Chhota Bheem, Bada Dream

Rajiv Chilaka, the creator of India’s most-loved animated character, Chhota Bheem, is back with the third instalment of this franchise for the big screen. With Chhota Bheem – Himalayan Adventure all set to release on January 8, Chilaka talks about cracking the animation market and making an Indian cartoon series famous across the world. Excerpts from an interview:

Back in 2004, our studio was desperate to create content for the Indian market. We were very clear from the very beginning that we needed to cater to the domestic audience, so we tried a few products like Vikram-Betal and Krishna. But when we were making Vikram-Betal, we realised it had already been done. Then, when we were making Krishna, there were 17 other studios making the same thing, at the same time. Some of these were very big studios so we were really insecure at that time.

We wanted to create something that belonged to us, and was solely our product. What worked in our favour was that we cracked a deal with Cartoon Network, and we were serving them Indian content. The challenging aspect in animation is to deliver on time and we did that very well. Not many studios or people could deliver projects on time but we did it. For five years, we were thinking about what to do. Krishna has to grow with every episode. He goes from Gokul to Vrindavan, so it was like the journey of his life. We had to design everything for the episodes, right from the backdrop, to the characters and, of course, Krishna.

Coming to Vikram-Betal… every time Betal tells Vikram a new story, we had to create new characters and our team was growing exhausted. Slowly but surely, we realised that we had to have a story where a majority of the characters and their looks remained the same, and we would have to add new characters only once in a while so that it wasn’t tiring for the design team and the writers. That’s how we also kept our costs under control.

While I was thinking about what to do, I suddenly thought of taking the Mahabharata’s Bheem out of the Mahabharata and building an altogether separate story around him. We wanted to remove all the complexity around him and present him in a new avatar. 

And we wanted to keep him as a child because, at that time, Hanuman was on television and kids loved him till he was a kid. So it was clear that kids would watch Chhota Bheem but they were not interested in seeing a grown-up Bheem. As a character, Bheem is phenomenal. So we gave him a backdrop where he is a common guy. I discussed this idea with my team and they loved it. That’s how it all started.

We invested our own money as we wanted to create our own brand. There was somebody who was to back us but he backed out at the last minute. The same thing happened with distribution. There were a few companies who said they would distribute the film but they backed out. So we thought of marshalling our own resources. We took the shots; we were mentally prepared for it. The good thing was that, if the film didn’t work, it didn’t mean that the studio would have to shut down. It was a risk but a calculated risk.

It paid off and, in fact, we fared better than we expected to. PVR released the film and it collected Rs 5 crore. Up until then, animated films were not doing all that well and even the Hollywood film Frozen earned only Rs 3 crore in India. So the market is tricky in India. Yet, we realised that unless we feed the market, we wouldn’t be able to create a market in India.

The same thing happened with Chhota Bheem on Indian television. There was no Indian content on television, people had tried Tenali Rama, Vikram-Betal and Krishna but nobody was consistent. And when Bheem burst on to the scene, it caught on very fast. We had to create a market and release one film every year. 

If we started supplying, there would be demand too. Fifty years ago, there was no market for Hollywood films but they continued to release films every month and today they are watched all over the world. Today, 70 per cent of their revenue comes from outside the US. So it took time but they had the vision to see that.

 Similarly, we felt that we needed to create Indian content. It would take time but we we were sure that we would succeed.

Chhota Bheem caters to kids aged one to five. When you give a cartoon character a new look in a film, does that confuse them? None of the other famous cartoon characters has ever changed their look.

We had thought of that but we did our market research. We played a small teaser and all the kids instantly knew it is Chhota Bheem.

(Laughs) No, I knew they would (get exhausted) so we have a team of writers. We have one set of writers who work for a few months, and another set of writers who create new content. So we go about it in a cycle. Then creating new stories around the same characters is not tough.

She was very kind to promote the film but we can’t ask people to do us a favour every single time. We are going all out to promote our film. The characters are in malls promoting the film; we have come up with our own products. 

So there is demand in the market. We are tying up with activation; we are setting up the characters in various malls, and not only Bheem but also the other characters. We will have a parade of the entire gang. We are banking heavily on activation.

It will grow, it’s just that people need to take risks. Disney, Cartoon Network… everyone is keeping an eye on the Indian market. So if we are able to create good content, it will definitely work.

Yes it is, mainly in Asian countries. These days, everyone is very particular about their release dates, whether it’s a big film or a small one.

We are taking another risk here. Our film is called Chhota Bheem – Himalayan Adventure, so we thought the climate should be relatable. It would not be appropriate to talk of a Himalayan Adventure in summer. That’s why we decided to release it in January, when it is cold in almost every Indian state. 

Our first film ran for six weeks but today we don’t have that luxury. Exhibitors allow only two weeks. So we need to reel in the money in two weeks, and, during that week, many states have holidays for New Year. It is a gamble and we hope it works.

You must meet a lot of kids. What is the one question about Chhota Bheem that has blown you away?

One of my friend’s sons got his friend to meet me and told him, Yeh uncle ne Chhota Bheem banaya hai. The next question the kid asked me was, ‘How do you make him breathe?’ At first, I thought 

it was a stupid question but I realised it was a pertinent one. He had so many questions about Bheem and this was only one of them. Box Office India