Animation series on Leander Paes’ life

By Sruthi Kuruganti Hyderabad: Ace tennis player Leander Paes’ life story will now be turned into an animation series to interest kids. Titled ‘Little Leander’, the show will take inspiration from true events in his life— his childhood experiences, the challenges he faced to become one of the greatest tennis stars and a global icon. […]

By Sruthi Kuruganti

Hyderabad: Ace tennis player Leander Paes’ life story will now be turned into an animation series to interest kids. Titled ‘Little Leander’, the show will take inspiration from true events in his life— his childhood experiences, the challenges he faced to become one of the greatest tennis stars and a global icon. It will be created with kids and young teens in mind.

Green Gold Animation, the studio behind the series of Chota Bheem, has signed up with the tennis star for the animation series.

The idea originated when Leander and his partner Kim Sharma met Rajiv Chilaka, Founder & CEO, Green Gold Animation, six months ago in Hyderabad. The tennis star believes he is in safe hands as he has visited the team several times to get a sense of how the tale will unfold and share his vision for the series.

“I have a lot of free time now that I’ve retired from professional tennis after 31 years. I’ve already dabbled with acting through films and documentaries, but one of my biggest ambitions is to inspire and motivate today’s youth all around the world to pursue sports as a career,” Leander says.

He says that he is delighted that the show is being made as he believes that it is an opportunity to communicate with today’s young minds. He hopes this series will continue his legacy.

“I can’t believe they did such an incredible job with the character’s design. His eyes are stunning. He has a striking resemblance to his older Leander counterpart,” he chuckles.

“I’m delighted this is getting off, and I’m looking forward to seeing the pilot,” he adds, recalling that Chota Bheem was his favorite anime when he was a kid.

Speaking about the show, Rajiv Chilaka, shares that he felt it important for today’s children to know and seek inspiration from someone like Leander Paes, for his journey and the kind of human being he is. “It’s not easy to be a Leander Paes, but it’s not meant to be easy,” he says, adding that the pilot will air in the next three months and the episodes will run next year.

When it comes to the sports scene in India, Leander says that he has a tremendous respect towards the budding talents. He is of the opinion that India has improved in conducting local tournaments than it earlier did. “I think we have to take inspiration from the last Tokyo Olympics. It’s the greatest show that India ever had at the Olympics. I hope that we grow and talk about many stories,” he says optimistically.

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