Tell the story of our heroes of Ramayana, Mahabharata: Invest India chief

Bengaluru: The MD and CEO of Invest India Nivruti Rai on Monday exhorted the gaming and animation developers to build and tell stories of Indian heroes from mythologies like Ramayana and Mahabharata. Invest India is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency that helps investors looking for investment opportunities and options in the country.

To drive home her message, she told the success story of ‘Chhota Bheem’, a popular animation series based on an imaginary childhood of ‘Bhima’, the second of Pandavas with towering strength as mentioned in the epic ‘Mahabharata’. Stating that ‘Chhota Bheem’ is loved by people all across the globe, Rai said even Japan has its own version of ‘Chhota Bheem’, which the children there love very much.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the Bengaluru GAFX-2024 here, an annual event for Games, Animation & Visual Effects Industry hosted by Government of Karnataka, Rai even offered to partner with the State government to see that Bengaluru and India become ‘the front end and not the back end of gaming developer industry’.

“Can I tell you that our history documented is 3,000 years old and many of our histories are 5,000 to 7,000 years old that we may not have documented but have good proof?” she said.

“So 7,000 years of historical heroes, 7,000 years of fantastic architecture! I really feel we have content, we have stories to tell. And I’m really happy that some software developers are building stories from Mahabharata and Ramayana and building stories of those heroes that the world is accepting,” the former India head of Intel said. Rai wondered why Bengaluru wanted to be the back end and not front end when “our heroes are global heroes”. “I want Karnataka, I want India to be at the front end of the gaming developer industry. To be the front end we have to have a supportive government. To be a supportive government, the way I look at the government’s role is like I am a mother at home. I remove obstacles in front of my children’s path, so they can climb the highest, they can shine the brightest,” she said.

She offered to extend her support to Karnataka to become a leader in the gaming industry. Invest India is committed to partnering with Karnataka and helping the State become the front end of the industry, Rai said.

The Invest India chief appealed to the youth to tap the potential in the gaming and animation industry by making optimum use of the cheapest data tariff available in India.