Ant-Reels

If Bollywood boasts of singing, prancing, even smouldering roadside Romeos, Tollywood probably prefers remaining closer to the earth. So, it8217;s spunky ants closer home, who would grace Tollywood8217;s first ever animated outing.

It8217;s morals-meet-spice in the first Bengali animated film

If Bollywood boasts of singing, prancing, even smouldering roadside Romeos, Tollywood probably prefers remaining closer to the earth. So, it8217;s spunky ants closer home, who would grace Tollywood8217;s first ever animated outing. Lal Kalo, based on Girindrashekhar Basu8217;s only novel, is a tale of two warring factions of ants 8212; red and black. R D Mallik, CEO of Elecom Animation Academy, which tied up with Mumbai-based Fiesta Entertainment for the film, came across Basu8217;s novel as a kid. 8220;I remembered it as a delightful novel with fantastic illustrations and even a song in the Bhojpuri script. So, when I started toying with the idea of an animation film, Lal Kalo was the first work which came to my mind,8221; says Mallik.

However, it8217;s not all pure parapsychology Basu was India8217;s first para-psychiatrist in animation that you get to see in Lal Kalo. The film, which also has a Hindi version called Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang, was scripted by actor Kharaj Mukherjee from the novel, with generous doses of humour, romance and melodrama typical of a potboiler. 8220;We did not want yet another preachy animation,8221; says N D Nagpal, partner in Fiesta Entertainment. Lal Kalo will therefore treat you to a host of songs composed by Jeet Ganguly sung by Shaan, Shreya Ghoshal, Kunal Ganjawala, and Pt Rashid Khan.

Despite the masala, Lal Kalo remains a sarcastic commentary on the futility of wars and prejudices. 8220;The two colours can be interpreted in several ways. From communal hatred to petty caste prejudices, the colours and their antagonism aim at deriding the difficulties faced by the society,8221; says Nagpal of the novel that was written at least a century ago.

With a voice cast boasting of names like Mahesh Manjrekar, Ashish Vidyarthi, Asrani, Anjan Srivastav in the Hindi version and Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Biswajeet Chakraborty, Kanchan Mallik in the Bengali, Lal Kalo has been made on a budget of Rs 6.5 crore. From Dolby surround sound to SFX and ambience effects, the film had a team of around 100 animators work on the story board.

A Bengali animation quite obviously means treading unfamiliar and difficult terrain. However, Mallik is not perturbed. 8220;Everybody loves quality entertainment. And that8217;s exactly what you have in Lal Kalo,8221; says Mallik, about his film which releases across India on October 10.