We really need homegrown Indian superheroes: Farah Khan

Farah Khan was a special guest at a recent trailer launch of upcoming film – ‘Chhota Bheem and The Curse of Damyaan’. Also present on the occasion was creator and director Rajiv Chilaka and his wife Megha Chilaka, who has co-produced the film.

During the launch Farah, Rajiv, Megha and composer of the film, Raghav Sachar, shared more details on the making of the film.

Choreographer-turned-director Farah lamented that in India, there is hardly any kids content being made and said, “I have been a fan of Chota Bheem. The only reason I agreed to come is that we have been watching it. Kids have grown up watching it, so I felt there was a connection. It is a fantastic trailer, after a long time a children’s film is being launched on the big screen that is meant for the entire family.”

She further said, “My kids are giving their board exams right now or else I would got them here for the trailer launch. We are all Chhota Bheem fans and the trailer was spectacular. I think it is important that homegrown Indian superhero films are made, otherwise we are taking our kids to watch English superhero films like ‘Avengers’, ‘Harry Potter’, etc. This is the first live action Chhota Bheem film and I think it is a commendable effort, especially since our budgets are not as high as Hollywood films. But our films and stories have so much more masala! I think the kids are going to enjoy it.”

Praising the child starcast of the film, Farah said that these kids are spectacularly talented in all the departments – be it dancing, acting, doing action sequences. She stressed that today, children’s films do not necessarily mean animation or cartoons. “Kids these days understand everything and films should be such that the entire family can watch it together. Most of my films have a U certificate, so people can watch it with their entire family,” she stressed.

Meanwhile, Rajiv shared how the idea of making this as a film came to him and said, “ We started working on this film in 2003 when we had this idea, it took me five years to sell that idea. I was very perseverant. We have constantly seen the show ‘Chhota Bheem’, so I said India needs this. Indian kids need characters that they can relate to and look up to. We don’t have anyone. My reference is all international and there is nothing wrong with that, but we would like to have homegrown stories. We have so much talent, but are not making enough content.”

Interjecting here, Farah said that her children got to know about life in small towns and villages, laddoos, and desi storytelling because of series like ‘Chhota Bheem’ and ‘Motu Patlu’.

Speaking more on ‘Chhota Bheem’, Rajiv said that the animated series became an instant hit ever since it went on air. “Initially, we thought it will go on for 2-3 years, but then it went for 4-5 years and then 7-8 years. Now, it’s been 16 years of the show. And today, in 2024, we are ready to give something new to children in India,” he added.

On the making of ‘Chhota Bheem’ the movie, Rajiv said that, “The biggest channel was that we had never done live action movies before. We had to learn and unlearn a few things in the animation studio and do it again. Being a creative person, on the first day of the shoot, I realised that it was not much fun on such a budget, hence we decided to scale it up. We have made this film from the heart and it has come out very good. I hope the Indian audience will love it. Today, fans all over the world have so many spin off shows, so we would be happy to be there. Working with these kids was amazing and I am very excited for all of them!”