New episodes of Chhota Bheem
What makes a superhero fiction into a success story? Seems like Rajiv Chilaka extracted the perfect recipe for it — Demons in regular intervals come to destroy peace and facing off against them is a scrappy nine-year-old with an inexhaustible appetite for laddoos, clad only in a dhoti and surrounded by a ragtag band of sidekicks.
Chhota Bheem is the country’s largest homegrown children’s entertainment brand, starting life as a TV show and now extended into a vast array of products and movies. The character was born of Chilaka’s fascination with Bhima from the Mahabharata and a childhood spent with Disney’s animated shows, Tintin, Amar Chitra Katha, and superhero comics. The conception of the show saw some silver linings. Chhota Bheem and gang were conceived in just 15 minutes. Fortunately, the homegrown animation space was nascent. It had been that way since the 1980s when Ghayab Aaya, a show liberally inspired by Casper, the friendly ghost, debuted on Indian TV. Most channels gravitated towards purely mythological content. So, after Vikram Betal and Krishna proved Green Gold had the skills to pull off animation and storytelling, Pogo gave the firm a chance on Chhota Bheem in 2008. The time was right for the show says Chilaka.
And there it was, from imagination to reality, an adventurous young boy with the strength and attributes of the mythological Bhima living in an unspecified period in medieval India. He says, “As a child, Bhima was the easiest character to relate to in the Mahabharata. They’ve taken him out of the original context and spun it in a way that becomes more relevant. There’s a need for a character that connects to local imagination.” Adds Dheeraj Sinha, chief strategy officer — South Asia, Leo Burnett. He adds, “No matter how much you translate Spiderman, there’s a gap between character and language. Chhota Bheem is vernacular in a construct.”
The show definitely struck the chord they wanted to hit amongst the audience. The characters, especially Chhota Bheem, still continue to win hearts even after more than a decade of its inception. It would not be wrong to say that the series has created a niche for itself. Being such a favourite, Pogo, the kids cartoon channel is bringing new episodes on popular demand.
The audience will be able to kick start their day with an adventurous journey and solving mysteries with their favourite characters from the show, every Monday to Friday, 9 am onwards.