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Reel high on toons!
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Antoine Villeneuve, Managing Director of Walt Disney TV in India, talks about his plans
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Animated talks Antoine Villeneuve
During its first run in the U.S. and the U.K., it was one of the most watched tele-films on cable television ever. Now back with a sequel, High School Musical 2, this time is set to woo the Indian teens as well. The recently releas
ed localised soundtracks by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy are just an indication. That’s not quite surprising considering the fact that our country is one of the biggest growing markets for kids’ television.
Just the beginning
Antoine Villeneuve, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Walt Disney Television International (India), says this is just the beginning and his channels (Jetix, Disney, Hungama) have big plans for India. “Currently, India tops our priority list. And that’s why we decided to bring in the most popular series, HSM2 here. It has been a success everywhere abroad and we hope to make it a bigger success story in India. We realise that we have to find a way to connect with the Indian audience and hence, we chose a music that will tell the right story. We even shot the videos in a Bollywood studio to get the right feel,” explains the honcho who recently relocated to Mumbai from the Disney office in France.
The channel is soon set for a revamp and would be re-launched by this year-end. “The graphics have already changed. We will be focussing more on content and creativity. We are also tailoring it for India by buying popular programmes like Shararat from Star Plus. In the future, we also plan to produce some local shows.”
Having headed other offices for the company in France and Europe, this is Antoine’s first stint in India and he is says there are common grounds as well as a point of difference between the kids in India and abroad. “Kids everywhere are much more aware now. They also play a very influential role in household. But in India, kids are VIPs. Their There status here is much more important.”
With innumerable new toons taking over children’s imagination, what happens to Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, which are Disney’s copyright characters? “They will remain all-time favourites. For now we have an animated series on Mickey Mouse. But kids these days prefer live action as they grow up,” he sums up.
MANGALA RAMAMOORTHY
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