Movie Review: Ghatothkach - The Master of Magic 28 May 2008 10:50 AM
Movie Review on AnimationXpress.com??? Well the animated features that we keep hearing announcements about, aren‘t just being announced, they are being delivered to the audience too. And with the advent of the Indian animated feature film, movie reviews find their place on the site that services Indian Animation 24/7/365.
Being a critic is easy, being a fair critic is not. Even more difficult is being a critic on animationxpress.com.
At AnimationXpress.com we pray along with the industry that animation should bring in a gold rush at the box office and that audiences should keep coming back for more. We sincerely wish that all the Indian animated features that release should be successes. Some may draw critical acclaim, some may seduce the box office and some may recreate the magical moments that only animation is capable of. Some films might not be able to achieve any of these, but the years of sweat of hundreds of artists, the conviction and commitment of the producers to seed the industry is exemplary, and shines forth through all these pioneering efforts.
Keeping this context in mind, Sahirr Sethi, the bright young film critic at AnimationXpress.com watched Ghatotkach twice and rewrote several drafts of the review, defended his critique as it got edited and finally though a couple of days late, the review reaches you.
And even as our colleagues watched the movie to review it, we had team members observing the audience, and while there may be issues with the technicalities and some fundamentals,Ghatotkach as an Indian animated entertainment product seemed to have found favor with the kids who were happy and had a good time watching and singing Main Hoon Ghatotkach, duniya mein sab se nirala....
this pioneering effort of producing and releasing Ghatotkach or any of the early films that will follow, is nirala as well as aala (wonderful). And we are very sure that with time and happy tide, the fundamentals and technicalities of animation film making in India will become nirala too.
Meanwhile...
Movie Review
Ghatothkach - The Master of Magic Directed by: Singeetam Srinivasa Rao Produced by: Shemaroo and Sun Animatics
Angalika Bangalika Changalika…
By SAHIRR SETHHI
(27 May 2008 3:05 pm)
Catching up with the current trend of basing animation films on mythological stories comes Ghatothkach- The master of magic. It’s great to see the lesser known playful character of Ghatothkach to be pulled out from the sea of mythological stories in India for an animated film.
The film takes us through the life of Ghatothkach, son of Bhima and Hidimba. It begins by displaying all signs of a musical about the happy-go-lucky ‘Ghattu’ and his magical feats. As Ghattu grows up he makes a new friend, Gajju the elephant. Together they form a crazy duo of mischief; always getting into trouble and unimaginable adventures. The story so far is very well narrated and will manage to captivate and excite the viewers, especially the kids who won’t get enough of Ghattu.
On the other hand, what follows in the second half may unsettle the audiences a bit. The story deviates to the love affair of Abhimanu and Uttara, which is in jeopardy due to the crafty Duryodhan. This becomes the central conflict of the film. And out comes to rescue, our hero Ghatothkach - now a pot-bellied jovial young man. This sudden leap into Ghatothkach’s adult life is abrupt and may baffle the young audiences. Though, with a few gags strewn around along with some more songs the film keeps the kids cued in.
The film’s animation credentials look impressive on paper and add to one‘s expectations but the output on screen does not match the impressive credentials. The lip-synching of the characters is poorly done. The film boasts about three of its songs being shot using the 3D motion-capture technology, but again one expects more finesse.
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Ghatothkach’s director Singeetam Srinivasa Rao’s claims to fame have been films like Puspak and Appu Raja. He can be termed as an all rounder in filmmaking having donned the hats of a director, screenwriter, producer and music director in a career spanning over 50 years and 60 films, however this innings in animation has left a lot to be desired for. If one was to overlook the animation and focus solely on the storytelling aspect, even then Ghatothkach falls short. The screenplay in the second half goes astray as there are several sequences that the film could have done without.
The editing of the film is good within sequences, but the transition from one scene to another is jerky and abrupt. As far as the music is concerned, it is composed by Pravin Mani and the film has a couple of interesting tracks, particularly the title track Main hunGhatothkach and Angalika Bangalika, which are going to be hummed by the kids for a long time to come.
By the end of the day, Ghatothkach is an average animated film. The story did have potential and a lot more could have been achieved. However, the Indian animation industry is still in its nascence and these are learning curves. As long as the key audience comprising of kids is happy the animators’ and producers mission is accomplished and they are further encouraged to bring to the audiences new and better content.
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