Chhota Bheem


Chhota Bheem created by Rajiv Chilaka, is an Indian animated television series. Premiered in 2008 on Pogo TV,.

Plot

The series is set in the fictional Kingdom of Dholakpur, somewhere in rural India. The series revolves around Bheem, sometimes referred to as Chhota Bheem due to his young age, a nine-year-old boy who is brave, strong and intelligent. Bheem's rival is Kalia, who is envious of Bheem's popularity. Kalia, along with his sidekicks, twin brothers Dholu and Bholu, always plot to embarrass and defeat Bheem, but never succeed.
Most of the initial stories revolved around Bheem and his friends Chutki, Raju and Jaggu's rivalry with Kalia and his friends Dholu and bholu.However, as the series has progressed, this topic has been adopted as the subject less often, although Kalia is still just as eager to prove himself superior to Bheem. A large number of episodes along with all the films also focus on Bheem and his team solving various problems affecting the village, unravelling mysteries, fighting evils that seek to harm Dholakpur or its inhabitants, and on their antics which often get them into trouble.
During Bheem's early days, the broadcaster Pogo had stressed that storyline be kept simple and mysteries and complex plot avoided at all cost, as the viewers were too young to understand, but nowadays there is no such restriction. The timeline and Dholakpur too have been allowed to become fluid and stretchable and this has caused the characters to become more person-like and less childish. Supernatural events have often been used in episodes, like Dholakpur being attacked by the demon Kirmada, the evil witch, or giants, Bheem and his friends being affected by dark magic and curses, and so on. Bheem and his team participating in various competitions in Dholakpur or in adjoining kingdoms is also a common theme, as is the celebration of Indian festivities.

Characters

The Seven Important Characters of this show are Bheem, Chutki, Raju, Jaggu, Kalia, Dholu and Bholu.

Chhota Bheem

Bheem is an adventurous and fun-loving 9-year-old boy who is gifted with extraordinary superhuman strength. This power is a boon for his village Dholakpur, which is constantly beset by all kinds of pens. Almost all the children of Dolakpur, a majority of the people, as well as Raja Indravarma himself, look up to Bheem for solutions to their problems, ranging from mysterious disappearances of some villagers and attacks by wild animals, to drought situations in the village. Bheem has a big heart and he always uses his strength to help those who are poor, wronged or needy, and may be considered a little guardian of the villagers and the animals in and around Dholakpur. Bheem is often seen defeating enemies who attack Dholakpur or harm the villagers, like the evil demon Kirmada, the robber Mangal Singh, and the evil witch. Through his valiant acts, Bheem has earned the trust of Dholakpur, and Raja Indravarma. Indravarma regards Bheem so highly that he often discusses major issues regarding the kingdom's welfare with him and his friends, and they are also sent to neighbouring kingdoms as Indravarma's emissaries. Bheem is often selected as Dholakpur's representative in many competitions, especially those regarding physical strength like wrestling, cycling, etc. Bheem loves food and has an insatiable appetite for laddus, which in fact, give him a surge of energy and make him even stronger than he normally is. These laddus are often stolen by Bheem from Tuntun's laddu shop, and are also offered by Tuntun's daughter Chutki, much to her mother's anger. This habit of stealing laddus is his only prominent fault. Bheem once even won a competition organised by Tuntun on who could eat the most laddus. He is also good at most sports, and is fairly intelligent. He is depicted as a fit boy, almost always wearing nothing but an orange dhoti.

Chutki

is a seven-year-old girl and the daughter of Tuntun Mausi, the laddu-maker. Also, she leads the female role in the series. She is Bheem's closest friend, and assists him on their adventures. Sometimes, Bheem relies upon her for solving any puzzled or difficult situations. She had first met Bheem, Raju and Jaggu when Bheem had saved her from a raging bull. While she is responsible about her household chores and gentle towards all people and other creatures, she can be tough too, when the situation demands it. She often steals laddus for her friends from her mother's shop. Among the group, Chutki is the most intelligent. She is very skilled in chess and has won laurels for Dholakpur in the game. In many episodes, and in the telefilm 'Chhota Bheem - Masters of Shaolin', she has been depicted to be good at martial arts. She also has many ideas or tricks to help Bheem in many of his adventures, as seen in the episodes "Pirates on the ship", and "Hercules". Surprisingly, she has been shown to be greedy for gold in the episode "The Curse of Bramhbhatt-Part 2". Chutki's hair is always tied into two plaits, she is fair-skinned with big eyes and has a slender build, and she generally wears a pink two-piece dress. She is usually very calm and composed but sometimes she becomes angry especially when Bheem interacts with any other girl. She defeated many people like Bulbul in "Girls vs Girls", etc. She takes care of Bheem and likes to give him laddus stolen from her mother.

