It's a bird. It's a plane. It's ... the superhero monkey god?

[Guest guest]

What's more, the film's producers state that they are intentionally

trying to top Superman. Look out, Man of Steel - here comes Hanuman!

 

http://news./s/ap/20051021/ap_en_mo/film_superhero_monkey_god

 

Hindu Monkey God Stars in India Animation By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM, Associated

Press Writer

Fri Oct 21, 7:34 PM ET

 

 

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's ... the superhero monkey god?

 

 

While Bollywood stars often achieve a mythical status in film-crazy India, the

star of India's first animated feature film is a genuine deity drawn from the

Hindu pantheon.

 

Over the years India's burgeoning animation and special effects industry has

cut its teeth working for foreign production houses — drawn to South Asia by

lower costs — but "Hanuman" is the industry's first full-length, homegrown

animated movie.

 

In promos being aired on Indian TV, Hanuman, wearing an orange loincloth, gold

armlets and anklets, wields a mace as he battles fire-breathing dragons and

ferocious demons in the 90-minute film.

 

"Hanuman is like a super superhero. We have tried to go beyond Superman,"

director V.G. Samant told The Associated Press. "Which superhero can leap up

and touch the sun or move mountains with one hand?"

 

Samant studied Hindu scriptures for more than two years with some 60 animators

and researchers to adapt them to celluloid for the movie, which was released

Friday in India in Hindi and English versions.

 

His team had plenty of experience animating stories.

 

European, Australian and American production houses have for years sent

detailed scripts to India to have local graphic artists and animators sketch,

paint and digitalize the content.

 

A 26-minute animated episode costs $80,000 to $100,000 in India, compared to

about $250,000 in the U.S., Samant said.

 

The size of India's animation production and special effects industry is

estimated at about $666 million annually, and has grown at about 30 percent in

the last few years, according to a March study by the trade group

Confederation of Indian Industry.

 

But no Indian animated movies have been produced, and foreign animated hits

have lagged behind Bollywood song-and-dance blockbusters at the box office in

the South Asian country, said Komal Nata, who runs Film Information, a trade

guide.

 

"Indians are not captivated by animation," said Nata. "But if Hanuman touches

them, people may change."

 

That's what animators are hoping for in India.

 

Revered by India's Hindu majority, Hanuman is known for his wisdom, superhuman

strength and loyalty to the god Rama. Like superheroes in Hollywood movies,

Hanuman protects the weak. The plot follows the mythological story of the

demon king Ravana who kidnaps Rama's wife, Sita. The hero sets out to find

her, battling seven-headed snakes and confronting the 10-headed Ravana during

the search.

 

In a bid to popularize the genre, the monkey god was selected to play the

superhero because of his local and foreign appeal, said Sandeep Bhargav, chief

operating officer of Sahara One Motion Pictures, which produced and

distributed the film.

 

Bhargav said research showed Hanuman was well known in the Far East. "Hanuman

may be a deity for Indians, but in China, Indonesia, Thailand, he's known as

the monkey king," he said.

 

The English version will be released internationally later in the year,

Bhargav said, particularly in countries that have large South Asian

communities.

 

Creators said they wanted to draw on homegrown influences for the animated

hero.

 

"Indian kids are so tuned in to Superman and Spiderman, they've forgotten

superheroes in their own backyard," said Bhargav.