Discovery launches Fukrey Boyzzz; "locally investing most on Kids," says Megha Tata

After Rohit Shetty's ‘Singham’ and ‘Golmaal’, Excel Entertainment’s feature film franchise, ‘Fukrey’ is set to have an animated avatar for the kids called ‘Fukrey Boyzzz’. This animated extension of the feature film franchisee, which has already had two theatrical releases — ‘Fukrey’ and ‘Fukrey Returns’, will air on Discovery Kids starting October 12, 2019.

Discovery Kids already airs ‘Little Singham’. The supercop show has done well among four to eight year olds. ‘Fukrey Boyzzz’ is targetted at eight to 14 year old children, informs, Uttam Pal Singh, head, Discovery Kids. He believes, alongside kids, the show will entertain parents, too. “Kids do not have purchasing power but they have the pestering power. At the same time, parents want the best for their kids. We have to reach out to both kids and their parents. Ultimately the kids have to like the content and parents need to give their stamp of approval. With this show, our aim is to achieve co-viewing where parents and kids can watch it together. While kids consume it we want the show to be a stress buster for the parents,” says Singh.

‘Fukrey’ is a franchise where young characters break the rules to have fun. While it is entertaining, it has a lot of wrongdoings that the parents could worry about. “We are a very conscious broadcaster,” asserts Singh. He adds, “We have a kids filter and we ensure whatever we do, including Little Singham — Bollywood franchise, goes through these checks. ‘Fukrey Boyzzz’ is not going to be any different. Our aim with the show is to retain the masti element, without being too preachy.”

Megha Tata, managing director, South Asia, Discovery, while announcing the launch of the show, expressed her desire that Discovery Kids be among the top three channels in India. At this stage, Viacom18’s Nick tops the table followed by its sister channel, Sonic Nickelodeon. Sony Pictures Networks India’s Sony Yay is at number three followed by Disney Channel and Turner Broadcasting’s PogoTV.

“We need to increase our reach, which we have already done and now we need to increase our time spent on the channel. These are the two things that help you grow as a channel and I am hopeful that by the end of next quarter we will be among the top three channels,” shares Tata.

She believes that fresh content will increase the time spent on its Kids channel, “That is why we decided to continue to invest in ‘Little Singham’. This new show, we believe will manage to create that deeper engagement. When it comes to local content we are investing the most on Kids,” informs Tata.

Ritesh Sidhwani, co-founder, Excel Entertainment, adds, “The launch of ‘Fukrey Boyzz’ opens new horizons for us. We are making our foray into animation and are enamored with how this series has shaped-up. I am extremely excited to have characters from our film spread joy to everyone with their crazy antics at school.”