Creating an iconic animation figure Chhota Bheem, the ladoo-loving superhero in a market dominated by legendary American and Japanese characters is no easy achievement considering that it happened in less than 10 years. The series’ success has spun off several endorsements, games, toys, apparel, comic books, stationery and other merchandise testifying its popularity. Strangely, the popularity of TV series by Rajiv Chilaka’s Green Gold Animation has not translated into success in feature films. Set to roll out its fourth one Chhota Bheem – Himalayan Adventure (CBHA) this week, the company’s earlier productions, namely, Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan , Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali and Mighty Raju: Rio Calling have not been termed as success by the trade.
Rajiv, who has co-directed the film with Rusauro B. Adorable, feels even though the past response has been encouraging it has not been good enough to merit better financing of such ventures thus resulting in limited budgets. “In India we do not have culture of watching animation films. Moreover, since animation films cater to kids who necessarily have to be accompanied by their parents, the content has to be such that it draws the elders too,” he explains.
So will be it be different with CBHA? Rajiv feels so since the film is targeted for family audience. “The story, fast-paced sequences, action scenes and punchy dialogues should make it attractive for viewing by the entire family.”
This film will see Bheem and his friends, Chutki, Raju, Jaggu, Kalia, Dholu and Bholu visiting the snow-capped Himalayas for a vacation to experience the winter and taking on Hidimbak, the dacoit, in tandem with their local friends to get rid the place of his terror. “The freshness in terms of character designing, location and music, are the film’s stand out features,” avers the co-director.
Rajiv feels that scenic beauty of the region consisting of snow-clad peaks, trees, valleys and steeps road, will be the star attraction. Keeping with their standard practice, he led a team to recce the area after finalising the script to get a feel of the location, its environs, people, local food and traditional clothes and musical instruments, all of which were recorded on camera and video. “We used them as reference while making the animation and whatever was relevant for the story was incorporated thus ensuring authenticity,” says Rajiv.
The CBHA characters lend themselves to makeover thanks to the locale of the story. So we see the characters donning colourful jackets, breeches, caps, scarves and mittens thus enhancing its aesthetic value. It is not just the attire but the skiing shots filmed on them that are expected to thrill the viewers. Rajiv reveals that creating these scenes were indeed very challenging. “Since very few of us knew about skiing it was a daunting task. What made it tougher was that for these scenes we needed to change the background constantly.”
The trailer on the net – slick, fast-paced and music – reminded many of the Kung Fu Panda films. The musical score by John Stewart, who has sung one song picturised on the Hidimbak, is described by Rajiv as matching the international standards. “His deep voice suited the number while the other song is a fun song,” he points out. Disagreeing that Hollywood productions do better than the Indian ones in the country since they are seen as better in terms of production quality, content and graphics, he points out that Frozen a world-wide hit hardly did well in India. “It has nothing to do with quality, story and production as we are second to none in those terms. I feel the taste for animation has to be acquired. With more films in this genre hitting the screen, viewers will cultivate a taste for it.”
