Mighty Little Bheem, a feature-length animation film and a spin-off of the Chhota Bheem series, is set to become India’s first Netflix original film.
If all goes to plan, the film will be released during Diwali this year as not just India’s but Asia’s first contribution to the Netflix original series kitty, announced Rajiv Chilaka, founder and CEO of Green Gold Animation Pvt Limited, the makers of the popular animation character. The Chhota Bheem team celebrated the 10th anniversary of the character beaming on Indian television here on Monday.
Netflix is a streaming service which provides its subscribers with a variety of entertainment content, including movies and documentaries. Netflix orginals are content created exclusively for this streaming service. Green Gold will also launch its first Samurai animation film titled Chhota Bheem Kung-fu Dhamaka soon, Mr. Chilaka said.
Inaugurating the meeting, IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao said Green Gold should aim to become India’s own animation studio that produces content on par with globally acclaimed Disney and Dreamworks. Recalling the names of each of Chhota Bheem’s friends, the Minister congratulated the creation team for making the animation series entertaining for both parents and children.
The Minister also asked the Hyderabad based start-up to encourage its staff to wear handloom clothes on Mondays. “This will set an example for children,” Mr. Rama Rao said.
The Chhota Bheem team is expected to launch a live music show in India this year. Green Gold has been running such a music show in Dubai annually.
The event marking 10 years of the character witnessed the attendance of children from city schools. Laddu, which is Bheem’s favourite snack as per the show, was also distributed amid cheers.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Chilaka, founder and CEO, recalled how the initial years were tough. “Though we had this idea of making Bheem a reality in 2003, it took four more years to realise the dream,” said Mr. Chilaka, a US-educated engineer.
The series was finally launched in 2008 and the show, Mr. Chilaka pointed out, currently has an audience of 40 million per week. Till date, 279 episodes of Chhota Bheem have been aired.
The team also launched a separate series on Mighty Raju, a character which appeared originally in Chhota Bheem, and has completed 100 episodes already. A related series, Arjun - The Prince of Bali has also aired 92 episodes.
Through Netflix, Bheem is expected to reach 193 countries.
