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By Joginder Tuteja, January 7, 2008 - 16:14 IST
Bal Ganesha is simply one of the most disappointing box office failures of 2007. Reason? In spite of being India's best animation film ever (there is just no scope of an argument here!), the film didn't find many takers in its theatrical release. After watching the film on DVD, one can only state poor marketing, uninspiring promotion and zilch zeal in exploring the target market for the film as the main reasons due to which the film was unable to scale the kind of heights that it deserved.
DURATION
The film comes in single DVD with the film's duration being 107 minutes, though added features are there for around 20 minutes.
MOVIE DETAILS
Cast: Animated
Director: Pankaj Sharma
Music: Shamir Tandon and Sanjay Dhakan
THE FILM
Directed by debutant Pankaj Sharma, Bal Ganesha is special since unlike numerous 2D animation films that Indian audience has been exposed to ever since Hanuman made it's mark two years back, Bal Ganesha is shot as a 3D animated movie. What this means that unlike innumerous films with an average animation to boast (Krishna and most recently Return of Hanuman), Bal Ganesha is leagues ahead due to it's high definition visuals and special effects that match international standards.
Alas, the makers of Bal Ganesha didn't go around the town hard selling this fact and instead concentrated (that too only on a relative scale) on promoting the film's music more than anything else. If only a point was made about Bal Ganesha having animation (at numerous junctures) similar to that of Hollywood blockbusters like Shrek and Ice Age, there would have been a better buzz about the film.
Not that the film is without its share of flaws. If one leaves the film's excellent animation aside, the film's narrative isn't fool proof. Even though first half of the film is extremely racy and brings chuckles at number of junctures, the second half has a patchy flow with the post interval portions going on a different tangent (Birth of River Kaveri, story of Ganesha's younger brother Kartike) while loosing focus on film's trump card - Bal Ganesha! Even the film's climax is long drawn due to which the impact gets diluted.
Still, number of high-on-action ice skating scenes featuring Bal Ganesha along with some breathtaking wide angle views of the heavenly abode are worth the miserly price of Rs. 169/= required to be spent on the DVD.
PACKAGING
Packaging of Bal Ganesha is quite ordinary as it comes in a paper case. However, it is eye catchy due to its florescent green color base to it. For children, there are number of goodies which come along like a photo frame, calendar, wrist band, sticker, scale, bookmark, aarti, mantra, shlok and 108 names of Lord Ganesha. All of this is on paper though and a part of DVD's paper packaging. If extracted from the package, it makes the DVD case a little messy though.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Special features aren't really the reasons to go for the DVD of Bal Ganesha. Though there are standard inputs like 'Making of the movie and music' none are exciting enough to make you look forward to sitting through the entire duration. Even though the director and producer of the film talk in length about their experience of making the film and the challenges they faced during it's filming, the conversations aren't engaging enough.
Also, one would have expected finer details of what went into the making of such high quality animation. Unfortunately, that doesn't quite happen since except for a visit or two into the lab where work on animation is shown in progress, there isn't much insight provided into the actual making of the movie.
Shamir Tandon and Sanjay Dhakan, the composers of Bal Ganesha, have also shared their experiences about making the music of the film, especially when they had to work in some tight timelines. Most of the singers who contributed to Bal Ganesha were children across varied age groups and there is a section in DVD devoted to the making of the music. In fact, the DVD also features the music video of the track ‘Hathi Ka Bal’.
What turns out to be truly boring though is the music launch party of Bal Ganesha. Seemingly, an unedited version where the camera has simply followed the kids performing on stage to the songs of the film followed by the celebrations, these 'Happy Moments' aren't the kind that would make a viewer revisit the segments.
In nutshell, special features are best skipped and instead one could opt for watching the film all over again.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
- Anamorphic Widescreen format presented in 2:35:1 aspect ratio (enhanced for 16:9 widescreen TVs)
- Digitally mastered from the original film
- Subtitles In English
- 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound, Stereo
CONCLUSION
Go for this DVD; it is a good enough buy at least for one watch. In view of several sub standard animation films being churned out in last few months, Bal Ganesha truly makes for an engaging viewing. This one won't just work with kids; it would also make the elderly look at many frames with keen interest!
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