Chhota Bheem becomes first Indian cartoon to sell Rs 200 crore merchandise

Chhota Bheem becomes the first Indian cartoon character to sell merchandise worth Rs 200 crore.

“Any toon character, which stays in a TV network for more than five years acquired a cult status with strong fan-following.  We started off with comic books and CDs and later the demand came in for licensing the character for a wide range of products, including apparels, toys, back-to-school range and office stationery. Last year sales of the character merchandise crossed Rs 200 crore,” Samir Jain, COO and executive director of Green Gold Animation was quoted as saying from mydigitalfc.com.

Green Gold Pictures is well known for their original Indian animated content and it is also the only Indian company to diversify itself into L&M, digital media, theatrical movie production, branded stores among others. Green Gold Animation was established in 2001. Green Gold set up its Licensing and Merchandising division in 2008.

Unseasonal nature of the sales across big cities and small towns alike and a large portfolio of products at different price points have been helping steady growth of Chhota Bheem merchandise sales year-after-year.

Chhota Bheem is an Indian animated comedy adventure television series created by Rajiv Chilaka. Premiered in 2008 on Pogo TV, it focuses on adventures of a boy named Bheem and his friends in the fictional kingdom of Dholakpur.

According to Jain, despite having all-time hit global cartoon characters such as Tom and Jerry, and Disney and Warner Bros for decades, Chhota Bheem is one of the very few Indian toon characters, which has been able to sell merchandise of this value.

The popularity of Chhota Bheem is not seasonal in nature and so is the demand for the merchandise. The producers come out with theatrical movies once in a year and a few events.

Recently, Chhota Bheem celebrates its tenth anniversary, where Green Gold announced that it will create India’s first Netflix original show ‘Mighty Little Bheem’. In addition, the company will be launching ‘Chhota Bheem’ musical in India later this year, which will be produced and promoted by Venture One Innovations.

Moreover, “Chhota Bheem: Kung Fu Dhamaka”, Green Gold Animation’s upcoming venture will travel across many international markets this year-end.

Gold started Green Gold Pictures in 2012 and has produced and released three theatrical movies of Chhota Bheem titled “Chhota Bheem & the Curse of Damyaan” in 2012 and “Chhota Bheem & The Throne of Bali” in 2013 and “Mighty Raju Rio Calling” in 2014.

Green Gold has licensed the brand to over 100 partners, including Godrej, Unilever, Cello and Toyzone, who produce different products using the IP. The products are available through the general trade, e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra and organized retail chains like Big Bazaar and Shoppers Stop.

Recently, Toonz Retail has tied up with Green Gold. As per the agreement, Toonz would use the IP for its own apparels brands such as Wowmom and Super Young and retail through the general trade as well as its stores.

Moreover, Toonz expects the character merchandise to account for 10 per cent of the apparel sales this year.

With an Indianized range of products, Chhota Bheem caters to the lower end of the price spectrum, middle as well as the high-end.

Green Gold expects Chhota Bheem merchandise to clock Rs 500 crore revenue in the next 4-5 years.

Besides, India’s favourite entertainment destination Imagica announced a unique consumer experience for guests at the theme park, in association with Green Gold Animation.

This one-of-a-kind association with India’s pioneer in producing original animated content witnessed the introduction of India’s first character ride – ‘Chhota Bheem The Ride’ from May this year.