Thaindian News

By Satyen K. Bordoloi
Film: “Bal Hanuman 2″; Director: Pankaj Sharma; Rating: 1/2

One could endlessly list the drawbacks of 3D animation film “Bal Hanuman 2″ - it lacks imagination and is an insult not only to Hindu god Hanuman but also the audiences watching it.

The first fault of the film is the lack of an imaginative story, exhausted by the earlier Hanuman films. In “Bal Hanuman 2″, Hanuman saves a flock of birds from vultures, he eats, beats a bunch of elephants, plays pranks on a sage, gets cursed, learns the scriptures from Sun god and finally beats the living breath out of demonic crocodiles. One-and-a-half hours of this is enough to give anyone migraine.

The second negative point is its animation. The more characters one has to animate, the harder it is. Hence, the film finds a simple solution - animate one character and multiply them. So you have groups of birds, vultures, elephants and crocodiles.

Imagine Hanuman living in a house surrounded by hills without any trees. The animation is so fast and flat at times, it hurts the eye.

The third fault is its inspiration. Two sources are easily decipherable - ‘Saas-Bahu’ soaps on TV and “Matrix”. Hanuman punches the same elephant and vultures from so many angles; you’re reminded of ‘Saas-Bahu’ soaps.

The high point of the animation is when Hanuman dodges a flame like Neo dodges bullets in “Matrix”. Sadly, the spoof of this scene in “Main Hoon Na” where Shah Rukh Khan dodges spit is a far superior technical achievement.

The fourth fault is the language. It aspires to maintain the pure Hindi language tradition set by serials like Ramayana and Mahabharata, but instead has words of Farsi/Arabic/Urdu origin like ‘himmat’, ’shikayat’, ‘zidd’ and ‘tabahi’.

And it hurts to hear a crocodile using Mumbai language like “Abbe Jaldi Bhag, Marwayega Kya”‘. Even the kid, who gives the voice-over for Hanuman, sometimes speaks Hindi in an anglicized accent.

The fifth drawback is the music, whose background score at various points is shamelessly lifted from “Matrix”. Then there are techno beats, Punjabi Bhangra, disco jingles, flute… the background score is just too loud.

Like the 40 verses of ‘Hanuman Chalisa’, one could go on with the film’s faults. It shows complete lack of any cinematic knowledge and is an insult, especially to a child’s intelligence.

Forgiveness of Lord Hanuman should be sought for making a film like “Bal Hanuman 2″.

A film like this could have been a glimpse into a nation’s culture, music and ethos, which is deeply connected to its religion and spirituality. Instead you have a film that will give James Cameron sleepless nights if he ever saw what 3D technology is being used for in this country… No wonder even the children in the theatre were crying watching the film, and you would too.