In Kunal Kohli’s Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, four orphan children, in a landmark judgement, are sent away to live with the billionaire who orphaned them in the first place, by accidentally running his car over their parents. The rich, snooty Ranbeer Talwar has everything going for him – success, power, and truckloads of money, but co-living with four kids, who evidently hate him (and for the right reasons) is no walk in the park.Enter an angel (an actual angel, who is riding her bicycle through the rainbow) called Geeta, who infuses some pyaar and bahut saara magic into their lives, and unites them into one happy family. Sounds ideal, doesn’t it? A heartwarming tale, Kunal got this one almost perfect – brilliant child actors, magic tricks, the pairing of Rani Mukerji and Saif Ali Khan, and a soothing music score (remember kabhi socha hai kya?), yet the movie failed to grab its key audience. Kids. Why? Amongst other factors, a sultry item number with a bikini clad Ameesha Patel, crooning Lazy Lambe to seduce Saif in a swimming pool, forcing parents to keep their kids away from theatres or skip the song, when the movie appeared online.
Shekhar Kapur’s 11th fail house boy creates script for ‘Mr India’s sequel in an hour using AI; filmmaker says ‘I’m taken aback’
Early beginnings
Historically speaking, Indian cinema has seen a dramatic shift in the landscape of children movies. In the early 40s, 50 and 60s, Mehmood made films which had a child as a protagonist, also starring in classics like Padosan and many more. In the 80s, we came up with a cult classic like Mr. India, starring Anil Kapoor in the lead role, along with Sridevi and a bunch of kids! As the story of a man, who inherits a watch that makes him invisible, the movie was fun, magical, and all things joyful!
Shekhar Kapur, who directed the classic, says we have stopped making movies like that. He says, “We make child-like films for children. That’s the problem. Typically, whenever we make films for children, we start making them child-like.” Talking about the movie, he further said, “If you want to make a theatrical film, you have to give it the scale that a theatrical film wants. One of the big things about Mr. India was that it had a huge scale. It has to have scale, okay? And Mr. India has proven that if you give a children film scale and substance, it can be evergreen, like Mr. India is.” He also added that he constantly “had a 12-year-old kid” sitting next to him, while he worked on the movie. Shekhar also recalls the classic Chhota Chetan (1998), which brought him immense joy, while he donned those 3D glasses.
A wave of well made movies
Soon after Mr. India, another movie that became immensely popular was Jeetendra’s Haatim Tai, which came out in 1990. Incidentally, with no lead kids as actors, the movie, with its Arabic folk tale style narrative is considered to be one of the most well-known children movies made. The 2000s are considered to be a golden age for kids’ movies. Taare Zameen Par (2007), Chillar Party (2011), Bhootnath (2008), Stanley Ka Dabba (2011), all struck a chord with the audience. Even the well made Raju Chacha (2000) and Tara Rum Pum (2007), even though commercially not successful, had their hearts in the right place. While some of them were pure ‘fun’, others like Taare Zameen Par were also a sensitive take on issues grappling kids, and how the right mentor can go a long way in shaping a kids’ life.
Amole Gupte, who co-directed Taare Zameen Par and directed Stanley Ka Dabba, blames commercialisation when it comes to the dearth of children movies. He says, “It is a matter to rue! In a monetisation driven world and its glamour component-Bollywood what would you expect? Where the parent/guardian feels ‘What’s right for me is right for my child’ takes the family to a U/A certified film with item songs, therefore prioritising his entertainment over the child’s innocent world… does children cinema stand a chance?”
Rustic flavor lost amidst commercialisation?
Another cult classic that comes with a lesson on superstition is the folklore style Makdee, which came out in 2002. The Vishal Bhardwaj directed movie, starring Shabana Azmi and Shweta Prasad Basu takes a dig at rural superstitions, the advantage of which is taken by a conniving woman, who poses as a ‘witch’ who takes kids hostage. That is, till one kid decides to stand up to her, when her twin sister is ‘kidnapped’. Shweta Prasad Basu, who starred in the movie when all of 10, feels that we don’t write for ‘kids’ anymore, and all our writing is reserved for adults, and young adults. She says, “I agree there is a dearth for children film in India. All the writing and making is primarily for adults and young adults. Makdee is remembered for its story, setting and characters. It has a folklore narrative style which is timeless.”
Why are we trailing the West?
After a string of forgettable movies, we finally came out with a good children movie centred on an alien, the hugely successful Koi… Mil Gaya (2003), starring Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta and the adorable Jaadu in lead roles. However, it took us nearly 21 years to get the concept right, as the West had come up with an ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’, way back in 1982, still considered a classic when it comes to children movies. Talking about the lag, Shekhar Kapur chimes in, “In India, we make cartoons. Whereas, when you compare us to the West, the biggest hit of the year is a film called Inside Out 2. Inside Out 2 has made more than a billion dollars worldwide. It’s a kid’s film. It’s an anime. It’s not a cartoon, it’s an animation. And you look at the themes in it, it talks about anxiety, it talks about fear, it talks about life, it talks about death.”
Shekhar’s sentiment is echoed by box office figures as well. Movies like Toy Story (1995) or Frozen (2013) in the West, have generated not only massive revenues, but also brought in a wave of cultural disruptions, impacting generations. For example, Frozen alone grossed over $1.28 billion worldwide, highlighting a growing demand for children films, that were equally enjoyed by adults. In contrast, Indian children movies rarely make it past the ₹50 crore mark at the box office, often overshadowed by more commercial, adult driven content.
What constitutes a good children movie?
According to Shekhar Kapur, when it comes to kids’ movies, we have got all our fundamentals wrong in the first place. He says, “We still treat our children like they are 5-year-olds. That’s the problem. That’s what children films are about. We make cartoons! Their (the kids’) YouTube is full of cartoons. Why would they even go to see a movie? You have to make a movie that has some substance that they want to go to the theater to see.”
Low market?
Another school of thought says that there is hardly a market for children films. Shekhar does not agree. He says, “If you want to attract people to theatres, you need to make a theatrical film. See, if you have a demand for a movie like Mr. India 2, anybody will invest in it. We just need the people who own the rights, and are willing to make it. I literally have had people coming to me and saying, ‘we’ll give you Rs. 150 crores, please make Mr. India 2’. The point is somebody must write a good script for kids.” Another key point to add here is that when it comes to kids movies, budget cannot be a constraint, and that a kid movie scale can’t be any lesser, compared to more ‘masala’ entertainers. Shekhar adds, ” I know quite a few friends who have made films for CFSI. (Children’s Film Society, India) But their budget is so slim. If you give them a shoestring budget to make a film, what will they make?”
Growing up with the times
Another area that requires attention when it comes to kids movies, is that both filmmakers and parents need to grow along with the times. What worked in the kids’ space 20 years back, will no longer work. As Shekhar says, “We need to explain to the adults that your kids have grown up. They’re much more wiser than you are, and they should be served age-specific content.”
