B-Town gets animated!

Pop culture is as populated with flesh-and-blood stars as it is with their 2-D or 3-D animated counterparts. And very rarely do the twain meet. But when they do, they seem so alike. And this Children’s Day eve, that’s what we’re trying to bring out. Here, we present to you, some of our picks for the characters our stars are most like and why...

Malaika Arora Khan as Jessica Rabbit

WHY: Well, one could start about how she compares to her less striking husband. But let’s not go there. Like Jessica, Malaika passes off for a femme fatale in every sense of the word, she looks like a million bucks and has men under her sway, like 
Mrs Rabbit.

Ranbir Kapoor as Peter Pan

WHY: Movie after movie, RK plays a man-child of sorts, never truly growing up, never truly taking responsibility for his actions. We don’t think the actor really wants to grow up, if one goes by his many video interviews. He’s at his delightful best when he’s at his most child-like.

Hrithik Roshan as Johnny Bravo

WHY: Why not? Is almost always immaculately turned out and dare we say, loves the idea of himself and how perfect he is. He’s got the build, the bouffant and the boisterous bluster about him.

Siddharth Malhotra as Archie Andrews

WHY: Sid’s no redhead, but his Student Of The Year might well have been Karan Johar’s Riverdale. A seemingly simple chap, he’s a ladies’ man and is also quite charming. There’s also that vaguely dorky side to him, we’re sure we’ll see surfacing sometime soon.

Ranbir Kapoor as Peter Pan

WHY: Movie after movie, RK plays a man-child of sorts, never truly growing up, never truly taking responsibility for his actions. We don’t think the actor really wants to grow up, if one goes by his many video interviews. He’s at his delightful best when he’s at his most child-like.

Salman Khan as Chhota Bheem

WHY: You never see this shirtless kid alone. He’s almost always surrounded by a motley crew that are his partners in crime (or fighting it).  His entourage thinks he can do no wrong, his fans swear by him and everybody loves him. Well, mostly. Can’t tell the two apart, right?

Alia Bhatt as Veronica Lodge

WHY: What Veronica wants, Veronica gets, whether it’s Archie or Reggie or generally, her way. She plays it sometimes, like she’s clueless about most things in life, but we know better. Her style is almost always on point, her sass is cutting-edge and she has her priorities sorted out. Mostly. Alia is that kind of person.

Akshay Kumar as Dennis The Menace

WHY: Those close to the superstar know him to be a veritable prankster, much like the indefatigable Master Mitchell. He’s full of beans and like Dennis is a teetotaller (root beer is a fizzy beverage, guys!). He knows how to laugh at and with the best of them. Did we mention he plays cards, too?

Aamir Khan as Megamind

WHY: Like Megamind, one of Aamir’s characters is not from this world. In real life, the perfectionist is taken so seriously, it would appear that he was “born intelligent” like Megamind. And we couldn’t possibly imagine what could come next from that bulbous head of his. So yeah, there’s that!

Deepika Padukone as Jasmine

WHY: She might have played the damsel in distress more than once in her career, but she’s nearly always remembered for being the woman who knows what she wants and from the man she loves and how to get it. She has the gumption to make the right choices and stand by them. And look like a million bucks. Like a certain princess we know.

John Abraham as Moose Mason

WHY: That big, hulking guy from Riverdale who’s usually the quiet, sulking one? You know who we’re talking about. All we could think of as this character was the fitness-frenzied John Abraham, who’s measured, well-built and is loyal to his friends. Duh!

Ranveer Singh as Mowgli

WHY: Chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai! Ranveer is almost always outrageously dressed, almost always opinionated and almost always fun and charms the pants off practically anyone who has had the chance to meet and converse with him. And maybe, it’s all a facade, but he sure does it well!
Like a certain princess we know.

Karan Johar as The Pink Panther

WHY: Well, the Pink Panther is actually a diamond, but in pop culture, we know it as the rather suave, all-pink... panther seen during the start and end credits of the show/movie. Why Karan? Well, he’s suave, for sure, has a certain swagger to him and we feel, pink sits rather well with him and some consider him to be a rare diamond.

Varun Dhawan and Arjun Kapoor as Calvin and Hobbes

WHY: Best friends and philosophy aside, it’s hard to find two people so different yet so alike. One’s a go-getter, the other easy-going. One behaves like a six-year-old kid that doesn’t want to grow up, the other like the tiger that always plays along. They’re also so imaginative and hard-working and mischievious. All traits we love!

Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Katrina Kaif as the Powerpuff Girls

WHY: Well, our B-Town divas might not be superpowered, but they do have dominant qualities of being sugary sweet, spicy and nice. PC is quite naturally Bubbles, the (seemingly) sweet one, Bebo is Blossom, the natural leader with the icy tongue (no kidding) and the reason we think Kat is Buttercup, is for no other reason that she is the spicy, but rather angry one (and we know she has reason to be).

Parineeti Chopra as Tweety

WHY: Little known fact about Tweety. Was dumpy when first introduced. Underwent a makeover of sorts (and became cuter) after another animator came on board. That’s the Tweety we know now. Parineeti underwent her own makeover and while we’ll reserve judgment on her cuteness quotient, we have to say she’s looking sharper.

Abhishek Bachchan as Richie Rich

WHY: Poor little rich boy. Everybody loves him, nobody takes him seriously. The boy has his moments. He’s almost always immaculately turned out, is sporty enough and has a beautiful girl for a significant other. Applies to both, no?

Sooraj Pancholi as Nemo

WHY: Of course, you remember the clownfish with the overprotective father. And the troubled boy with the overprotective father. And someone who lost his way in Bollywood despite having it all, a superstar introducing and promoting him. Nemo and Sooraj have yet to find their space in the sun (or coral reef!).

Tiger Shroff as Simba

WHY: He took his time. Jackie Shroff’s cub was never exiled or anything like Simba was, but unlike other star sons, Tiger prepared and prepared. And when his first movie was a hit and he found fans — for his chiselled looks, dance moves, fight scenes et al — it was as if there was an innocence that never left him in the years after he found success.

Anushka Sharma as Lisa Simpson

WHY: Lisa Simpson is the often misunderstood, most talented and normal yet, most ignored member of The Simpsons clan. Well, that’s also because she makes them all seem outrageous by comparison. But she’s a team player. Much like apni over-achieving Anushka, who doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight, too.

Shah Rukh Khan as the Roadrunner

WHY: Peep, peep! Now you see him and now you don’t. Blink and you miss him. It takes more than Acme-built anvils and weapons of roadrunner destruction to take down this fast, fast bird. If you’re not on the ball, he’ll race you by. Khan, by all accounts, manages to fit 30 hours in a 24-hour day.

Amitabh Bachchan as Master Shifu

WHY: Remember Po’s gyaan-giving master from Kung Fu Panda? Well, Big B fits that bill, perfectly, if you go by his Twitter timeline. Practically, half the industry would be clamouring to take lessons in acting from him, though!

Kangana Ranaut as Sabrina Spellman

WHY: The teenage witch? Well, Kangana is a clincher, if you go by what Adhyayan Suman spoke of her. Our reasons for putting her as this character is more for her unique talent for getting into “scrapes of all kinds”. She is outspoken, confident and knows her mind (and thinks she does), just like Sabrina.

Harshvardhan Kapoor as Suppandi

WHY: In all his ‘wisdom’, Suppandi does what he thinks is right and has his heart and intentions in the right place. Like the younger Kapoor. But all of it comes to naught. We hope that changes.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Maleficent

WHY: The resemblance is obvious. And if you don’t believe us, just take a look at Jazbaa and Ash in her goth makeup and the green-toned cinematography. She’s beautiful to behold, but yet there’s always this dark, forbidding vibe about her. There was even a time they called her the ice queen. We’re kinder people.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Irrfan Khan as Tom and Jerry

WHY: They’re ‘friends’ one moment, and enemies the next. Both are talented actors and largely respected in the fraternity for it. But they do have their moments of picking on each other — subtle and otherwise.

Shikari Shambhu as Ajay Devgn

WHY: Our very own bumbling hunter is something of an anomaly in the Indian comic-scape. He is an unwitting hero, who gets it right most of the time, because of his instincts, however much it scares him to see them through. The man is mortified of his wife, too. See the parallels?

Sunny Leone as Betty Boop

WHY: Betty is considered one of the earliest and most famous sex symbols of the animation world. While Sunny can’t claim to be the first, I think we can all agree that she is the latter. Betty’s popularity came from adult audiences, much like Sunny and while attempts were made to “compromise on Betty’s virtue”, they never succeeded. Ring a bell?