Entrepreneur Plans to Make a Kabaddi Mobile Game, Movie, Animated Show, & Live Action Series

It’s been a huge year for the sport of kabaddi in India – and things are about to get a whole lot bigger. On the heels of attracting over 435 million TV viewers in the sport’s first year, Pro Kabaddi League Mumbai franchise owner Ronnie Screwvala is planning to build an array of properties around the sport. The entrepreneur and investor hopes to bring kabaddi players into a mobile game, movie, and both live action and animated series.

Screwvala, owner of U Mumba, imagines the cartoon will be feel-good story about a young kid underdog guided by characters from the team. “Eventually, we want to create characters. The idea is that kids should play this in school, make it more of an aspirational sport,” he said.

The live action show will focus on three friends from different states that cross paths through kabaddi. The mobile game will aim to build brands out of popular U Mumba players like Anup Kumar and Shabeer Bapu, eventually adding other teams as well. “Our experience also teaches us that if you want a game to arrive, you want to have a big screen attachment to it. So, therefore, a movie is also being planned,” Screwvala said.

Thus far in the first 26 games this year, the sport has seen its viewership rise 61% compared to the same period last year.

Kabaddi is a physical sport of Indian origin, in which two teams battle while tagging, capturing, and holding their breath. It is the national sport of Bangladesh and the state sport of several parts of India.

[via The Economic Times]