''Roll No. 21'' (stylized: ''Roll no. 21'' and also known as ''KRIS'') is an Indian

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

produced by

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

and Animasia Studios. The show is available in English,

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, Telugu,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

, and

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

. It was premiered on 27 November 2010 as one of the first Indian originals of

Cartoon Network India Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an Indian cable and satellite television channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery under its international division. It is the Indian equivalent of the original American network and was launched ...

Plot

Kris (orphaned kid granted power by

Lord Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is wi ...

) is an intelligent and naughty kid who stays at an orphanage school along with his friends - Pinky, Bablu and Madhu. An evil demon king, posing as principal Kanishk (incarnation of Kansa) is out to create havoc in the school. He has ulterior motives to take over the world with his army of zombie demons

asuras Asuras () are a class of beings in Indian religions, and later Persian and Turkic mythology. They are described as power-seeking beings related to the more benevolent Deva (Hinduism), Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhism, ...

. To save his friends and school from annihilation, Kris prays to

Lord Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation (sattva). Vish ...

and is blessed with superpowers. Armed with a magical peacock feather and a flute, Kris is ready to take on Kanishk. Kanishk with the help of his minions always tries to takedown Kris and often brings demons from ''Paataal Nagri'' to do so but always fails.

Characters

Main

* Kris: Kris is a godly child mostly known as ''neele gubbare'' () by Golu. He is an incarnation of

. He has appeared in Mathura Anath Ashram to stop Kanishk and his evil plans, When Kanishk showed up at the school and started wreaking havoc, Krish prayed to Lord Krishna who gave him the powers of himself, he has a flute that he can use to attack or defend himself and a magical

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

feather. Krish stays as a normal student in the school but secretly changes into Krishna, the divine boy with mystical powers whenever needed. He shows childish traits such as playing, disliking studies and homework, and enjoying playtime with his friends. Like Lord Krishna, Krish also likes butter, ice cream. His skin color is blue in this series. * Kanishk: Kanishk is the incarnation of Kansa who is the principal of Mathura Anath Ashram. He initially came back on earth to take over the world but Krishna's appearance is 'delaying' his whole plan. He is the king of demons of the Netherworld. In order to get rid of Krish, He keeps coming with a new "Get Kris" plan in each story which forms the storyline for the series. However, since defeating Kris is not easy, and he also has to manage the whole school and its duties, Kanishk keeps summoning various demons from the Netherworld to fight Kris. Kanishk is very concerned about the performance of his school and its result. He is seen constantly nagging with his staff to get the kids' performance up all the time. * Dr. J: Dr. J is Kanishk's most loyal minion. He is a dentist and stays by Kanishk all the time. He is the reincarnation of

Jarasandh Jarasandha () is a king featured in the Hindu Mythology. He is the powerful monarch of Magadha, and a minor antagonist in Mahabharata. He is the son of the king Brihadratha, the founder of the Barhadratha dynasty of Magadha. According to popul ...

. J often keeps coming with new ideas to get rid of Krish. Unfortunately, all his ideas backfire on him and Kanishk. Besides being a dentist, J is also a scientist who keeps inventing various machines, devices, and traps mostly used to tackle Krish. However, he often desires to be the principal of the school and hopes to kick Kanishk out because Kanishk keeps whacking and humiliating him. He gets help from Krish at times. * Pinky: Pinky is Krish' classmate and a student of Mathura Anath Ashram. She is the incarnation of

Radha Radha (, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. In scriptures, Radha is mentioned as the avatar of Lakshmi and also as the Prak� ...

. She is one of the best friends that Krish has and worries about Krish, her friends, and the school. She is an activist who keeps coming up with different initiatives for the betterment of the school and its students. She also has a crush on Kris. Pinky is also a brainiac who is good with studies. * Babloo: Babloo is Kris' best friend and the reincarnation of

Sudama Sudama (), also known as Kuchela (), is a childhood friend of the Hindu deity Krishna. The story of his visit to Dvaraka to meet his friend is featured in the Bhagavata Purana. In their legend, Sudama and Krishna study together as children ...

