
Production companiesReliance Animation
Bheeshm International
Original release
Network Nickelodeon Sonic
Release20 December 2013 (2013-12-20)

Shaktimaan: The Animated Series is a 2011 Indian animated television show based on the live-action series of the same name. [1] Produced by Reliance Animation in association with Accel Animation Studios, the series centers around Vehaan Arya, a young college student who uses his yogic superpowers to become Shaktimaan and defeat the evil forces of Kilvish, who wants to destroy the world. [2]

Contents

Set in a fictional city named Indus City, the series consists of 26 episodes, and each episode features Kilvish plotting to destroy the world and Shaktimaan saving it with his superpowers and guidance from the 7 gurus who trained him and Kilvish. [3] The scripts were written by Emmy Award winner Jeffrey Scott. [4] The protagonist Vehaan Arya, a college student and lab assistant, is based on Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri, a photojournalist played by Mukesh Khanna in the live-action series.

Also dubbed in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil languages, the series was aired on Nickelodeon Sonic in 2011, and on Discovery Kids in 2016. [5] [6] Following the first season's success, it was re-aired on Nickelodeon from 7 May 2012. [7] It was also released on DVD in all four languages via Reliance Home Video. The 13th episode Shaktimaan: Unfinished Business won the 2012 FICCI BAF Award for Best Animated TV Episode. [8] [9]

Plot

Vehaan Arya is a college student who starts attending the Indus City University as his "cover" and becomes a lab assistant to Professor Gyani, the head of computer science department who is often assisted by Louise, a computer program with the memories of his dearly departed mother. Vehaan befriends Leena, a journalism student who in need of a "big scoop" to become a broadcast journalist. In the meanwhile, Kilvish recruits his henchmen Tick and Tock, to assist him with his evil acts. When the city comes in danger, Vehaan seeks guidance from his 7 yogic gurus who bless him with superpowers and saves everyone from an evil giant robot. Unaware of his true identity, Leena names him Shaktimaan and decides to collect his news in order to get a job. Soon, it is revealed that both Vehaan and Kilvish were the students of the 7 yogic gurus, who chose the former in a competition due to his humane traits while Kilvish wasn't due to his aggressive usage of his superpowers. An enraged Kilvish unleashed his evil powers and killed Vehaan's friends, something that continues to traumatize the latter to date.

Louise witnesses Vehaan using his superpowers to save everyone in the lab, but promises to keep it a secret when he convinces her to do so. He is joined by Bumpy, his roommate who soon becomes his best friend. Leena's brother Chikoo adores Shaktimaan and aspires to be like him. General D’Goze, the head of a secret military commando unit, despises Shaktimaan for being the true hero and getting all the credit and news coverage. Using Gyani's gadgets, he futilely attempts to thwart Kilvish's evil plots himself, only to comically fail each time. Kilvish keeps putting Shaktimaan through physical challenges ranging from monsters to natural disasters to plagues to alien invasions. Dr. Jackal, an evil scientist and Professor Gyani's greatest archenemy, joins hands with Kilvish to seek his revenge and in the process destroy the world, only to find Shaktimaan saving it and defeating them again and again.

Characters

These are the primary characters appearing in the series. [10]

*Vehaan Arya/Shaktimaan: A young college student who works as a lab assistant to Professor Gyani at Indus City University, Vehaan wants to help himself develop a super powerful antivirus software that will ultimately destroy Kilvish for good. As his superhero alter-ego Shaktimaan, he uses his limitless superpowers to fight evil forces and save the day, apart from inspiring everyone, especially kids, to do the right thing. Shaktimaan's powers originate from five chakras (energy centers) namely Astral, Heart, Vibration, Psychic, and Wisdom Chakras. The only limit to his powers is his own belief in himself and his knowledge of how to manifest his powers.

*Leena Ray: A journalism student at the Indus City University and Vehaan's friend, Leena wants to become a journalist and runs a blog called Leena Ray 24/7 and with her mini HD camera or smartphone, records interviews and situations mainly featuring herself. She believes that the key to her journalistic dreams is getting a scoop on Shaktimaan, who saves her whenever she is in danger.

