Hyderabad based Dreams Pvt Ltd's full length animated feature film Kutti Chetan and Friends is set for Dec 2008 release. Produced and directed by Deepak Jadhav and Co-produced by V Raj, pre production of this 100 mins 2D plus 3D film is complete and currently it is in the production stage. The film will be made in six languages Hindi, English, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Bhojpuri.

When asked about the subject of the film, Deepak Jadhav, MD and CEO, Dreams (P) Ltd shared with AnimationXpress.com, "Action, Comedy, Magic, Nine-headed serpent sorcerers, a ruby the size of a Cantaloupe, idiotic kleptomaniac minions, a mischievous blue spirit with no memory of his legendary past, strange powers and a wicked sense of humor. Two 12 year old kids, a talking dove and a cab-driving grandfather. Put them all together and you get: CHETAN!"

Presently the film is in the production stage, of which the layout will be done in Manila, Philippines, the post production and 3D part of the film will be done in India. The pre production took about four months. A team of four members have worked on the script and screen play and 30 plus artists from India, Philippines and Indonesia have also worked. Right now about 70 plus animators and layout artists are working on same.

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Raju, a gadget-happy city kid from Mumbai comes to the boondocks to spend the summer with his country grandparents little realizing the amazing adventures he'll get into with Laxmi, the cool magic-trick-wielding next-door-neighbor girl, and a talking dove named Snuggles (who used to be a human astrologer). After finding an astrological chart of mystical intent, our three heroes must solve its riddles in order to find a playful blue spirit named Chetan. Seems Chetan has been trapped as the guardian of a giant supernatural ruby for a hundred years, and Raju and Laxmi must free him after evading a cavern full of flying swords, a giant fire-breathing Hell Hound and a dragon maze complete with an ocean of drowning water, little realizing that the ruby is being hunted for by a mysterious hooded figure and his reckless minions Raja and Rajkumar. The kids just think Chetan's the "funniest" new friend they've ever met.

When the ruby is stolen by the hooded one, it's discovered that he is really Zatain, the ancient nine-headed serpent sorcerer bent on universal domination. Only by entering the ruby itself, which is a labyrinth of reflections fraught with certain death, and fighting a magical battle which transforms Chetan from a little fun-loving spirit into his true form: an all-powerful force for good, can the kids and their spirit friend win out over Zatain and save the world from darkness. And they have fun the whole time, too.

"With songs, action, comedy and strong character, highlight on friendships, Chetan is a movie for the whole family," says Deepak. He adds, "Apart from the story, the team working on the film is its biggest asset. The best creative and technical heads in the industry are putting their best possible efforts in bringing out 'Kutti Chetan and Friends'."

"The story line, concept and the main character designing was done in India with in house artists. The pre production which included complete creation of the characters, turn around, color styling, key locations etc is done in our Philippines branch," informed Deepak.

The music of the film is given by Pritam Chakraborty and lyrics are written by Irshad.

It is a combination of Classical 2D animation and 3D animation, as per the requirement of the story. Maya, 3D Max software are being used for character designs whereas for key locations traditional hand paintings and Adobe Photoshop has been used. The main character of Kutti Chetan is designed by Deepak Jadhav and the rest of the characters are done by Kaizar Mandal, Rome and Jun Pacho.

Telling us about the USP of the film, he said, "Kutti Chetan and Friends" as the name itself suggests is the story about Kutti (small) Chetan (spirit) and his two friends Raj and Yamini. There is fun, magic, emotion, sentiment, laughter and above all the determination of two children to find the treasure and the cuteness of a spirit ready to help them in all possible ways which will definitely drive ages 6-60 to the theatres. Though small in size "Kutti Chetan" is all set to give a tough competition to all our super heroes."

Since the story is based on a myth from Kerala, Kutti Chetan who was a friendly ghost hence the same name has been kept as title. Songs are sung by well-known singers of Bollywood Ravi Khote, Kunal Ganjawala and singers from Star Voice of India Chote Ustad. As the project is still under the production stage, voice artists for the film haven't yet been decided.

When asked about the marketing and distribution strategy, Deepak replied, "We are looking at the various options of marketing but have not yet decided because we are keeping quality as our first priority. At the same time we are in talks with a few major distribution companies from various parts of India."

As of now there are no plans of tie ups. On merchandising and licensing he said, "While working on the script we made sure that there will be huge scope for merchandising. But as of now we have not decided anything on licensing."

Story and Screen Play of Kutti Chetan is by Mark Zolve, Dialogue by Asmit Kunder; Kaizar Mandal is the Creative Director, M Saravanan and Ashutosh Naik are the Production Designer, while R Boatman and Owell Mina are the Animation Supervisors, Ashmit Kunder is the Editor and Prakash Sutar Art Director.

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