India’s Iron Man prepares to go global as its creator raises $2.8 million

The Chakra is a disc with 108 serrated edges, the ultimate weapon for the destruction of an enemy. It was wielded by the Hindu god Vishnu, and later his avatar Krishna in the epic Mahabharata.

Chakra is also the name of India’s very own Iron Man, a superhero born in Mumbai, who has an energized suit – Indian mythology says the human body has 108 energy lines called “chakras.” Interestingly, Iron Man and Chakra have a common genealogy – both were created by Stan Lee, who also gave us Spiderman.

The legendary American creator of comic book characters helped Graphic India launch Chakra The Invincible, India’s answer to Iron Man. And now the Indian startup has raised US$2.8 million to take Indian superheroes and mythological characters to global audiences.

India has a rich tradition of mythological and folk tales, the best known being the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Panchatantra. Now, with the smartphone and internet boom in the country, they can reach huge numbers of young people. But Graphic India believes there is no reason why these stories shouldn’t reach global audiences as well with better production values for digital comics and videos based on them. That would give American superheroes and Japanese anime a serious contender.

Chakra is just one of the many interesting characters in Graphic India’s pantheon. There is also Devi, a female superhero conceptualized by film-maker Shekhar Kapoor, whose movie Elizabeth got global acclaim. Then there is Gabbar, India’s best known villain, from the movie Sholay. His immortal line is “Ye Haath Humko De De Thakur” (“Give me this hand, Thakur”), which he says menacingly before hacking off the hero’s arms.

India’s oldest comic book series is Amar Chitra Katha, which I grew up on. But Graphic India is targeting a new generation of young people attached to smartphones.

“The new financing will expand our content offering and allow us to create India’s premier mobile platform for comics and animation,” says Sharad Devarajan, co-founder and CEO of Graphic India, on the funding.

Devarajan, who has an MBA from Columbia University and BFA from Syracuse University, started up Graphic India as a subsidiary of the US-based Liquid Comics, along with Suresh Seetharaman, and Gotham Chopra, son of Deepak Chopra, the popular alternative healing practitioner.

The current funding comes from media investment firms CA Media and Start Media, as well as Backflip Studios founders Julian Farrior and Dale Thoms. The original seed funding of US$2.5 million in 2013 was by CA Media, which is the Asian arm of the the US-based Chernin Group.