Introduction:
What do you get when you combine billionaire Richard Branson, writer Gotham Chopra, and spiritual guide Deepak Chopra? A comic book publishing company focused on the market of India spotlighting India's myths and culture. Although this might seem a little odd, the reception has been well recieved internationally and has attracted such talent as John Woo, Guy Ritchie, and Nicolas Cage. What follows is information about Virgin comics as provided by its CEO, Sharad Devarajan.Note: As of August 26, 2008, Virgin Comics has closed its doors and is not longer in business.
Name:
Virgin ComicsPeople In Charge:
CEO - Sharad DevarajanPresident - Suresh Seetharaman
Chief Creative Officer - Gotham Chopra
Editor In Chief
Chief Creative Officer & Editor-in-Chief - Gotham ChopraStarted by:
Founders: Sir Richard Branson, Sharad Devarajan (CEO), Deepak Chopra (Chairman), Shekhar Kapur (Oscar nominated film director), Gotham Chopra, Suresh Seetharaman (President)Characters:
Devi, Shekhar Kapur’s Snake Woman, The Sadhu, Ramayan 3392AD (under Shakti Line) John Woo’s 7 Brothers, Guy Ritchie’s Gamekeeper (under Director’s Cut Line) Dave Stewart’s Walk In (under Voices Line).Famous For:
Through our Indian line of comics, Shakti, our mission is to define a new wave of Indian character entertainment and permeate this style and vision to audiences from Boston to Beijing to Bangalore. With a unique creative and cultural identity, the 500 million youths of India today are sparking a transition in thinking for their country and for their world. Our comics such as Ramayan 3392AD, Devi and Sadhu, are intended to be the voice of this revolution. Besides this we are also collaborating with top creative talent in the world through our celebrity line of comics.
The Director’s Cut line features only filmmakers but Voices reaches out to actors, musicians, and other innovative thinkers. So far we are collaborating with John Woo, Shekhar Kapur, Guy Ritchie, Nicolas Cage, and Dave Stewart. In essence, while we are leading a cultural revolution in India and bringing Indian mythology to the world, we are still appealing to global sensibilities by working with the absolute top creators in the world.
Public Company (Can you own a piece of it?):
Virgin Comics is a private partnership.Creator Owned Projects:
At the moment we are only working with the creators on our Director’s Cut and Voices lines, as we have not yet expanded to promoting independent creations.Location:
Our headquarters is located in New York City and our studio is located in Bangalore, India.Website:
www.virgincomics.comSend Projects to:
At the moment we are not accepting unsolicited submissions but we expect to change this policy as we expand and will update our website with the information.Other Media:
We are currently producing a feature length animated feature for kids that is titled, The Secret of the Seven Sounds.
The Sadhu comic series is also in the process of being developed for a live action feature being developed by Nicolas Cage to play the role of James Jensen and Deepak Chopra writing the script. Our Shakti characters have been developed in to mobile phone games for the Indian market and will be available in the US in the latter half of this year.