* Kilvish: An evil student of the 7 gurus who also trained Vehaan, Kilvish also possesses superpowers and uses them for destructive purposes. Dwelling in a dark, mysterious, underground lair and possessing a high technology and dark mysticism, he wants to destroy all goodness that stands in his way, the very reason why Shaktimaan becomes his greatest archenemy. He creates human and inhuman monsters to battle Shaktimaan.

*Professor Gyani: He runs the AI lab at the Indus City University. He aims to create the world's first artificially intelligent anti-virus in order to protect the world's computers from cyber attacks, while Vehaan wants it in order to destroy Kilvish. Professor Gyani frequently teams up with Vehaan and often develops defensive computer-controlled smart weapons for use by the army to fight Kilvish. Like most people, he too is unaware of the fact that Vehaan is Shaktimaan.

*Louise: Created by Professor Gyani, LOUISE (Laser Optical Unified Intelligent Software Entity) is an AI supercomputer based on personality traits from his dear departed mother. She is fond of Vehaan and even promises to keep his identity as Shaktimaan a secret. Vehaan and Professor turn to her whenever it comes to saving the world from Kilvish.

*Dr. Jackol: Often pronounced as Dr. Jackal, he is an evil scientist and Professor Gyani's greatest archenemy since the latter got him arrested. Escaping from prison, Jackol joins hands with Kilvish who wants him to defeat Shaktimaan in the process of exacting revenge upon Professor Gyani.

*Tick and Tock: Kilvish's henchmen, work for him half out of fear and half out of hopes of someday becoming powerful and wealthy. Tick is a gaunt, black-haired man and Tock is a giant man. Together, they execute the missions assigned to them by Kilvish and often end up foiling his plans unintentionally.

*General D’Goze: An angry, strict soldier who pretends to be tough but is actually timid, General D’Goze despises Shaktimaan for getting all the fame and credit. He relies on Professor Gyani's gadgets and tries in vain to thwart Kilvish's plans, only to find himself failing and at times, even rescued by Shaktimaan. However, he controls the government funding that subsidizes the lab and often threatens the professor to do whatever he wants or he'll cut off the funding.

* Major Meek: The sidekick of General D'Goze, he does all the dirty work for him and believes Vehaan to be hiding something from everyone. He fails whenever he tries to find out Vehaan's secret in order to impress the general and get promoted.

*Bumpy Morgan: Vehaan's room-mate and best friend, Bumpy, an aspiring actor in the university's drama department, is the only human who's aware of Vehaan's identity as Shaktimaan and often assists him whenever he needs assistance with something he's too busy to handle. Bumpy is a nervous boy who dreams of stardom but doesn't want to work hard for it.

*ACP: Indus City Police Force's most decorated police officer, ACP is obsessed with catching criminals and keeping Indus City safe. He however despises Shaktimaan and often tries to prove as if it was him who trained Shaktimaan to become the hero that people perceive him as.

*College Rowdies: A bunch of young kids in the college: A lanky boy, a thickest one, and a back-biting girl, who like to bully Vehaan but are put in place by Leena whenever she finds them harassing Vehaan.

*Shaktimaan Friend's Club: It consists of about a half-dozen boys and girls, all around 8 years old, who have a makeshift clubhouse full of Shaktimaan news clippings, toys, comics, photos, etc. They have a notebook computer on which they sometimes see news related to Shaktimaan. They are all huge fans of Shaktimaan and wear his costume, emulate him, etc. Three main characters from the club are Chikoo (Leena's brother), Jovey and Mona.

*The 7 gurus: Based in the Himalayas, these are the seven gurus who trained Vehaan/Shaktimaan and Kilvish. Representing the 7 chakras of a man, they have no names and are differentiated only by the color of their robes. Shaktimaan often communicates with them if he needs advice to get out of some difficult situation. He can reach them psychologically and usually trains with just one of his gurus, though the others may be present.

Episodes

The series consists of two seasons featuring 13 episodes each.

1 – The Battle Begins

2 – Subway To Disaster

3 – Fuels Rush In

4 – Genius' Fly Trap

5 – The Taj Kilvish

6 – Descent Into Darkness

7 – Terror In The Sky

8 – Tsunami!

9 – Blackout

10 – Endangered Species

11 – Zombie Attack!

