Boxer Mary Kom to be first female superhero on TV

Olympic-winning boxer Mary Kom will be seen in an animated avatar on India’s first girl superhero series, titled “Mary Kom Jr”. The acclaimed boxer has signed a licensing deal with ScreenYug Creations Pvt Ltd, a Pune based creative studio, for India’s first female superhero animated series. ScreenYug will produce the series together with Aditya Horizons. Mary Kom’s story of making a name for herself in the global boxing ring circuit has been inspiring, and with the series, she plans to motivate girls to follow their dreams. “I think it is time to take more responsibility for the female child. I want girls to be confident and strong,” said Mary Kom. The animated series will also bring in a flavor of self-defense, and the boxer feels it is necessary to spread awareness. “Parents are usually not keen on fighting games for their female child, but with all the crime going around, their eyes are now open, and this will help,” she said. “Mary Kom Jr.” is being produced by Ashish S. Kulkarni and his team, including Vikram Veturi (director), Sudip Banerjee and Aditya Bakshi (concept and story directors), JV Varaprasad (editor and music director), Rajesh Bhosale (line production) and Anand Pandey (production architect). Kulkarni emphasized that although the story will be based on Mary Kom, with a focus on Manipur, they plan to include other characters as well for universal appeal. “It is true that we are creating India’s first female superhero animated series, which will be based on India’s own super sport-star Mary Kom. While we have a Manipuri tinge in the scenes that capture the fictional life of a young Mary Kom in school, we will have other characters with a more neutral tone in order to appeal to a more global audience,” said Kulkarni. The licensing agreement will entitle Mary Kom to receive money from global sales of the animation series, any merchandise, story books, e-books, games, comics and online distribution in the future. Besides “Mary Kom Jr.,” ScreenYug Creations is currently working on the development of the animated series “War Heroes of India” and “Amazing Kids.”