Friday, August 8, 2014

Chhota Bheem, Doraemon and Oggy: Indian cartoon heroes!

TV cartoons.  No, I don't mean our politicians or celebrities when I say this.  I mean the good ones; the ones that make you laugh.  

Although some celebrities have been made into cartoons - or at least their voices, as we shall see.  

Ask any child under 10 what he or she watches on telly, and pat comes the reply: Chhota Bheem!

And don't our kids just looooove him?!  Mine does; she is 8.  Sometimes you have to drag her away from the screen kicking and screaming!

What is it about him that children just can't get enough of?  His whole gang: the red-cheeked Chutki, Raju, Jaggu the monkey, Kalia - the big bully and his two side-kicks, Dholu and Bholu - identical twins, no less! are all part of Dholakpur (what an imaginative name!), whose king relies on the heroics of Bheem to save himself, his kingdom and his daughter, Princess Indumati, from villains.  

Bheem is everywhere and he can do everything: sing, dance, fight, win contests, and single handedly defeat any villain, thanks to the power he derives from eating good old laddus!  Perhaps this is in keeping with a child's inner fantasy world, which abounds in heroes, villains, magic, colour, music and food.  

How else can you explain it?  The animation, if anything, is tacky.  And despite the presence of far better animated series from western studios, Bheem manages to hold fort admirably. 

They even made movies with him!  Believe me, I have had to endure two of them: Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan (in which the evil voice goes Damyaaaaaan!), and Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali (a female monster this time, called Rangdaaaaa!).  Just one of the things you have to do if you are the parent of an Indian child completely besotted with Bheem Bheeem Bheem Chhota Bheem Chhota Bheem....well, you know the rest of the song.

Apart from this, and many many more, there are two more series that often hold your child's attention when he or she is not doing homework, or when Chhota Bheem is not on.

One is eastern and another western.  
One is Japanese and the other French.
One is Doraemon and the other Oggy and the Cockroaches.  

Doraemon is just so bland, and the setting so outlandish, that despite being dubbed in Hindi, I just cannot understand why an Indian child would get hooked on to it.  The story line is always the same; there's Nobita, who is a bit insecure and wants what others have.  He then pesters his robot, Doraemon to get it for him or invent it for him, which the poor robot does with great reluctance, knowing fully well that he would have to rescue Nobita from trouble in the end.  Sometimes it is about impressing the doll-like girl, Shizuka, while competing with the great big bully, Gian, and his partner in crime, the cunning Suneo, who are always looking to bash Nobita and acquire his gadgets.


Gian is an interesting character; a bully portrayed so realistically, that it is scary that you are letting your delicate child watch him beat his opponents to pulp, jealously snatch others' things, and shout at anybody who thinks his singing is bad.  He has a tendency to exercise his vocal chords by singing his stock line: main hoon Giaaaaan!! much to the dislike of others - a clear narcissistic trait.  Once, when he accidentally falls into a lake and others laugh at him, he bursts out with a scowl saying isme itna funny kya hai? - what's so funny about this? - an antisocial trait where one laughs at others' situations, but cannot take a joke about oneself.  

I am almost certain that Gian would go on to have a rip roaring personality disorder when he grows up!

On the other hand, the European series is entertaining but violent.  Poor Oggy, the blue cat, is constantly pestered by three enterprising cockroaches; Joey, Marky and Dee Dee.  Oggy has a hot-headed cousin brother, Jack and a lady love, Olivia, who help him out when he is tied in knots by the roaches, who have an uncanny ability to acquire the latest gadgets and weapons of mass destruction in a trice to trouble our heroes.
  

This one is again formulaic, with the face-off between the cats and roaches occurring in different situations.  So you see Oggy being run over by trains, buses and cars, and flying and landing on his front-door bulldog, Bob, who has a non-bulldog-like hobby of gardening with flowering plants!  

But what makes the series even more interesting is that it has been Indianized!  The series has been hilariously dubbed in Hindi (turn your audio settings to Hindi in Tata Sky).  Not just any kind of dubbing, but a very imaginative one; Oggy's voice mimics Shah Rukh Khan's, Jack's Sunny Deol's, Bob's Shakti Kapoor's, the cockroaches' Arshad Warsi's (in 'Circuit' style), Suneil Shetty's and Paresh Rawal's (in Hera Pheri style), and finally Olivia's....well as Olivia's. 

So you have the following howlarious one-liners:

Oggy (as Shah Rukh): hmmm....bhaiyaaa! and ey cockrochon....nahin chodoonga!   

Jack (as Sunny): oy thod doonga, phod doonga and oy Oggy kya kar raha hai tu?   

Bob (as Shakti Kapoor): tumne mujhe maara, ab ye lo....thak thik thak thik (when he bashes Oggy or Jack)

Arshad Warsi cockroach: halla bol! and cockroach gang zindabad!

There's also a voice-over announcing the goings on in Nana Patekar's voice with his trademark achcha hai....hihihi in the end!  Classic!  Even my 8-year-old, who knows nothing much about these actors or their voices, loves watching the series with Hindi voice-overs.    

One just hopes that the stars are taking all this in a sporting manner and are not too... animated about it!  

Oggy is so successful, that they made a special Indian episode, which shows every Indian child watching Oggy on telly, and Oggy being mobbed by Indian kids when he goes to Mumbai and finally ends up helping India win the cricket world cup - complete with an item dance in the end!  And he has had a successful film outing too, which I have reviewed here

So there you have it.  Indian kids and the cartoons they watch.  Good or bad, worthwhile or complete waste of time, like it or not, these shows are here to stay - for now at least.  Or till another series grabs their attention.  Or till they grow up so much that item songs and social media divert them.  But then again, some are already into them!

And if you notice a streak of violence and even inappropriate content in these cartoons, well tough luck.  You can only minimize the damage by making sure your child understands that unlike Bheem, Nobita, or Oggy, real people are not malleable or ductile, and do not spring back into original shape after a good round of bashing.  Make them understand that all this is for entertainment only, and not to be taken seriously or emulated. 

As an aside, I should also add that while endless cartoon viewing is not a solution to keep a child with ADHD quiet, some amount of cartoon diversion at home is required if mummy-daddy ever decide to go out to catch a movie at the multiplex - their fellow moviegoers will be extremely grateful!



Image sources:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Cl1ZKE5Pep8/maxresdefault.jpg
https://www.facebook.com/Dora6AsianFan/
https://xilam.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Oggy_Catalogue_VA-1024x724.jpg




1 comment:

  1. Voice Over Pro is a full-service audio production facility that provides hindi voice talent services. if you are in the search of any professional Hindi Voice artists or Hindi Voice Agency, then Voice Over Pro is the top voice-over agency that comes up with abundant services including initial translation, adaption to casting talent, and language.

    ReplyDelete

I believe in discussions and dialogues, not in arguments and mud-slinging; therefore kindly refrain from the latter. As far as possible kindly provide insightful and constructive feedback and opinion, with sources as applicable.

Film conversations: Fighter

As I have iterated multiple times before, I rarely venture into a multiplex to see a move due to previous harrowing experiences.  Especially...