In India, Gods Rule the 'Toon' Universe

[Guest guest]

In India, Gods Rule the 'Toon' Universe

Hindu Myth a Fount of Superheroes

 

By Rama Lakshmi

Washington Post Foreign Service

January 9, 2008

New Delhi

 

[Yet another installment in my series of

off-topic posts! ;-) ]

 

Eight-year-old Tejas Vohra is used to spending most of his

after-school hours watching " Power Rangers, "

" Transformers " and " Looney Tunes. " But these days, one of

his favorite superheroes is a cool cartoon version of

Hanuman, the monkey-headed Hindu god.

 

For thousands of years, Hindus have prayed to Hanuman in

times of trouble, beseeching him to perform miraculous

feats in their lives. Last week, the god was revealed to Tejas

in a movie theater. In " The Return of Hanuman, " the adored

deity is reborn as a boy who goes to school in khaki shorts,

uses a computer, combats pollution and, most important,

smashes the bad guys to pulp.

 

" I loved the film because Hanuman is a boy like me and

saves planet Earth, " said Tejas, a tall, wide-eyed second-

grader. " It was awesome to see the gods laughing, singing

and flying planes. The fights were really good, and in the

end Hanuman sets everything right. "

 

A number of haloed Hindu gods and goddesses have

debuted in the frenetic world of animation over the past five

years. Their appearance marks a shift from a decades-long

period in which Indian children grew up almost exclusively

on American TV and movie characters, including Mickey

Mouse, Tom and Jerry, and Spider-Man.

 

To many parents, though, the " mytho-cartoons " are more

than a novelty; they are a way to introduce the ancient tales

to a generation that seems to be losing touch with its 5,000-

year heritage.

 

" We grew up hearing these stories from our grandparents.

But my son is learning the epics from animation films, " said

Tejas's mother, Madhu Vohra, 36. " I am happy that he's

imbibing our cultural values in a fun way. He can relate to

the tales better this way. And I don't need to monitor him

closely when he watches Indian mythology. "

 

Like many parents in New Delhi, Vohra recently barred

Tejas from watching " Crayon Shin-Chan, " an animated

Japanese TV series featuring a foul-mouthed 5-year-old

boy.

 

In India these days, children have a dazzling array of pop-

culture choices. Parents worry about them being drawn to

Western lifestyles, playing on computers rather than

spending time with their families, and gaining easy access to

all that is considered cool around the world. When sons and

daughters greet their elders with a " Hi, " rather than folding

their hands and offering the traditional greeting of

" Namaste, " parents cringe.

 

The new cartoon films address this parental angst by

presenting Indian mythology and folklore as cool and

trendy. Besides Hanuman, deities featured on animated TV

series and movies have included the elephant-headed

Ganesha and the blue-bodied, mischievous Krishna. Indian

jungle stories and princely tales are also being produced for

television and the home video market.

 

The heady cocktail of ancient culture and popular

entertainment has also fueled a marketing blitz, with

manufacturers introducing T-shirts, toys and video games

based on the cartoon characters.

 

The new shows have their roots in the explosion of private

television channels in India more than a decade ago. It was

then that marketers began to search for an opportunity to put

uniquely Indian stories in cartoon format.

 

In 2001, the Cartoon Network broadcast the first Indian

mythology show, " Pandavas, " a version of a tale from the

classical Hindu epic " Mahabharata " about the travails of

five princely brothers. Since then, the channel, which

reaches more than 27 million homes, has shown seven

Indian animation series, along with international programs.

 

The latest, " Krishna, " was rated the most popular series

shown on any children's channel in India last year, topping a

series based on the Harry Potter books, according to

Anshuman Misra, the managing director of Turner

International India, which owns the Cartoon Network and

Pogo channels.

 

Misra said it's clear why the myth-based cartoons have

become so popular.

 

" They are successful because there is an element of

familiarity with these mythological characters, the stories

are timeless, and Indian parents actively encourage the

children to watch them, " he said.

 

A recent study by the Confederation of Indian Industry

reported that the nascent Indian animation industry, now

worth $285 million, is expected be worth almost $1 billion

by 2010. Because of low overhead costs, India is also

emerging as an outsourcing hub for international companies

such as Walt Disney and Paramount that make animated

films.

 

" But there is a dearth of skilled [animation] talent in India,

[....], " said Hari Varma, chief creative officer at Toonz

Animation India, which worked on " The Return of

Hanuman. " " So we are opening animation schools across

India now. "

 

" Hanuman " is the second film to take a revered Hindu story

line, tweak it, put it in a 21st-century context and bring the

gods down to Earth. It shows the gods talking in colloquial

" Hinglish, " a fashionable hybrid of Hindi and English. The

deities play the guitar instead of the traditional sitar, use the

Internet and dodge bullets as if they were Neo, the hero of

the U.S. movie " The Matrix. "

 

Hanuman flies into space, watches over New York with a

torch like the Statue of Liberty's, captures Osama bin Laden

and straightens the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Other characters

speak to Hanuman using irreverent phrases such as " Chill,

dude " or " Have you lost it, dude? "

 

Another big box office hit last year, " My Friend Ganesha, "

blended animation and live-action scenes to show the little

elephant-headed god snowboarding and being taught to

speak English by a nerdy schoolboy.

 

The next challenge for the Hindu " toon " gods is especially

up-to-date. A forthcoming film features Hanuman going to

Manhattan, where he helps the FBI battle terrorists.

 

" Hanuman is the original superhero. He is thousands of

years older than Superman, Spider-Man and Batman. He is a

brand to reckon with among Indian children today, " said

Nadish Bhatia, general manager of marketing at Percept

Picture Co., which co-produced " The Return of Hanuman. "

 

" Every society is looking for heroes, and we want to make

Hanuman global, " Bhatia said. " If the Coca-Cola brand can

come to India and connect with our sensibilities, why can't

Hanuman go to New York? "

 

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