. He stays with Krish most of the time and backs Krish and his ideas when confronted by Pinky. He is an average student but really good with sports. * Madhu: Madhu is a friend of Krish and the brains of the group. Among all the friends Krish has, Madhu is the smartest one. He keeps coming up with many innovative ideas of gadgets and devices useful for kids. He is also the smartest student in the school. He often gets bullied by Golu. He is the reincarnation of Madhumangal. * Golu: Golu is the bully of Mathura Anath Ashram. His only job and recreation are to mess with the kids and to take their stuff or food by force. He is often confronted by Krish and his friends. He is called ''motu'' (Fatso) by many people and kids as he has loved any kind of food. He is the overweighted student of the school. Many times, Golu is let in by Kanishk and J in their plans to get back at Krish. Golu happily participates in Kanishk's plans as he likes getting an opportunity to get even with Krish and Kanishk also manages to get Golu's grades a little high. He is the reincarnation of Subala. * Sukhi: Sukhi is the reincarnation of Narada Muni in the school. He is in the school to report everything to the gods. He owns a

phone booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; typically the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

outside the school, where he has a divine phone which connects straight to heaven. He reports about how Krish is doing through this booth. He knows Kris' secret and helps him often by letting him know of Kanishk's evil plans.

Recurring

* Taarak: Taarak, an incarnation of Tarakasur, is Kanishk's cousin who is there in the school as a maths teacher. He is more of a 'Yes Sir' character who keeps nodding to all of Kanishk's plans to get back at Krish (no matter how ridiculous they are). He sometimes is shown wishing if Kanishk could let him be fit-free as he is constantly nagged by Kanishk to take more extra classes. * Suparna: Suparna is the chemistry and music teacher of the school. She is the reincarnation of

Putana In Hinduism, Pūtanā () is a Rakshasa, rakshasi (demoness), who was killed by the infant-god Krishna. Putana disguises as a young, beautiful woman and tries to kill the god by breast-feeding poisoned milk; however Krishna sucks her milk as well ...

. She is really fond of make-up and is a laid-back but strict teacher. * Basu: Basu is the sports teacher of the Mathura Anath Ashram. He is loved by the kids and is their favorite teacher. He is the incarnation of

Vasudeva Vasudeva (; Sanskrit: वसुदेव ), also called Anakadundubhi (''anakas'' and ''dundubhis'' both refer to ''drums'', after the musicians who played these instruments at the time of his birth), is the father of the Hindu deities Krishna ( ...

and is the only human teacher, unlike the other teachers who are demons. * Prashant: He is a student in Mathura Anath Ashram. He is somewhat good in studies but very good at sports and dancing. He is the reincarnation of Ujavala. * Ballu: He is the elder brother of Krish and the incarnation of

Balarama Balarama (, ) is a Hindu god, and the elder brother of Krishna. He is particularly significant in the Jagannath tradition, as one of the triad deities. He is also known as Haladhara, Halayudha, Baladeva, Balabhadra, and Sankarshana. The fir ...

. In his first scene in the show, he is seen keeping a public eye on Kris. He is also seen being over-protective of Krish. * Chimpu and Champu: They are the two sidekicks of Golu. They think Golu is the best. *Guru Mahasur: He is teacher of all demons of Paataal-Nagri. He is the incarnation of Guru Shukracharya. * Lord Aquarius: He is the overarching villain and is shown to be the strongest devil. He succeeds in beating Krish and Kanishk in the special episode "The Attack of the Shadow: Part I". * Agent Veer: He is the protagonist of the show which is a favorite to Krish and his friends. He is a superhero and his enemy is Dr. Dhamaka. He is supported by Kris and his friends. * Dr. Dhamaka: He is the antagonist of the same show in which Agent Veer is the protagonist. He fights against Agent Veer and is supported by Kanishk and his minions. His two robotic assistants are Babloo and Dabloo.

Episodes

Season 1

Movies

This is the list of feature films of the show. They are also one of the first original Indian movies of

Games

The show has been adapted into

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

including by Zapak, an Indian

mobile video game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to handheld game conso ...

developer, which has released games such as ''Roll No 21 Demon Tapdown'', ''Roll No. 21 - Demon Slash'', ''Run Kris Run'', ''Cartoon Network Ludo''.

Broadcast

The series launched on

on 27 November 2010. From 21 February 2021 the rerun of series and its movies aired on

Pogo Pogo, PoGo or POGO may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Gaming * Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator, any Philippines-based online gambling service * Pogo.com, a website featuring free online games Music * "Pogo", a song by Digitalism * ...

with the title ''Kris Roll no 21''. On 13 November 2022 the series was broadcast on their new sister channel Discovery Kids India.

Awards

Roll No 21 received three awards in the ''Cartoon Network Super Toons Award 2013'' and ''Indian Telly Award for Best Kids Programme''.

References

External links

Minisite on Cartoon Network India
{{Works based on the Mahabharata , state=collapsed 2010 Indian television series debuts 2010 Malaysian television series debuts Indian children's animated action television series Indian children's animated fantasy television series Malaysian children's animated action television series Malaysian children's animated fantasy television series 2010s animated television series Cartoon Network (Indian TV channel) original programming Krishna in popular culture Television series based on the Mahabharata Animated television series about orphans Television shows adapted into films Television shows adapted into video games