12 – Volcanic Villain

13 – Unfinished Business

14 – True Identity

15 – Jackol's Revenge

16 – Madman At Work

17 – Out Of Focus

18 – Return Of Kilvish

19 – Demon Lord

20 – Gorilla Trap

21 – Negative Nex

22 – Kite Fright

23 – Shaktimaan Unmasked

24 – Crystal Of Darkness

25 – Dark League

26 – Ultimate Power

Games

Zapak, an Indian mobile video game developer has released adaptations of the animated TV series including Shaktimaan, Shaktimaan: Tab.

Related Research Articles

<i>Captain Underpants</i> Childrens novel series by Dav Pilkey

Captain Underpants is an illustrated children's graphic novel series by American author and illustrator Dav Pilkey. The series revolves around two fourth graders, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, living in Piqua, Ohio, and Captain Underpants, an aptly named superhero from one of the boys' homemade comic books, who accidentally becomes real when George and Harold hypnotize their cruel, bossy, and ill-tempered principal, Mr. Krupp. From the third book onwards, Mr. Krupp also possesses superhuman strength, durability and flight as a result of drinking alien "Extra-Strength Super Power Juice".

<i>SuperTed</i> Welsh animated television series (1982–1986)

SuperTed is a Welsh superhero animated television series about an anthropomorphic teddy bear with superpowers, created by writer and animator Mike Young. Originally created by him as a series of stories to help his son overcome his fear of the dark, SuperTed became a popular series of books and led to an animated series produced from 1982 to 1986. An American-produced series, The Further Adventures of SuperTed, was produced by Hanna Barbera in 1989. The series also aired on The Disney Channel in the United States where it became the first British animated series to air on that channel.

<i>Krypto the Superdog</i> American childrens animated television series

Krypto the Superdog is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on Superman's canine companion Krypto, which premiered on Cartoon Network on March 25, 2005, and aired on The CW's Saturday morning block Kids' WB from September 23, 2006, until September 15, 2007. 39 episodes were produced.

<i>Delilah & Julius</i> Canadian TV series or program

Delilah & Julius is a Canadian animated series targeted at children as well as teenagers and adults, and animated using Macromedia Flash technology. It premiered on the Canadian animation channel Teletoon. Delilah & Julius was produced by Decode Entertainment and Collideascope Digital Productions. 52 episodes were produced.

<i>Magical Circle Guru Guru</i> Japanese manga series

Magical Circle Guru Guru is a Japanese manga by Hiroyuki Etō, which was serialized in Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 1992 to 2003. It was later adapted into an anime series on October 13, 1994. A second manga series was serialized in Gangan Online in 2012.

<i>El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera</i> Mexican American animated television series

El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera is an American flash-animated television series created by Jorge R. Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua that premiered on Nickelodeon on February 19, 2007. The series centers on a 13-year-old boy named Manny Rivera who is trying the best to choose between being good or evil while dealing with bizarre enemies and gains her belt's buckle to become a tiger-themed superhero known as "El Tigre", as well as the son of a legendary hero known as "White Pantera" and the grandson of an evil super villain known as "Puma Loco". The show is set in Miracle City, a fictional city based on and located at Tijuana, where Jorge grew up. The series was produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio and was animated using Adobe Flash. A total of 26 episodes were produced.

<i>Felix the Cat</i> (TV series) American animated television series

Felix the Cat is an American animated television series featuring the cartoon character of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surendra Pal</span> Indian actor

Surendrapal Singh is an Indian film and television character actor who works in Hindi films and TV series. He is best known for his roles of Dronacharya in Mahabharat, Amatya Rakshas in Chanakya, Tamraj Kilvish in Shaktiman and Daksha in Devon Ke Dev...Mahadev.

<i>Chhota Bheem</i> Indian animated television series

Chhota Bheem is an Indian animated comedy adventure television series, created by Green Gold Animations based in Hyderabad. This show is available in English, Hindi, Telugu,Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Marathi. Bheem is a brave, strong and intelligent young boy. He often manages to solve everyone's problems which endears him to the townspeople of Dholakpur.

Krrish is an Indian media franchise of superhero films, television series, comics and video games. The film series is directed, produced and written by Rakesh Roshan. Krrish is considered Indian cinema's first such film series. All three films star Rakesh's son Hrithik. The films are centred, initially, on a mentally disabled boy who has an encounter with an extraterrestrial being, and later, his son, who grows up to be a reluctant superhero Krrish.

