Walt Disney Pictures and UTV Motion Pictures Arjun: The Warrior Prince directed by Arnab Chaudhuri and produced by Ronnie Screwvala & Siddharth Roy Kapur released with 200 prints across 30 cities in India today. The film which boasts of impeccable production by Tata Elxsi, is a highly anticipated release and was backed by some strong P&A, with the film being visible across all media in the past couple of weeks.
Going by the positioning of Arjun: The Warrior Prince , it promises to be a great family viewing experience, with a broad appeal cutting across age groups and is specifically targeted at kids and the 18-34 TG.
The film is being distributed by Disney UTV in India and UTV motion Pictures internationally. It also releases in the US simultaneously.
With the success of Chhota Bheem that released last week, the Animation Industry is bouncing back at the Box Office, and now the entire Indian animation ecosystem’s hopes are pinned on tasting further success for Animation with Arjun.
There is a lot riding on the movie and AnimationXpress.com met up with director Arnab Chaudhuri last week for a quick Q&A with a detailed interview to be followed next week.
Excerpts
As the director, what is your comment on Arjun as an animated movie experience?
This is the untold story of Arjun the warrior prince, a boy discovering what it takes to be a hero. It’s an illustration of the epic in a visual style that hasn’t been seen before, with big action set-pieces, mixed martial arts and spectacular production design. You’ll see an interpretation of an age old myth like it’s never been interpreted before.
The Mahabharata boasts of a lot of powerful characters, how did the character of Arjun come into your mind?
Arjun is the most powerful character in ‘The Mahabharata’ (smiles).
Karan is also considered the greatest warrior in the epic saga?
But Arjun killed him.
So, when did you start work on the feature film?
I started work in 2007.
How long did it take to complete the film?
It took us 3 years to complete the film with post production.
What’s the duration and medium of the film?
The duration of the movie is 90 minutes and is made in CG animation.
The animation is produced in CG but has the look of 2D animation, tell us about it?
We wanted to go for a very classical animated look as in classical animation like the animation technology used and done 50 to 60 years ago but we also wanted to use camera work which could be utilized completely as in we didn’t want the use of the camera to be limited in that space, so we have tried to achieve that with the use of handmade, hand crafted work and fluid camera work.
The first look, promos and the trailers of the film showcases the film not only for the kids but also for the mature audience?
If you look at it, even something like Indian comics right from the old times of ‘Amar Chitra Katha’ were not just about the kids, they also had a lot to offer to the mature audience, people from age groups 18-30 too can watch and enjoy it. We have had a very serious approach to the subject. Most of the animated series you see in India are on a comic level. a lot of mythological characters are treated like parody. We had it very clear in our heads to give this subject a serious treatment. We didn’t want talking animals or any kind of parody in the storyline. We wanted to target the family audience and just not the kids.
So you approached UTV with the film or did the company approach you?
Actually I was approached by UTV for this, I was working in Hong Kong at that time and I got a call from UTV to do a feature film on the character of Arjun and who says no to direct a feature film.
Right from the beginning we wanted to have a feel of gladiator kind of theme to it; A lot of handwork is used for each sequence and character. Blood is a major part of the storyline. And there is a line we didn’t want to cross, No talking animals.
The movie was ready in 2010, why is it releasing this summer?
That’s just two summers right? (Smiles) This movie had to release in the summer, it’s the perfect time. Kids have holidays so a summer release was necessary that’s why we had to wait till 2012.
How was it working with Tata Elxsi Visual Computing Labs (VCL)?
It was a great experience, it was quite easy. The whole working with Tata Elxsi VCL was easy and smooth because of the working style we had applied on the pre-production. The acting workshop was done with 3 cameras .The entire movie was in a working document. I must mention that India has amazing amazing artists who are as good technically as they are artistically and Tata Elxsi had amazing artists and a great team
The first promo of the film had a lot of mystery to it whereas the second promo was quite straightforward in its approach to what it wanted to showcase, what are your views? Was it on purpose?
Yes, the first promo had a lot of mystery to it and that’s what we wanted. For both the promos we have used different marketing strategies. We have achieved what we wanted to from the promo.
What kind of budget has the movie been made in?
The movie is made in enough money.