After the success of Chotta Bheem, Rajiv Chilaka and his studio – Green Gold Animation – is ready with its third animation feature Mighty Raju: Rio calling set to release on 16 May, Friday.
“A lot of effort and detailing has been put into the characters of the film; the tagline of the film is ‘Soccer, Samba, Somosas’ and the story is based in the beautiful city of Rio-De-Janerio, Brazil taking Mighty Raju away from this home town ‘Agranagar’,” says Green Gold Animation founder and MD Rajiv Chilaka.
In the past, Indian animated flicks haven’t fared well at the box-office, but Chilaka is confident about his film and he believes that the feature is going to do well on the big screen as it has done on television.
Mighty Raju features on Cartoon Network’s sister channel – Pogo – every weekend in an hour long format, it has become a much loved character for children on television over time.
The team at Green Gold is putting its best foot forward in marketing the film. About 10-12 hoardings of various sizes have been placed across metros like – Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. Promotional activities have begun in full swing across malls in Mumbai. The mall activations also include engaging young fans to play a game of football with the mascot Mighty Raju.
Chilaka is also leveraging his association with Pogo to showcase the trailer, along with a music video of just over a minute to Mighty Raju fans. Apart from this, Mighty Raju is also expected to be seen on Sab TV’s popular comedy Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah on 13 May at 8:30 pm and also on Baal Veer the following day, 14 May at 8:00 pm.
The trailers of the film have also been released on the popular channels like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Pogo, Disney and Hungama.
Speaking to AnimationXpress.com Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’s producer Asit Kumar Modi says: “Samir, the producer of the film is a dear friend and he wanted to come on the show to promote the film. We were more than happy to let him use our platform to promote such a film as I do believe that animation films need a lot of support.”
The trailer of the feature is already playing across multiplexes and Chilaka further says: “For now we are only focusing on the Indian audiences, depending on the success rate of the film in India we will make future plans of releasing the film outside India as well”.
On the plans of showcasing the teaser on sports channels to gain mileage of the sport backdrop, Chilaka reveals: “For now there are no such plans and most of the sports channel are busy with the IPL matches.”
An exclusive line of merchandise such as roller skates, protective equipments, cap, cushion covers, foil balloons, footballs, finger football game, a wide array of T- Shirts, Mighty Raju action figure and Mighty Raju- Rio Calling costume have been created which are available at Green Gold Stores across the country, there are about 400 outlets across India.
A press conference is planned for Delhi on 15 May with the focus to spread awareness of the film. On competition from Godzilla, which too is releasing on 16 May, Chilaka shrugs: “Of course we have a tough task ahead, but I am sure that the younger audience is going to turn out in good numbers for the movie, as it tailor-made for kids above two years of age.”
Looks like Chilaka truly believes in the saying… “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” We wish him and his team the very best and hope with Mighty Raju: Rio Calling, Indian animation films get the much needed attention it rightly deserves.
