Sunday, January 6, 2008

Hanuman Returns (animation)


Okay. We're learning, we're learning. On the one hand, desi animation is getting better, replete with desi monsters and green goblins who are somewhat stylish and Hollywood-like. And on the other, there's that delightful humorous touch which is the essence of Hollywood animation films. For starters, you have a Hanuman as a mischievous little kid who pledges to come back to his earthly mom whenever she needs him, because he's confident he can ‘manipulate' Bhagwan for a trip to Dharti . And if that's not cheeky enough, there's a chimp who talks like Shah Rukh, a bad guy who guffaws like Gabbar and a snake wand that seems to know some of Harry Potter's tricks. Engaging stuff. Of course, the final product is a complete kichdi , partly Hollywood, partly Bollywood, shaken and stirred with dribbles of Indian mythology. But the smartest trick of them all is that Al Gorian twist in the end where doomsday becomes a synonym for global warming and environmental pollution and Hanuman descends in his kid avtar to save Planet Earth from all the plastic and the greenhouse gases that have turned it into a furnace. The desi version of D-Day being a demonic Rahu-Ketu who are swallowing all the fresh air and letting the earth burn up like a volcano. Hanuman, when he's not taming the village bullies, takes on the demons and becomes a hardcore climate warrior, telling all the kids to go green, keep the earth clean. After the Kafkaesque No Smoking, director Anurag Kashyap goes in for a bit of detox and gives the bachchalog a fitting sequel to Hanuman. Are we seeing the emergence of an Indian Superman series?

12 Comments:

At January 6, 2008 at 8:15 AM, Blogger durjoy datta said...

anurag kashyap?
didnt know that....
and it sound good.....
global warming and stuff...!
catchin them young!
neat!

 
At January 6, 2008 at 9:03 AM, Blogger Sue said...

Sounds interesting... and I like the art! I need to learn more about Indian mythology, though. Something we learned absolutely nothing about, growing up in school, but hopefully that is changing now. I learn bits and pieces from my aftercare kids, but I need to read up some more...

 
At January 6, 2008 at 9:10 AM, Blogger Seraphine said...

Aww that sounds cute enough. At least the premis that our children might have to save the world is a believable one. Good luck!

 
At January 6, 2008 at 10:02 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

very interesting ... that could be the next superman series.. :)

 
At January 6, 2008 at 11:13 AM, Blogger Andrea said...

That is interesting. Cute picture too.

 
At January 6, 2008 at 12:39 PM, Blogger Tom & Icy said...

You are a good writer and very smart. Animation always fascinated me. And I have always been interested in Kafka's techniques of writing. We made a cartoon of your car picture on Icy's Playground.

 
At January 6, 2008 at 2:25 PM, Blogger Nessa said...

I am so out of touch.

 
At January 6, 2008 at 9:04 PM, Blogger WritingsForLife said...

hehe... superman series... you never know :)
heard about this.. will probably watch it :)

 
At January 7, 2008 at 12:47 PM, Blogger Macadamia The Nut said...

But hey, we've come SUCH a long way from the "chidiyaan chidiyaan" graphics, no?

 
At January 7, 2008 at 7:01 PM, Blogger Hobbes said...

Thanks for making us aware of the genre.

 
At January 7, 2008 at 7:45 PM, Blogger Ankit said...

Anurag Kashyap said it in an interview the whole intention of keeping such "Chaalu jokes" in the movie was to make it more popular among the kids.
Its not a great movie but a nice effort for sure

 
At January 10, 2008 at 1:19 AM, Blogger Mel Avila Alarilla said...

Hi Raghu,
I hope I can see the movie or TV show that you are describing. Sounds fantastic. I heard that Bollywood produces more movies than Hollywood. Thanks for the wonderful post. God bless and have a wonderful and pleasant day always.

 

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