Fictitious and Affluent

In the recent past, I have been trying to find out the richest sportsperson alive on this planet. As my research progressed, I came across this Forbes survey that listed the richest fictitious characters to be created on earth. I felt that this deserves a post, as a tribute to creativity of the people behind these characters. Note that Forbes includes only those characters that have made their appearance in a narrative story or a video game. Barbie (Miss Barbara Millicent Roberts), GI Joe and Hello Kitty don't make it in the list as they are mere toys or mascots. Earnings were based on merchandise/toy sales, DVD/media sales, book sales and even rental fees.

Here is the top 10 list for 2004,

10) Pikachu - Pokemon $825m
9) Wolverine - X-Men $900m
8) Spiderman - $1.3b
7) SpongeBob Squarepants - $1.5b
6) Yu-Gi-Oh - $1.6b (A Japanese cartoon character)
5) Nemo - Finding Nemo $2b
4) Harry Potter - $2.8b
3) Frodo Baggins - Lord of the Rings $2.9b
2) Winnie the Pooh - $5.6b
1) Mickey Mouse - $5.8b

The dominance of Mickey Mouse is very clear here. Mickey Mouse has been very consistent in earning money, though it is one of the oldest characters created in the list (as old as 1928). Some near-misses were The Simpsons and Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story).

Back again to research the richest sportsmen on earth. Till then.....

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Inspiration behind 'Swades'

After viewing the Bollywood blockbuster movie 'Swades', about a NASA engineer who searches for his roots in his homeland, I was curious to find out the sources that inspired this movie. In the movie's credits, the director quotes that this movie was based on a book by Mahatma Gandhi (I don't remember the name now). I have also heard that Swades is based on some real life stories of some US-based Indian engineers who return to India and try to change things at the grass root level. My web research gave me some other results though. This movie seems to be based on a novel by Dr. Shivaram Karanth ( a Jnanapeet award winner for his novel 'Mookajjiya kanasugalu' (Dreams of a mute grandmom)). The novel on which the movie is based on is 'Chigurida Kanasu' (A Sprouted Dream). The novel is set in the 1960s in India, where a person working in Delhi comes to his native village in the scenic South Kanara district of coastal Karnataka to meet his grandmom's sister who lives there. He ends up getting attached to the place and the people. In fact, he even constructs a dam and generates electricity with the help of the locals residing in the village. In 2003, the Kannada director Nagabharana made this novel into a movie by the same name, starring Shivaraj Kumar. The irony is that Swades made more box-office collections in Karnataka than the Kannada counterpart 'Chigurida Kanasu' :)

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