Keeping in line with the present-day trend of turning entrepreneurs rather than working for others, these Mukherjee brothers — Aditya and his younger sibling Arnav — founded Toko Innovation Studios (TIS) last March. TIS aspires to be a creative powerhouse focused on innovative and wholesome children’s entertainment with plans to build a brand portfolio that will offer collectibles, toys, accessories, illustrated books, games (board games), video/TV programming and brand consultancy.
They have been avid animation movie and software watchers since childhood. Also, apart from their experience as consultants with expertise in strategy their creative attributes, Aditya being the author of Boomtown and Arnav having written screenplays, made their vision come true. “We decided to align our interest in animation and expertise to make a foray into entertainment and books. We found that there is a huge gap in children’s entertainment segment especially in India and other Asian countries,” explains Aditya in a telephonic interview accompanied by his brother.
Arnav adds, “There are very few children’s brands in animation shows, toys and games and most of the existing ones are hand-me-downs which are international brands not relatable to the Indian context.”
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Their product, Astra (divine weapons), is a collectible card game based on Indian epic mythology, particularly the Ramayana, aimed at the age group of seven to 15 years. The brothers have signed a five book deal with Harper Collins for a series woven around the Astra world and characters. “The mythological stories are presented as it is. We have given the Indian fantasy a modern context and contour. While retaining the background, we have added comedy and mystery to it,” explains Arnav. Set in the period of the Ramayana, the stories revolve around Ravana trying to collect astras with fictional characters attempting to stop him. In the process, children will be exposed to mythological characters. Working in tandem, the game and books will promote each other. “Each card has a back story which is sure to draw the players to read about them while the books are expected to attract the readers to try the board game,” Arnav explains. Plans are afoot to launch the game in Thailand based on Ramakien, the country’s national epic derived from Ramayana. “We zeroed in on Thailand as we share our heritage with that country. Though the stories will be similar, some of the characters will be different based on the Thai version, like that of Hanuman and Ravana.”
There is also a line of soft collectible toys, Woohoos, for kids between three and seven years with picture book stories attached to them which may be retailed along with the toys. Besides, TIS plans to make television shows on Astra and Woohoos. “The stories are being written with a view to develop TV shows. The strategy of creating a product, mixing it with content and then integrating it with television has been globally successful,” points out Arnav.
Their comfortable working is evident from the fact that when unable to identify as to who was replying to the questions at the end of the interaction, both reply in unison that the quotes could be attributed to either as they are on the same page. “We express our opinions frankly during discussion and plan the route map and go about our tasks. At times, it does get heated up but then we make up,” they say. “Karm” (Rupa), a noir thriller, is another manifestation of their joint effort.
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