Shaktimaan: The Animated Series Explained

Director:	Vikram Veturi
Based On:	Shaktimaan
Country:	India
Language:	English
Num Episodes:	26
Producer:	Ashish S.K.
Editor:	J.V. Varaprasad
Runtime:	23 minutes
Network:	Nickelodeon Sonic
Company:	Reliance Animation Bheeshm International
Genre:	Action Superhero

Shaktimaan: The Animated Series is a 2011 Indian animated television show based on the live-action series of the same name.^[1] Produced by Reliance Animation in association with Accel Animation Studios, the series centers around Vehaan Arya, a young college student who uses his yogic superpowers to become Shaktimaan and defeat the evil forces of Kilvish, who wants to destroy the world.^[2]

Set in a fictional city named Indus City, the series consists of 26 episodes, and each episode features Kilvish plotting to destroy the world and Shaktimaan saving it with his superpowers and guidance from the 7 gurus who trained him and Kilvish.^[3] The scripts were written by Emmy Award winner Jeffrey Scott.^[4] The protagonist Vehaan Arya, a college student and lab assistant, is based on Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri, a photojournalist played by Mukesh Khanna in the live-action series.

Also dubbed in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil languages, the series was aired on Nickelodeon Sonic in 2011, and on Discovery Kids in 2016.^{[5] [6]} Following the first season's success, it was re-aired on Nickelodeon from 7 May 2012.^[7] It was also released on DVD in all four languages via Reliance Home Video. The 13th episode Shaktimaan: Unfinished Business won the 2012 FICCI BAF Award for Best Animated TV Episode.^{[8] [9]}

Plot

Vehaan Arya is a college student who starts attending the Indus City University as his "cover" and becomes a lab assistant to Professor Gyani, the head of computer science department who is often assisted by Louise, a computer program with the memories of his dearly departed mother. Vehaan befriends Leena, a journalism student who in need of a "big scoop" to become a broadcast journalist. In the meanwhile, Kilvish recruits his henchmen Tick and Tock, to assist him with his evil acts. When the city comes in danger, Vehaan seeks guidance from his 7 yogic gurus who bless him with superpowers and saves everyone from an evil giant robot. Unaware of his true identity, Leena names him Shaktimaan and decides to collect his news in order to get a job. Soon, it is revealed that both Vehaan and Kilvish were the students of the 7 yogic gurus, who chose the former in a competition due to his humane traits while Kilvish wasn't due to his aggressive usage of his superpowers. An enraged Kilvish unleashed his evil powers and killed Vehaan's friends, something that continues to traumatize the latter to date.

Louise witnesses Vehaan using his superpowers to save everyone in the lab, but promises to keep it a secret when he convinces her to do so. He is joined by Bumpy, his roommate who soon becomes his best friend. Leena's brother Chikoo adores Shaktimaan and aspires to be like him. General D’Goze, the head of a secret military commando unit, despises Shaktimaan for being the true hero and getting all the credit and news coverage. Using Gyani's gadgets, he futilely attempts to thwart Kilvish's evil plots himself, only to comically fail each time. Kilvish keeps putting Shaktimaan through physical challenges ranging from monsters to natural disasters to plagues to alien invasions. Dr. Jackal, an evil scientist and Professor Gyani's greatest archenemy, joins hands with Kilvish to seek his revenge and in the process destroy the world, only to find Shaktimaan saving it and defeating them again and again.

Characters

These are the primary characters appearing in the series.^[10]

• Vehaan Arya/Shaktimaan: A young college student who works as a lab assistant to Professor Gyani at Indus City University, Vehaan wants to help himself develop a super powerful antivirus software that will ultimately destroy Kilvish for good. As his superhero alter-ego Shaktimaan, he uses his limitless superpowers to fight evil forces and save the day, apart from inspiring everyone, especially kids, to do the right thing. Shaktimaan's powers originate from five chakras (energy centers) namely Astral, Heart, Vibration, Psychic, and Wisdom Chakras. The only limit to his powers is his own belief in himself and his knowledge of how to manifest his powers.

