Oh dear! Is that an animated Lalu?

Just when I thought that Indian animation had redeemed itself for the atrocious ‘Icy n Spicy’, I received a reminder that we have a long way to go, courtesy – the animated avatar of Lalu Prasad Yadav. A three-member team of enterprising animators from Patna have created a ‘cartoon clip’ based on the Indian Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, and even got his approval for it!

I don’t know what their real motivation behind this was but the theme is sure to get them a lot of eye balls. They have already been covered by the Indian press and have been interviewed by television channels in India. I managed to catch a glimpse of the animated clip during one such interview and was horrified by the crassness of the content. The voice-over is pretty accurate no doubt but watching a semi-dressed Lalu in a vest and lungi, carrying a ‘lota’ for obvious reasons and being chased by a cameraman is not my idea of entertainment. Worse still, Lalu’s character then enters a loo and the cameraman focuses the camera inside the loo through the keyhole. Is that supposed to be funny? What on earth are Indian audiences going to be subjected to next?!

In terms of design, the quality is poor – very, very primitive and the animation is limited. The only saving grace is the guy who voices Lalu’s character – he is spot on.

This is supposedly the first clip the team is about to release. They are looking for sponsors/financiers for subsequent episodes. The team members named in the news reports were Pawan – the cartoonist/animator and brain behind this project and Shashi – the voiceover artist who has mimicked Lalu’s voice quite well. You can read the IBNlive report here and watch the TV interview below. Would love to hear from my readers what they feel about this one.

If you are unable to view the above clip, see the original video on the ibnlive website

images courtesy IBNlive.in.com