<i>Shaktimaan</i> Indian Hindi-language supernatural fiction superhero television show

Shaktimaan is an Indian Hindi-language superhero television show, created by Mukesh Khanna that aired on DD National from 13 September 1997 to 27 March 2005.

Paddle Pop Adventures is a Thai animated television series computer animation with its first release in 2005. The animations were created by The Monk Studios and is owned by the British-Dutch company Unilever - aside from one made by Egg Story Studio in 2013. The series is based on the mascot of the Australian ice cream brand Paddle Pop lion. It was released as a film to promote the brand worldwide, but eventually became a series.

Howzzattt is an Indian digital 2D animation series focusing on six children who enjoy the game of cricket. They call themselves the Gulab Nagar Junglees. Toonz Animation India developed the series in Trivandrum. The 13-episode series first aired on Disney XD India from 2012 to 2014 and then was syndicated on Discovery Kids India. It was developed by Renju Ramesh and produced by Rathan Sam George. P. Jayakumar was the executive producer.

<i>Noddy, Toyland Detective</i> Television series

Noddy, Toyland Detective is an animated television series featuring the character Noddy created by Enid Blyton. The series was produced by DreamWorks Animation Television and Gaumont Animation. Commissioned by France Télévisions, it premiered on March 26, 2016, on the platform Zouzous, and aired on France 5, on April 2, 2016.

<i>Regal Academy</i> Italian animated television series

Regal Academy is an Italian animated series co-created by Iginio Straffi and Joanne Lee. The series was produced by the Rainbow studio, which at the time was co-owned by Straffi and Viacom. Viacom's Nickelodeon channels broadcast the series worldwide. Rai YoYo aired the series in Italy, and it premiered on Rai YoYo on May 22, 2016, and on Nickelodeon U.S. on August 13, 2016.

Shaktimaan is an Indian superhero media franchise consisting of TV series, comic books and films. The original work is Shaktiman, which was produced by Mukesh Khanna under his banner Bheeshma International and directed by Dinkar Jani and Vikram Veturi.

<i>Baahubali: The Lost Legends</i> Indian animated television series

Baahubali: The Lost Legends is an Indian television animated series that is a part of the Baahubali franchise, produced by Arka Media Works and Graphic India. The series revolves around the young princes Amarendra Baahubali and Bhallaladeva in the Mahishmati kingdom. The series is set before the incidents happened in Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. The first season aired on Amazon Prime Video from 19 April to 11 August 2017. All episodes of season 2 were released on 16 February 2018, Season 3 on 28 April 2018 and all episodes of Season 4 on 10 April 2019 and all episodes of Season 5 on 10 April 2020.

<i>Lamput</i> 2017 Cartoon Network India series

Lamput is an Indian-animated television series of shorts created by Vaibhav Kumaresh and produced by Vaibhav Studios for Cartoon Network India and Asia. The series consists of shorts of between 18 seconds in length to 3 to 5 minutes in length, as well as some 7-minute specials. The title character is a gooey, orange creature named Lamput that has escaped from a laboratory.

<i>Andy Pirki</i> Animated television series

Andy Pirki is an Indian slapstick comedy animated television series produced by AUM Animation Studios. It premiered on 3 December 2017 on Pogo.

References

  1. Singh, Manmohan. "Mukesh Khanna to revive 'Shaktimaan' on big screen". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 6 September 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  2. "BIG Animation, Accel to produce Shaktimaan for TV". Medianewsline.com. Archived from the original on 7 May 2024. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  3. "Shaktimaan - 26 EP X 22 Min, 2D HD Flash animation series". Reliance Animation. Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  4. "Shaktimaan recreated in animation". Sify . Archived from the original on 23 August 2019.
  5. "Viacom18 to launch new channel Sonic for young adults this month". The Economic Times . December 2011. Archived from the original on 25 April 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  6. "Discovery Kids to air movies every weekend throughout 2017". Animation Xpress. 26 December 2016. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  7. "InDepth Insight: Shaktimaan series in Animation - A unique model for co-production of IP". Animation Xpress. 7 May 2012. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  8. "SHAKTIMAAN WINS 2012 FICCI BAF AWARD FOR "BEST ANIMATED TV EPISODE"". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  9. "SHAKTIMAAN won the "FICCI – BAF Best Animated Episode Award 2012"". Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  10. "Characters - Shaktimaan: The Greatest Cyber Yogic Hero". Archived from the original on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.