After Bal Ganesh, Bal Hanuman, Panga Gang, director Pankaj Sharma has now created a live action cum animation feature film named Billu Gamer. The film will witness a theatrical release in May 2016 and will then be broadcasted on satellite television.
“The film is a mix of live action and 3D animation as the 90-100 minutes film consists around 50-60 minutes of 3D animation and VFX portion. Visual effects have played a major role to enhance the CG animation and thus add innovation to the live action film,” said Pankaj Sharma.
Billu Gamer revolves around the lead character Patty and the animated protagonist Billu who is a character from a video game. The young boy Patty leads a normal teenage life having a gala time with his family and friends at school. Until, one day when he breaks down completely with frustration as he is constantly bullied at school.
At this hour of anxiety, Billu comes to the rescue from the gaming screen right into Patty’s real life. It sounds unrealistic and superficial but that’s the twist in the film. The usual plot follows as the gaming animated character becomes an integral part of the real life world. The combination of live action and animated characters fall in jeopardy and then face it with wisdom and bravery.
Having directed Bal Ganesh (2007), Bal Ganesh 2 (2009), Bal Hanuman, Bal Hanuman 2 and few other animated features, Pankaj Sharma has written, produced and directed this film too. “With a team of around 20 artists we completed this film in 18 months at our own studio Astute Media. The live action shooting was done in one month but the animation and post production including the VFX work took the rest of the time,” he explained.
The entire animation is 3D and has been created on Maya software. However, the animation looks quite unrealistic and the visual effects seem mediocre. In the era where India has produced animated films like My Friend Ganesha 1, Delhi Safari and Chaar Sahibzaade, this film stands at a lower standard in terms of the quality of animation and the effect of the visuals. For that matter, Pankaj Sharma’s own film Bal Ganesh and its sequel had good quality animation which the audience accepted with enthusiasm and responded quite positively. But a look the visuals of this film does not resonate the same effect. However, it is a little early to judge as the film is yet to be released.
“The film caters to kids, teens and youth as the story belongs to the young generation and has a highlight of few Bollywood kind of songs too. More than the theatrical release, we are quite sure that the film will do well at satellite television platform and receive good response,” concluded Pankaj Sharma as he strives to release his film by this May.