He is the heart throb of millions of kids in the country. And no we aren’t talking about a super star right now but about Green Gold Animation’s bread winner and arguably India’s biggest animated IP- Chhota Bheem. Over the years, Chhota Bheem has become not just one of the most popular shows on television but has also graced the silver screen as well, two times now and already readying for its third outing later this year.
His fame is such that even the biggest of Bollywood stars have made their presence felt on Pogo, to reach out to the young audience through Chhota Bheem. Over the last year, Pogo has undertaken a new form of marketing exercise as form of film promotion. Short packages are created by redubbing a part of its existing repertoire of shows along with stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan etc.
Dholakpur Ka Singham; Bheem aur Salman ki Kick; Bang Bang with Bheem; Bheem, Kiteretsu aur Hawaizaada and Bheemitabh are examples of how Pogo has extended brand Bheem and leveraged it by getting the biggest blockbuster movies and its stars on board.
Turner International India executive director and network head- south Asia Krishna Desai had earlier said, “At Turner, we believe in engaging our audiences by delivering unique and entertaining content. We couldn’t be more excited at the promising success of this initiative.”
Chhota Bheem creator and Green Gold Animation founder & CEO Rajiv Chilaka is ecstatic about such partnerships. “It feels great that the biggest of movie stars want to associate with Bheem and the credit goes to both Pogo and the marketing teams of the films for making it a success. I’m glad that Bollywood stars are partnering with Bheem to reach out to their young fans. It’s a win-win situation,” he says.
While Bheem kick-started this brilliant integrated initiative other characters are not too far behind. Oggy and the Cockroaches’ lead character was taken by SRK’s Happy New Year as Oggy aur Indiawaale while Hawaizaada was co shared by Bheem and Kiteretsu.
Movies which also intend to cater to kids are the ones that mostly come on board with the creation process taking up at least a month’s time prior to the airing of the show. Associations are selected on the basis of the plot of the movie and the suitable character for it, which for now seems to be Chhota Bheem all the way!
This apart, Green Gold Animation is also working on 26 new episodes not just of Chhota Bheem for the year, but also for its other two properties Mighty Raju (Pogo) and Arjun (Disney). Kids can also expect to see five more Chhota Bheem movies on the small screen following the recently released one on Holi Chhota Bheem: Mission Mangalyaan.
A bigger treat is the much awaited fourth feature film from the animation house, The Himalayan Adventure of Chhota Bheem which will release in the second half of the year.