Rajiv Chilaka

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Rajiv Chilakalapudi
Education Osmania University, Hyderabad, India
Alma mater Hyderabad Public School, University of Missouri – Kansas City
OccupationCreator & director of animated tv & film
OrganizationGreen Gold
Notable work Chhota Bheem
Website greengold.tv

Rajiv Chilakalapudi, also known as Rajiv Chilaka and Sitarama Rajiv Chilakalapudi, is the founder and CEO of Hyderabad-based Green Gold Animations and the creator of a few cartoons including Krishna cartoon series and Chhota Bheem which has now been made into an animated series and films. [1] For his work in presenting cartoons at affordable price, Chilaka was conferred with an honorary doctorate of humane letters by the Academy of Art University, San Francisco in 2016. [2] [3] He was the recipient of the 2013 School of Computing and Engineering Alumni Achievement Award at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. [4]

Contents

Early life

Rajiv Chilaka is an alumnus of Hyderabad Public School.[ citation needed ] He received his BE in Electronics and Telecommunications engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad in 1995 and went on to the University of Missouri - Kansas City for his master's degree in Computer Science.

Career

He started working as a software engineer in Kansas City for three years, but in 2000 he switched courses to study animation at the Academy of Art University, [5] San Francisco. He has an elder brother, Srinivas Chilaka, who helps him in running Greengold. [6] [7] Chilaka is the youngest son of noted technocrat Madhusudan Rao Chilaka and Ms. Chilaka.

The magazine Businessworld named Rajiv Chilaka's company Green Gold Animations and Gamitronics as two of the top ten companies in India for making visual content in 2023. [8]

Green Gold Animation

In January 2001, Chilaka set up Green Gold Animation Pvt Ltd. According to a report in the Indian newspaper, The Hindu it is now "perhaps the largest animation production company in India that caters primarily to children." [6]

His first break came in 2004 with the animation series Bongo about an alien who lands on Earth. That led to Vikram Betal, an 80-minute 2D animation on the Cartoon Network in 2005. Chilaka and his team made a series of four animated telefilms on the life of Krishna for the Cartoon Network, before its sister channel Pogo agreed to air their next project Chhota Bheem in 2008. According to Chilaka, a few episodes into the telecast of Chhota Bheem, Pogo TV told him that due to the losses suffered the channel can no longer remain in air. But such was the great success in the very next episodes that Pogo continued with content. Chhota Bheem changed everything. [9]

Chhota Bheem

Chilaka has told Wikipedia teams that he devised the concept of an Indian historically mythological hero, Chhota Bheem in 2005. During the first three years of the series Bheem was 'if not out-rightly presented at least allowed to be thought of' as a reincarnation of legendary warrior prince Bhima from Mahabharata but later on the concept itself was modified to make the village of Dholakpur and its inhabitants more contemporary showing episodes featuring things as disparate and modern as Bollywood, trains, air-crafts etc. to emphasise the change. The first episode aired on 6 April 2008. As of 2012, more than 130 episodes have been telecast in English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil on the Pogo TV. [1] These have been accompanied by more than 10 Chhota Bheem television movies also on Pogo. It has been ranked as the most popular television character among children of 2012 by Ormax Media's Small Wonders. [9]

In 2012, the feature film Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan written by Richa Ingle Deo and Seeta was released. It is considered to be the first Indian home-grown TV series to be made into a feature film. [1] By November 2012, the movie had grossed 50 million Rupees at the box office. [9]

In January 2016, the feature film Chhota Bheem Himalayan Adventure written by Teja Pratap and Chilaka was released. The film was directed by Rajiv Chilaka and Rusauro B. Adorable.

On 10 May 2019, another feature film titled Chhota Bheem: Kung Fu Dhamaka was released. The film's music was composed by Sunidhi Chauhan and the film was distributed by Yash Raj Films. The film just like the previous ones was directed and produced by Rajiv Chilaka. This was the first film to be released in both 2D and 3D formats.

The following series have been created by Green Gold Animations

Original RunSeriesNetworkNotes
2004–2006Bongo DD National
2006–2007Krishna Cartoon Network 4 part serialised film
2008–present Chhota Bheem Pogo
2008–2010Krishna and BalramCartoon Network
2009–2012 Chorr Police Disney XD India
2011–presentMighty RajuPogoFirst spin-off of Chhota Bheem series
2012–2014Luv KushhDisney XDSeries now in syndication on Discovery Kids India since 2015
2014 present

14–2016

 Arjun - Prince of Bali Disney Channel India Spin off of 2013 film Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali
Second spin-off of Chhota Bheem series
Reruns also aired on Disney XD in 2017
2017–presentSuper BheemPogoThird spin-off of Chhota Bheem series
Kalari Kids [10] Amazon Prime Video
2018–present Kicko & Super Speedo Sony Yay [11]
Rudra: Boom Chik Chik Boom Nickelodeon India [12]
2019–present Mighty Little Bheem Netflix Fourth spin-off of Chhota Bheem series [13]
2021–presentChhota Bheem: Adventures in Singapore Voot KidsFifth spin-off of Chhota Bheem series.
2022–presentBheem in the cityPogoSixth spin-off of Chhota Bheem series and the follow-up mini series of the 2020 Chhota Bheem film Bheem in the city
2024-present Bujji and Bhairava Amazon Prime VideoCo-produced by Vyjayanthi Animation [14]

Merchandising and demographics

The merchandising accompanying the popularity of the Chhota Bheem series has produced a range over 500 products such as DVDs, T-shirts, bedsheets, ceiling fans which are available at 20 Green Gold Stores across India as well as on-line games, comics and carnivals. [9]

Chilaka, who directs each episode of the TV series and directed the movie, claims "the show has worked across demographics" by not being tied to a specific location in India and "it's followed equally by boys and girls." [1] [9]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rao, Subha J. (28 May 2012). "Home Grown Hero". The Hindu . Chennai, India.
  2. ↑ "Rajeev Chilaka Awarded Honorary Doctorate from Academy of Art University". 26 June 2016.
  3. ↑ "Honorary Doctorate – Rajiv Chilaka". 23 June 2016. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  4. ↑ "Chilakalapudi Receives SCE Alumni Achievement Award". 26 March 2013.
  5. ↑ "Academy of Art University Publication: Let's Talk Art, India" (PDF). Academy of Art University. April 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  6. 1 2 Mohan, Rajiv (16 July 2009). "Animated Life". The Hindu. Chennai, India.
  7. ↑ "Management". greengold.tv. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  8. ↑ "Top 10 Visual Content Production Companies In India 2023". Businessworld. January 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Dua Aarti (26 August 2012). "Small wonder. Toon hero Chhota Bheem has emerged as the favourite homegrown television character of tiny tots". The Telegraph . Calcutta, India. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  10. ↑ "Green Gold, Amazon Prime put Kerala martial art on the map" . Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  11. ↑ "Sony Yay banks on originals with a slew of fresh content" . Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  12. ↑ "Nickelodeon launches fifth local IP Rudra; targets 500 hrs of content by FY19". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  13. ↑ "Inspired from Chhota Bheem, Netflix to launch first animated series 'Mighty Little Bheem'" . Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  14. ↑ "Bujji and Bhairava's animated prelude from Prabhas-starrer Kalki 2898 AD to release soon. Watch". Hindustan Times . 27 May 2024.
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