Mowgli in Town

The tickets at Rs 500-2000 are largely targeted at children in the age group of 4-14 years.

While animation series such as Tom and Jerry, Duck Tales and Jungle Book have entertained generations for several decades, the current generation is not just watching these all time favourites but is actually growing up with them, literally.

Fever Entertainment, the events arm of the HT Media group, has been organising live stage shows for kids for a year. Its upcoming show, Jungle Book Jive, is produced by an Australian production house and is based on Rudyard Kipling's novel. The 80-minute show has been reconstructed to appeal to Indian audiences and some scenes have been specially added for India. Based on the popularity of Jungle Book amongst Indians, Sher Khan, Haathi and Bandarlog have been added to the version that is to be presented here.

The initiative began about a year ago with the character of Noddy coming along with his Toyland in a live show organised at Siri Fort Stadium. Thereafter, in January this year, the company brought in Ben 10, the action hero's live performance with all the special effects that the character is loved for, on-screen. While Noddy was produced by a UK-based production house, Ben 10 was again an Australian production.

With Jungle Book Jive, the company has proved that the country has enough audience for 'Family Entertainment', as defined by Fever Entertainment. The show is a musical one, unlike the previous two shows, with about 18 songs.

While the previous shows largely focused on kids, Jungle Book has a wider appeal. Puja Sharma, business head, Fever Entertainment explains the care to be taken while selecting the characters. She adds, "We have chosen concepts/shows that are popular yet relatable by the Indian audiences. Apart from just entertainment, we wanted to focus on infotainment, which plays a very vital role in the present scenario. Our aim of bringing these shows to India is to provide our audiences with a world class experience. "

The company has got seven on-ground sponsors for Jungle Book Jive, which includes Maharashtra Tourism, Lancer International School, DLF Place Saket, PNB Metlife, Axiss Dental, Asian Paints and MAX Healthcare. The events company organises smaller mall activities and school programmes for these sponsors, apart from the interaction at the venue.

The tickets priced in the range of Rs 500-2000 largely target children in the age group of 4-14 years. Interestingly, for a large portion of this TG (target group), parents automatically become a part of the audience. Thus, out of the total audience at the first two events, close to 40 per cent were adults. The company organizes two kinds of shows - one for the general audiences; and the other targeted at schools, wherein the company partners with the schools and the kids are brought to the show as a part of the school excursion.

Twelve shows will be organised for Jungle Book Jive, like the one for Noddy, whereas Ben 10 had 14 shows within a span of 4-5 days. All these shows are organized in Delhi. The company plans to step into the Mumbai and Bengaluru markets in the coming few months. Apart from Jungle Book Jive, the company plans to launch two more shows by March, 2014.

The company had tied up with Tupperware, Washington Apples, Club Mahindra, BILT, Renault and India Property as sponsors for the first show, Noddy. As for Ben 10, LIC, Washington Apple, Quaker Oats and Renault were on board.

Sharma shares her view of family entertainment as a business segment. "We intend to take these shows to other Indian cities and get more such shows to India. Family entertainment in India is a segment that has a lot of potential and does not have many options today. These shows are a part of anyone's travel schedule when they travel internationally; we are giving them an opportunity to experience a world class production at a much reasonable price."