A Homegrown Animation Venture Amasses Millions of Views On YT

Shakkar Parey, a Panjabi language animated venture by Jalandhar-based couple Dr. Harjit Singh and his wife Tejinder Kaur, has amassed millions of views on YouTube. The show began as a YouTube experiment to introduce Panjabi children to animation and stories rooted in their own land, today boasts of 26.3K subscribers and a collective viewership of 60M. Dr. Harjit, a celebrated filmmaker and former Doordarshan producer-director, and Tejinder, an author and former professor, share a deep passion for children's storytelling. The name Shakkar Parey means sugar-coated fried cookies. In Shakkar Parey, Tejinder Kaur's flair for song, poetry and story-writing aligns seamlessly with Dr. Harjit's storytelling and directorial skills, creating a magical fantasy world populated by charming, animated characters that speak in Panjabi. The cheerful videos feature a generous sprinkling of chaste Panjabi akhauts (sayings) and idioms woven into entertaining songs and tales. The cast of characters includes wayward lambs, mischievous bears, hens, wolves, snakes, squirrels, tortoises, bees, robots and, of course, the naughty twin cats. Out of the 256 videos, several individual uploads have garnered between 2–6M views. Elaborating on the philosophy behind the project, Dr. Harjit says, ‘There is a plethora of animation strewn across the internet. But the question is whether our kids can relate to these characters. I believe characters in western animation don’t appeal to Panjab's children or their immediate value system. Unless the characters speak of your culture, environment and colours, the characters are not your own. Shakkar Parey aimed at giving children characters rooted in their own land, language and values.’ While Tejinder Kaur has penned numerous books for her grandchildren and others, Shakkar Parey brings her lived experience vividly to life. Their sons, Zorawar and Shiva (no second names), and music director Rishabh Ganesh, among others, also pitch in with the series. Animation has long been central to Dr. Harjit's creative journey. Inspired by Jim Henson's Muppets, he went on to conceptualize his own animation show. In 1979–1982, an era when animation techniques were manual, he created latex and rubber characters and imported specialized remote controls. Years after retirement, the couple has revived the animation dream on YouTube, leading to the birth of Shakkar Parey.