Mahabharata in new avatar on YouTube
When superhero action meets mythology in graphic detail, you get 18 Days, an animated web- series from the writer of Batman
Mahabharata for a new audience on a whole new platform.”
Grant has been involved with the crucial aspects of the series. All characters and interpretation of the story have been conceived by him and he also wrote the story framework for the whole series, according to Graphic India.
Asked why Mahabharata was chosen for this venture, Sharad Devarajan, the cofounder and CEO of Graphic India, said, “The Mahabharata is arguably the greatest story ever told and has defined much of eastern philosophy and thought in the same way the Odyssey and
Iliad defined the West. We have seen Greek myths permeate the popular global culture through numerous films like Clash of the Titans, The Immortals and others, there is no doubt the Mahabharata has the power to captivate the entire world if executed in the proper way. Great stories like the Mahabharata don’t belong to any one culture, they belong to the world.”
The animated series, though, is not the first product of this collaboration between Graphic India and Grant Morrison. They recently launched a coffee- table book on 18 Days in the America that featured Grant’s original animated scripts, the success of which established the potential of this Indian epic in the global market.
Jeevan Kang, the man behind the creative design of the show, said, “18 Days is the confluence of ancient mythology with the magical realism of a sci- fi world, replete with Hyperion
Rathas, Thermo- nuclear Astras and Techno- Vedic Heroes. Thematically, it embraces the underpinings of the Mahabharata and tries to explore the concepts of heroism, honour versus dishonour, right versus wrong, brother versus brother and the frailty and strength of humans in the face of overwhelming circumstances.”
Great stories like the Mahabharata don’t belong to any one culture, they belong to the world
— SHARAD DEVARAJAN, CO- FOUNDER & CEO, GRAPHIC INDIA
It might be hard to believe, at first, that there are quite a few similarities between Batman and the Mahabharata. Both revolve around the battle between good and evil. And both are set in times when morality is on a decline and in societies where evil is more the norm than the exception.
There’s now another common thread — a common storyteller in Grant Morrison, the man behind Batman, who has partnered with Graphic India to tell the story of the Mahabharata for a global audience. Commenting on this brand new web series titled 18 days that was recently released on YouTube, Grant said, “A genre mash of superhero action and mythology grounded in the all- toohuman passions of its warriors, villains and monsters, 18 Days will rewrite the rules of epic fantasy. 18 Days updates and retells the timeless stories of the