Ancient wisdom goes global

Kapa, Tiga and their friends from the wild come together in an animated series by Magic 7 Studios, where they teach lessons from Thirukkural
The series was presented at Cannes International Film Festival in October
The series was presented at Cannes International Film Festival in October

CHENNAI: We all want this world to be a peaceful and happy place for human beings and every other living creatures. While some might find it to be a hard task to make the world a better place, city-based Magical 7 Studios think that this is highly possible by sowing the seeds of good thoughts and fundamental principles in the young minds right from one’s childhood. And their idea is simple. They are taking lessons from Thirukkural — the masterpiece of Tamil literature written by Thiruvalluvar — and combining it with the top 10 life skills mandated by the United Nations through the World Health Organization.

Knowledge sharing
A part of Edsix Brainlab, Magical 7 Studios has come up with a series of animated videos to take pearls of ancient wisdom interspersed with basic life skills to children around the world. “Our initiative to take life skills to children is invested and supported by IIT-Madras and co-invested by IIM-Ahmedabad. We want to reach children through cartoons, animated content, and puzzles. These skills will cover political, secular, health, economic, safety and other aspects to provide holistic learning. We have created characters for our video content and copyrighted it,” said Saravanan Sundaramoorthy, CEO of Magical 7 Studios. The International Thirukkural Foundation in Mauritius — founded by Aroomugam Parasuramen — is partnering with Magical 7 Studios in this initiative.

There are 340 episodes and each runs for seven minutes. The stories will feature seven core animal characters of which Kapa and Tiga are the popular ones. The series will be available in English as well as 20 other Indian and international languages such as Arabic, Bengali, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Javanese, German, Turkish, Malay and Vietnamese.

For a better world
“We’ve covered almost 75 per cent of the languages spoken by the population of the world. Thirukkural might come across as a serious subject, but in order to make it relatable, interesting and easy to understand, we’ve included humour and slapstick comedy. Even a three-year-old can understand and enjoy these stories. The videos will feature animals that have their own lifestyle. They fight, play and help each other in times of need. The team from IIT-Madras has put their heart and soul into crafting these videos,” he said, adding that it took almost six months to develop the content.

The video will be available in regional languages to reach children in rural areas. It’s free for government-run schools and is given at a subsidised rate to private institutions. After watching the series, the children will be given puzzles to apply these skills practically. It is said to improve the thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills in children.

Accolades & recognition
“We had taken the content to Cannes International Film Festival from October 12 to October 15, 2019 under the animated category. We received positive feedback from the finest minds in the industry. They will be taking these videos with one or two minor modifications. This is a great recognition for the team from Chennai and a proud moment for our country since our animation industry is not as appreciated as the other fields. We’ve been getting inquiries about the videos from Americans, Chinese and Europeans. Our goal is to give back more than what we’ve taken from the world,” said Saravanan.That apart, ahead of Margazhi season, the Lakshman Sruthi consortium is creating an artistic interpretation of Thirukkural in the form of a dance-drama during Chennaiyil Thiruvaiyaru event on December 25, 9 am at Kamarajar Arangam.

For schoolchildren
The video will be available in regional languages to reach children in rural areas. It’s free for government-run schools and is given at a subsidised rate to private institutions.

Watch the series at Magical 7 Studios’ YouTube channel

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The New Indian Express
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