Disney-Pixar’s Cars remains one of the most well recognised animation franchises in India. The two titles of this fun-adventure – Cars (2006) and Cars 2 (2011) – have received an overwhelming response from local audiences and now as Cars 3 revs up for release, Disney-Pixar has given us a peak into what Cars would look like if it were to be made in India!
Joining the adorable Cars characters including a hybrid between a stock car and a more curvaceous Le Mans endurance racer, a Porsche 911, a Hudson Hornet, a Wrecker Tow-Truck, a Chevrolet Impala is a traditional Indian rickshaw!
Cars 3 story artist Michael Daley, who helped create the initial visuals, or the blue print of the film, has Cars-ified the Indian three-wheeler. He says, “I thought it’s pretty interesting to make a Cars character out of a rickshaw!” He has never been to India, but having grown up in California and San Diego where he had seen similar rickshaws, he had a basic idea of a rickshaw – part bicycle and part carriage. Daley adds, “However, they weren’t that ornate so I decided to put a little more detailing but not get too crazy because I was trying to make it simple and storyboard type of drawing. So I did a lot of research on these awesome Indian rickshaws on the internet and it was very important to decide where to put the face; the eyes and the mouth. Some of these rickshaws had a boxy feel or a blank spot in the front where the handle bars were and I just chose that place to put the eyes and the mouth. Usually you put the eyes and mouth on a big blank spot on the cars; usually the windshield but we needed a spot to put for some of these character’s faces and eyes in a spot where you can see very clearly like what they are doing without using the headlamp.” Daley found it interesting to see how the rickshaws worked and also sent him down a huge hole of research on the carriage at the back and how the handlebars attached to the wheels. After looking at all of that, he had to create a simplified version to get the basic idea across without getting too complicated.
Disney-Pixar is going all out to woo Indian fans as the animation industry grows further each year. Everyone’s favourite race car champion Lightening McQueen is going to face the toughest challenge of his athletic career yet in Cars 3.
For the third installation of Cars, Disney India’s consumer products business has collaborated with 40 brands across categories to bring alive the world of Cars. This will be the highest number of brand associations for any animation movie in India followed by Disney-Pixar’s Finding Dory at 16 brands.
Disney India executive director and consumer products head Sanjeet Mehta confirms, “At Disney, we are always looking at offering products that fans can enjoy 365 days a year. We are thrilled to be working with as many as 40 brands for our upcoming movie Cars 3. Each of our licensee helps us to offer a piece of the Disney.Pixar Cars universe that fans can take back home. Our long term relationships with our licensees are catalysed by tent pole movies like these.”
Some of the brands include Myntra, Max, Pantaloons, Bioworld, Crocs, Bata, Titan, E-Gamme, Mattel, Lego, Funskool, My Baby Excel, HeroAmazon.in, Hamleys, Landmark and Crossword.