After creating a milestone in Punjabi cinema with the movie Chaar Sahibzaade, Harry Baweja is all set to release its sequel. Anushka Bansal talks to him about the film, animation in India and his plans to take the movie to an international level
Sikh gurus wanted everybody to be fearless, pure, with no hatred for others except those who doing wrong to others. They fought for everyone's rights, they cared for every human being irrespective of their religion. The year 2014 witnessed the power of true storytelling through the use of animation as a medium in Indian cinema landscape for the very first time.
With Hollywood has inquisitive subjects for animated films, Harry Baweja woke up with Chaar Sahibzaade. The film received worldwide praise and broke over two dozen records. More than one year ago, the movie worked like a tonic for Indian audience living worldwide. The producer of the film started to make the sequel soon after the tremendous success of the film. After the release of the animated film, Baweja decided to make the sequel, Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise of Banda Singh Bahadur. Those who do not know, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur was one of the greatest warriors in Sikh history. At age 15 he left home to become an ascetic, and was given the name Madho Das. He became a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh in September 1708 in Nanded, who gave him the new name of Banda Singh Bahadur. Armed with the blessing and authority of Guru Gobind Singh, he assembled a fighting force and led the struggle against the Mughal empire.The story of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur will be picturised on big screen.
Chaar Sahibzaadewhich means four sons in Punjabi is the a story of four brave brothers, sons of the 10th guru, Guru Gobind Singh, who were martyred, which led to the rise of Banda Singh Bahadur. Baweja claimed that it is going to be the best animated movie in the history of Punjabi cinema. The film depicts Bahadur as a messiah of the people, protecting them from the Mughal sultanate.
Pammi Baweja, producer of the film added that, “Parents nowadays should be acquainted with the granth themselves instead of propelling their children to do it.” Furthermore Baweja also revealed, “Rabindranath Tagore also wrote poetry in honour of Banda Singh Bahadur which is incognito to the maximum part of the world.”
Buoyed by the critical acclaim and success of the movie, the makers are taking the sequel to the next level with animation and 3D media services powerhouse Prime Focus whose recent work includes Hollywood blockbusters like Captain America: Civil War, Batman v/s Superman: Dawn of Justice, et al.
The first film of acquired Rs 70 crore with a budget of Rs 20 crore, proving that good storytelling regardless of a live action or animation format is appreciated by the audience. Baweja expects the quality of the movie and the response will be better than the previous one. The first part only used still images of Guru Gobind Singh for reference. And actor Om Puri gave his soothing, but heavy voice for Guruji's dialogues in the movie. And because of the religious background, every dubbing artist in the movie was anonymous and no voicing credit was given in the film. The movie will be released in Punjabi, Hindi and English. Now it's yet to be seen how Prime Focus deals with this delicate topic and doesn't go overboard on giving it a very photo realistic effect and more importantly manages to connect with the viewers and the religious sentiments of Sikhs globally.