* Leena Ray: A journalism student at the Indus City University and Vehaan's friend, Leena wants to become a journalist and runs a blog called Leena Ray 24/7 and with her mini HD camera or smartphone, records interviews and situations mainly featuring herself. She believes that the key to her journalistic dreams is getting a scoop on Shaktimaan, who saves her whenever she is in danger.

• Kilvish: An evil student of the 7 gurus who also trained Vehaan, Kilvish also possesses superpowers and uses them for destructive purposes. Dwelling in a dark, mysterious, underground lair and possessing a high technology and dark mysticism, he wants to destroy all goodness that stands in his way, the very reason why Shaktimaan becomes his greatest archenemy. He creates human and inhuman monsters to battle Shaktimaan.

• Professor Gyani: He runs the AI lab at the Indus City University. He aims to create the world's first artificially intelligent anti-virus in order to protect the world's computers from cyber attacks, while Vehaan wants it in order to destroy Kilvish. Professor Gyani frequently teams up with Vehaan and often develops defensive computer-controlled smart weapons for use by the army to fight Kilvish. Like most people, he too is unaware of the fact that Vehaan is Shaktimaan.

• Louise: Created by Professor Gyani, LOUISE (Laser Optical Unified Intelligent Software Entity) is an AI supercomputer based on personality traits from his dear departed mother. She is fond of Vehaan and even promises to keep his identity as Shaktimaan a secret. Vehaan and Professor turn to her whenever it comes to saving the world from Kilvish.

• Dr. Jackol: Often pronounced as Dr. Jackal, he is an evil scientist and Professor Gyani's greatest archenemy since the latter got him arrested. Escaping from prison, Jackol joins hands with Kilvish who wants him to defeat Shaktimaan in the process of exacting revenge upon Professor Gyani.

• Tick and Tock: Kilvish's henchmen, work for him half out of fear and half out of hopes of someday becoming powerful and wealthy. Tick is a gaunt, black-haired man and Tock is a giant man. Together, they execute the missions assigned to them by Kilvish and often end up foiling his plans unintentionally.

• General D’Goze: An angry, strict soldier who pretends to be tough but is actually timid, General D’Goze despises Shaktimaan for getting all the fame and credit. He relies on Professor Gyani's gadgets and tries in vain to thwart Kilvish's plans, only to find himself failing and at times, even rescued by Shaktimaan. However, he controls the government funding that subsidizes the lab and often threatens the professor to do whatever he wants or he'll cut off the funding.

• Major Meek: The sidekick of General D'Goze, he does all the dirty work for him and believes Vehaan to be hiding something from everyone. He fails whenever he tries to find out Vehaan's secret in order to impress the general and get promoted.

• Bumpy Morgan: Vehaan's room-mate and best friend, Bumpy, an aspiring actor in the university's drama department, is the only human who's aware of Vehaan's identity as Shaktimaan and often assists him whenever he needs assistance with something he's too busy to handle. Bumpy is a nervous boy who dreams of stardom but doesn't want to work hard for it.

• ACP: Indus City Police Force's most decorated police officer, ACP is obsessed with catching criminals and keeping Indus City safe. He however despises Shaktimaan and often tries to prove as if it was him who trained Shaktimaan to become the hero that people perceive him as.

• College Rowdies: A bunch of young kids in the college: A lanky boy, a thickest one, and a back-biting girl, who like to bully Vehaan but are put in place by Leena whenever she finds them harassing Vehaan.

• Shaktimaan Friend's Club: It consists of about a half-dozen boys and girls, all around 8 years old, who have a makeshift clubhouse full of Shaktimaan news clippings, toys, comics, photos, etc. They have a notebook computer on which they sometimes see news related to Shaktimaan. They are all huge fans of Shaktimaan and wear his costume, emulate him, etc. Three main characters from the club are Chikoo (Leena's brother), Jovey and Mona.

