Disney Teams up with Bollywood Studio for Hindi Animation

Walt Disney Company, the studio that created the feature-length animated film as well as Mickey, Donald and Goofy, has teamed up with Yash Raj Films of India to produce original Hindi-language features with new characters. Local talent from animators to actors and actresses will produce the work. While aiming to be “culturally relevant for the whole world,” Disney is really after a billion person market that it has yet to enter in a meaningful way.

While it is true that Disney operates two TV channels in India, it is also true that local TV stations are eating Disney’s lunch (or is it tiffin?). A market of a billion people, and one with a rising and expanding middle class, is too big to leave. So, Disney is doing two smart things here. It is focusing on what if does best, animated family-oriented movies, and it is teaming up with a local expert. Yash Raj is one of the oldest Bollywood names.

According to the BBC, “The first project, with a working title of Roadside Romeo, will be an animation featuring the voices of Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. The film, which tells the tale of a spoilt dog abandoned on the streets of Mumbai (Bombay), is scheduled for release next year.” If nothing else, the premise is pure Disney.

One factor that may make this a success is the recent change brought to Indian movie-going habits because of the arrival of the Cineplex. Monica Chadha, a BBC correspondent based in India reported last December, “Earlier, single screen theatres would require at least 800 to 1000 people for a show to be a commercially successful and help the movie to break even. At a typical five-screen cineplex, in contrast, each theatre needs only about 200 people to make it a full house. Cineplex ticket prices are usually three times more than the single-screen cinema tickets, but audiences still prefer them for their comforts and good projection and sound. The result is that Bollywood is laughing all the way to the bank.”

Of course, there is the added advantage of the Hindi language. Although English is an official language of India, and a great many people there do speak English exceedingly well, Hindi offers Disney and Yash Raj access to wider audience. The fact is people just like to watch films and TV in their own language more than reading subtitles or dealing with dubbing. The question now becomes how readily can the soundtrack be re-recorded with Chris Rock, Angelina Jolie and Robin Williams for the anglophone DVD aftermarket.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home