Review: Take your young ones on a tour of Toonpur

Film: Toonpur Ka Superrhero (U)
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kajol, Amey Pandya
Director: Kireet Khurana
Rating: **1/2

Here is a hero who doesn’t perform his own stunts, and feels a barb go through his chest when his son Kabeer (Pandya) calls him a fake hero. Somewhere filmstar Aditya (Devgn) also knows the stuntmen are more real than his on-screen histrionics. He feels that no fan following will ever match up to the respect he longs for from his own children.

Cut to Toonpur. The evil Jagaaro has wreaked havoc in the town by deceitfully taking over the throne of Tooneshwar.

The world is now divided into Devtoons and Toonasurs, the former being obviously fewer in number yet powerful. The Devtoons have to fight the Toonasurs, free their kidnapped Tooneshwar Maharaj, and win back a democratic form of government for Toonpur. That’s when they kidnap Aditya with their limited resources only to discover he’s incapable of helping them in any way.

The hero has this one chance to prove to his fans and his family his worth, so fight he will.

Kireet Khurana’s cartoons are adorable but reinforce cheap stereotypes of a loud Gujarati in Big Ben, a nutty Parsi scientist, a geeky Tamilian, a timid Marathi hawaldar, a Bollywood-crazy Punjabi boy, and a horny Christian. The idea was to probably throw in the message of national integration, just in case the superhero didn’t work.

The concept is fresh and reality segued with animation is a treat to watch. The film is not very amusing for the most part, and appears to have been deliberately dumbed down for a younger audience, but its short length becomes its strong point, packing enough punch to keep the kids interested till the end. Adults seeking intelligent animation can go out and take a walk, or wander into the Megamind screening (read my colleague Renuka Rao's review here). Fight sequences are done well, complete with the burning of a Toonasur effigy to mark the victory of good over evil.

Some corny dialogues like Mere paas dev gun hai make you cringe, but Devgn does a good job, never mind his tendency of going over the top in excitement. A lot of his lines are intended to be funny but fall flat. Kajol as the Vaastu-obsessed wife doesn’t have much to do but is a delightful treat every time she comes on screen. The child artistes are innocently unconvincing, especially the girl.

At best, Toonpur is a kiddie flick that not many adult minds will appreciate. Let your young ones have fun this Christmas holiday. Go ahead and fix a date with the Devtoons.