• The 7 gurus: Based in the Himalayas, these are the seven gurus who trained Vehaan/Shaktimaan and Kilvish. Representing the 7 chakras of a man, they have no names and are differentiated only by the color of their robes. Shaktimaan often communicates with them if he needs advice to get out of some difficult situation. He can reach them psychologically and usually trains with just one of his gurus, though the others may be present.

Episodes

The series consists of two seasons featuring 13 episodes each.

1 – The Battle Begins

2 – Subway To Disaster

3 – Fuels Rush In

4 – Genius' Fly Trap

5 – The Taj Kilvish

6 – Descent Into Darkness

7 – Terror In The Sky

8 – Tsunami!

9 – Blackout

10 – Endangered Species

11 – Zombie Attack!

12 – Volcanic Villain

13 – Unfinished Business

14 – True Identity

15 – Jackol's Revenge

16 – Madman At Work

17 – Out Of Focus

18 – Return Of Kilvish

19 – Demon Lord

20 – Gorilla Trap

21 – Negative Nex

22 – Kite Fright

23 – Shaktimaan Unmasked

24 – Crystal Of Darkness

25 – Dark League

26 – Ultimate Power

Games

Zapak, an Indian mobile video game developer has released adaptations of the animated TV series including Shaktimaan, Shaktimaan: Tab.

Notes and References

1. News: Mukesh Khanna to revive 'Shaktimaan' on big screen. The Times of India. Singh. Manmohan. 23 August 2019. 6 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190906173712/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/hindi/Mukesh-Khanna-to-revive-Shaktimaan-on-big-screen/articleshow/14340966.cms. live.
2. Web site: BIG Animation, Accel to produce Shaktimaan for TV. Medianewsline.com. 23 August 2019. 7 May 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240507061929/https://www.medianewsline.com/. live.
3. Web site: Shaktimaan - 26 EP X 22 Min, 2D HD Flash animation series. Reliance Animation. 23 August 2019. 24 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190824203449/http://relianceanimation.com/shaktimaan.html. live.
4. Web site: Shaktimaan recreated in animation. https://web.archive.org/web/20190823163127/https://www.sify.com/movies/Shaktimaan-recreated-in-animation-news-National-mfru4mecedfsi.html. dead. 2019-08-23. Sify.
5. News: Viacom18 to launch new channel Sonic for young adults this month. The Economic Times. December 2011. 23 August 2019. 25 April 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230425112735/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/media/viacom18-to-launch-new-channel-sonic-for-young-adults-this-month/articleshow/10943572.cms?from=mdr. live.
6. Web site: Discovery Kids to air movies every weekend throughout 2017. 26 December 2016. Animation Xpress. 23 August 2019. 29 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161229073939/http://www.animationxpress.com/index.php/latest-news/discovery-kids-to-air-movies-every-weekend-throughout-2017. live.
7. Web site: InDepth Insight: Shaktimaan series in Animation - A unique model for co-production of IP. 7 May 2012. Animation Xpress. 23 August 2019. 23 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190823160123/http://www.animationxpress.com/index.php/interviews/indepth-insight-shaktimaan-series-in-animationa-unique-model-for-co-production-of-ip. live.
8. Web site: SHAKTIMAAN WINS 2012 FICCI BAF AWARD FOR "BEST ANIMATED TV EPISODE". Animation World Network. 23 August 2019. 16 September 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220916032511/https://www.awn.com/blog/shaktimaan-wins-2012-ficci-baf-award-best-animated-tv-episode#targetText=Congratulations%20to%20all%20my%20friends,%22Best%20Animated%20TV%20Episode%22!. live.
9. Web site: SHAKTIMAAN won the "FICCI – BAF Best Animated Episode Award 2012". 23 August 2019. 24 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190824174823/http://www.relianceanimation.com/shaktimaan/best-aniamted-tv-episode-award.html. live.
10. Web site: Characters - Shaktimaan: The Greatest Cyber Yogic Hero. 23 August 2019. 26 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190826181623/http://www.relianceanimation.com/shaktimaan/shaktimaan-aniamted-characters.html. live.