Bal Hanuman 2 to release with Shrek 4

Come May 14, and two animation films will open in the cinemas. Shrek 4, a Hollywood production, and our very own Bal Hanuman 2. Even though his movie is in 3D format, is producer-director Pankaj Sharma getting any last-minute jitters? Well, he is not even perturbed about the competition or comparison.

“In fact, I’m myself a huge fan of Shrek and looking forward to it,” he says, adding, “I’m also confident of BalHanuman 2, because we’ve worked hard to make the film on par with international standards”.

Point out the huge budget, which Hollywood spends on an animation film, and Sharma says, “Foreign films are distributed in over 80 countries. The main market for us is India. Those who go to the theatres to watch a film don’t think so much about the budget. But when they come to see BalHanuman2, they will definitely note that our content is of high quality.”

Action packed
According to him, the USP of his 3D movie are the extensive action sequences. “People here associate Lord Hanuman with immense power. When you make 3D content for such a character, you need enough action. It doesn’t work otherwise. More than 50 per cent of the film is action. Also, we are aware that 3D draws more audiences than 2D,” he explains.

Although the budget of the sequel shot up by 40 per cent as compared to the first film, Sharma isn’t worried. “I can guarantee that the audience will see the same kind of depth in BalHanuman2 that you find in international movies. And we managed to finish this film faster than usual, even though the work was almost doubled. We used two cameras, one on the left, the other on the right, to create the two lakh frames required for it,” he elaborates.

“Even though it’s the first Indian animation film in 3D, we weren’t racing to complete it fast. We saw to it that the minutest detail was taken care of and shot it accordingly. While Hollywood animation films have done remarkably well, BalHanuman2 has an advantage over them because Hanuman is popular and worshipped the most,” Sharma concludes.