MUMBAI – India’s animators are hoping that a film starring two of Bollywood’s biggest stars will revive the sector’s fortunes, after earlier efforts to popularise the cartoon genre fell flat. Ajay Devgn and his wife Kajol appear in “Toonpur Ka Superrhero”, whose combination of real-life actors and cartoon characters recalls the Oscar-winning film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” from 1988.
Box office success for the film, which is released on Friday, Christmas Eve, could spur more studios to finance home-grown animation projects, analysts say. Indian-made animation feature films were touted as the next big thing in 2005, as studios looked to utilize a vast pool of technical talent in animation and gaming that was increasingly being used by foreign filmmakers.
The success of the small budget film “Hanuman”, based on the mischievous Hindu monkey god of the same name, showed the possibilities for the sector and a follow-up was announced. “Hanuman 2” was released in late 2008 around the same time as US studio giant Disney made its first full-length animation feature using Bollywood stars, “Roadside Romeo”.
But both did badly and the following months saw major projects put on ice as the global economic downturn took hold and Indian studios wary of financing further flops shied away from investing. Global consultancy firm Deloitte said last month that India’s animation and gaming sector was worth 750 million dollars last year and could be worth 2.5 billion dollars by 2013.
In Hollywood, animated films can cost 80-120 million dollars but “Toonpur” director Kireet Khurana said his film – India’s first 3D “animation combination” feature – was made for a 10th of the cost. Devgn plays a Bollywood action hero who wants to be a real-life hero to his children, whom he rarely sees because of work commitments.
He somehow ends up in Toonpur, where his children’s favourite cartoon characters live, and finds himself in the middle of a battle between good characters and bad ones.
