Forget the image of Popeye munching on spinach in Cartoon Network’s Popeye the Sailor Man. What this generation watches is Motu gobbling on samosas in the home-bred animation television series Motu Patlu (The fat one, the thin one) on Nickelodeon. If not familiar with the characters through this sitcom, one is sure to have come across them in Lotpot Comics started in 1969, which also gave us the moustache-twirling detective Chacha Chaudhary. It would then be right to say that Motu and Patlu reside in the hearts of at least three generations. Therefore it was time the producer of the movie Ketan Mehta made their debut on the big screen happen. And it did, as the movie Motu Patlu — King of Kings, directed by Suhas D Kadav, hit the theatres last Friday, creating more than a ripple.
That starting point
The seed of the idea was planted long ago in the mind of Ketan Mehta, whose animation venture Maya Digital Studios is also behind the Motu Patlu TV series. In fact recently, “When I was travelling around the country promoting Manjhi: The Mountain Man (2015), wherever I went I was told ‘Our kids don’t eat till they see Motu Patlu. Why don’t you make it into a film?’” the national award winner discloses. So it was not only the first time Motu and Patlu were on the silver screen but for Maya Digital Studios as well, as this was their first 3D feature film. “We got the courage to make this film only because Viacom 18 was distributing it and because the TV series was so popular,” the 64-year-old producer confesses. All this because here, “we hardly make films for children,” he says, adding that here are two reasons for this - lack of a market for children on the industries side and because most of the decisions for children are made by parents. “It is only now that children are being assertive about what they want to watch,” he points out.
The Hollywood angle
Between an Indian animation movie and a Hollywood one, a child would chose the latter any day. And he should, after all, “Hollywood has been making these kind of movies for 70 to 80 years and their budgets are 20 to 30 times more than Indian budgets can manage. Also of course, they have a global audience,” he elaborates. He then states that someone has to take the lead and this is what his studio aims to do because he believes that animation and digital technology is going to be the future as “there is no limit to animation, apart from your own creativity.”
And this is what is lacking in the Indian animation industry Mehta feels — creative ambition and a developed market. “It will take a little time for the Indian animation market to stabilise and for financers to believe in Indian films and animation,” says Mehta. But with Motu Patlu, Mehta hopes to achieve this very benchmark — quality of animation. With attention to detail, performance, technique, quality of characters and backgrounds, Mehta already thinks that the movie is far superior to any other Indian film.
Going on to comment about cinema itself he says, “Cinema is the most powerful medium created by human beings, which has a great impact on your psyche. You can get a sense of and still be entertained,” he rightly says.
Reach out:@KetanMehtaMaya
Character Map
In a land far, far away called Furfuri Nagar reside our lead characters Motu and Patlu. Together they solve problems (which they sometimes create) and are total BFFs. The movie, as Mehta says, is a fun-filled adventure for children with an environmental message woven in
Patlu
He may be thin but his brain more than makes up for his physique. We bet you can find him in Furfuri Nagar reading a newspaper or trying to stay out of the trouble that Motu sometimes creates
Motu
The man who loves and lives to eat, with samosas being his poison. Though he can be quite silly sometimes or do something foolish in excitement, he has his heart in the right place
Chingam
With the help of protagonists Motu and Patlu, inspector Chingam manages to nab all the criminals. He genuinely believes that no criminal can escape him
Dr Jhatka
He is the inventor, or shall we say the mischief maker? As his inventions often land him in deep trouble