EXCLUSIVE: SonyLiv is getting deeper into the animation game.
The India-based streamer has quietly greenlit The Legend of Karna, which comes from Sharad Devarajan and Jeevan J. Kang and their production house, Graphic India. The series, inspired by the Hindu epic Mahabharata, will debut on July 31.
The Legend of Karna will follow Karna, a warrior from the Mahabharata who is born to Kunti and the Sun God Surya but raised in a charioteer’s household. He possesses the gift of bow mastery that rivals the greatest warriors of his age, compelling him to enter a grand tournament usually reserved only for kings and princes, altering the course of an empire forever.
Per the synopsis: “Crowned king by the ambitious prince Duryodhana but rejected by a court that judges him by his perceived birth, Karna rises from the dust of a village workshop to the royal halls of Hastinapura. His journey is one of exceptional talent, unwavering loyalty and an enduring struggle against a world governed by lineage. As politics, prophecy and hidden truths converge, Karna must confront the conflict between the destiny imposed upon him and the legacy he seeks to create.”
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“We couldn’t imagine a better home for this journey than with our partners at Sony LIV and the incredible honor they are giving us,” said Devarajan, the co-creator and showrunner. “Karna has always been the tragic heart of the Mahabharata. What the world refused him by birth, his own hands took with skill, and that question feels more urgent today than ever. Does greatness come from where you are born, or from what you do?
“With The Legend of Karna, we wanted to tell his story the way it deserves to be told, as an epic saga of unbreakable loyalty, unbearable secrets, and a talent that shook the world, seen through the eyes of a hero who has always stood at the center of the epic but never at the center of its telling.”
Devarajan is known for collaborating with the late Stan Lee, collaborating to create Indian superhero series Chakra – The Invincible for Cartoon Network India in 2013. The Marvel creator’s influence on Devarajan was such that in the past he has been called “the Indian Stan Lee.” His credits include producing Netflix live-action film The Archies and The Legend of Hanuman, which has become one of the top-rated series on Disney+ Hotstar. Devarajan also created the Spider-Man India character for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and teamed with SS Rajamouli on the Baahubali movie franchise, overseeing gaming, publishing and digital media and creating Prime Video series Baahubali: The Lost Legends.
More recently, we revealed he is working with The Adjustment Bureau writer-director George Nolfi on a Hindi-language version of the 2011 film, and with Gladiator writer David Franzoni to turn his graphic novel about Alexander the Great into a scripted series alongside Starlings Television.
As for the Sony Pictures Networks India-owned Sony LIV, which is known for originals such as Rocket Boys, Scam and Freedom at Midnight, the series joins other animated originals such as Jiyo Gopuda and Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.
