Coming soon: Chacha Chaudhary in 3D

Popular Indian comic character Chacha Chaudhary, who has won millions of hearts with his brain that "works faster than a computer", will soon make his debut on the silver screen.

Diamond Comics, which holds the ownership rights to the old, middle-class comic book hero with a red turban, has signed up with a US-based firm to make a 3D film on him, entailing an investment of USD six million.

"We have recently signed up with an American company to make a film on Chacha Chaudhary. This will be a one-and-half to two-hour-long, big screen, three-dimensional (3D) film," Diamond Comics Chairman Gulshan Rai told PTI.

He said the budget of the film is estimated to be around USD six million. Rai, however, did not specify when the film was expected to be ready for release.

"We have just signed and it will take some time," he added, without disclosing further details.

The company, which has other popular comic characters such as Billoo, Captain Vyom, Chotu Lambu, Pinki and Mahabali Shaka, is also planning to promote and sell them on other digital platforms like Internet, television, Direct-to-Home (DTH) and mobiles.

As part of the plan, the firm is converting all the physical copies of the old comics into digital ones to be sold online as well as through telecom service providers.

"We are currently working on converting stock of about 3,000-4,000 comics, which have been published since 1974, into digital format," Rai said.

These will be sold at a universal price of half a dollar on various websites, including Google and Rediff, he added.

The company has already signed up with telecom service providers such as Tata Docomo, BSNL and Vodafone to sell e-comics to their subscribers through mobile phones.

"There are many more to be signed up very soon. Our e-comics will be available online from next month onwards and with the telecom service providers, we have a revenue sharing model," Rai said.

Besides comics, the company publishes magazines and books such as 'Manohar Kahaniyan', Sudoku and Satya Katha.