Raju

Raju is a cute, courageous and fun loving four-year-old kid, whose role model is Bheem. Raju's size belies his courage, which he gets from his father, the Senapati of the King's army. Raju also wants to be the Senapati of the Army.. Mostly seen wearing a blue underwear, he is very good in archery and has won the "Arjuna Cup". He often loses his temper when he sees something wrong happening. He appears as the superhero protagonist in the spin-off movie "Mighty Raju".

Jaggu

Jaggu is a talking monkey or bandar. Jaggu has his own special way of solving problems, using tricks and his amazing sense of humour. Jaggu and Bheem always have fun together, be it exploring forests or eating icecreams. From him, Bheem learns useful techniques like swinging from trees. Whenever they are really hungry, it's Jaggu who assists him in stealing laddus. He also loves playing tricks on Kalia and Dholu Bholu. He wants to be the protector of all animals in the jungle.

Kalia

Kalia is a 12-year-old voluptuous and muscular bully. He is quite greedy. He has two silly followers, who sometimes help him in his plans and at other times completely abandon him. He often blows his own trumpet by claiming he is the only strongest and courageous person, whenever any problem arises he runs away. In order to make Bheem lose, he often eavesdrops on him to find out what Bheem is planning. However, at times he is seen helping Bheem in common causes or in attempts to save Dholakpur. Kalia had won in Cycle Race because of his hardwork and truthfullness. He also won in High Jump Competetition and won a trophy. He also has an uncle in Mumbai.

Dholu and Bholu

Dholu and Bholu are identical twins and followers of Kalia Pahelwan. Though they are not strong themselves, they bask in Kalia's strength. But they were the kindest brothers and they also won a trophy for their best brotherhood. But sometimes, they may fight playfully and scolded by Kalia and Kalia himself try to join them.

Rajkumari Indumati

Rajkumari Induamti is the princess of Dholakpur and Daughter of Raja Indraverma. She is also a friend of Bheem. She likes bheem.

Kichak

Kichak is a 16-year-old wrestler from Pehelwanpur. He is later introduced in the series. Like Kalia, Kichak is jealous of Bheem, since Bheem is more popular than he is. But, he is defeated in all the occasions when he challenged Bheem for a bull race, cricket match, in a contest for champions, in a hockey match, in a football match and in many other situations. He has a couple of friends and sidekicks like Chipru, Manna, Motu and Birju, etc., who aid him but also get the punishment with him. He then was noticed helping and advising a participant in the episode "Girls versus Girls", but later escaped. Surprisingly, he was seen helping Bheem in the movie "Bheem vs Aliens".

Chhota Manu

He is also a character from Pehelwanpur. A strong, 5-year-old child who is first shown in the episode "The boxing match". He is physically strong and clever. His archrival is Raju, whom he never managed to defeat. He is also an aid as well as a friend of Kichak.

Raja Indravarma

The King of Dholakpur is King Indravarma. He is the father of Indumati. Though himself a valiant warrior, he mostly relies on Bheem for any crisis in the kingdom. He is also shown to be thoughtful on every occasion. He is a hockey player and also played an important role in a hockey match by making Bheem win. His enemy was King Chandravarma. He is 35 years old, according to the movie "". He once was given a special diamond called Kohenoor from his ancestors. But he promised to give the diamond to three of Dholakpur's most notorious criminals, Shatadhanwa, Kritavarma, and Akrur. But he broke his promise. This made the three criminals very angry. Akrur and Kritavarma had sent Shatadhanwa to kill King Indravarma. While King Indravarma was sleeping, the wicked Shatadhanwa killed him and took away the Kohinoor diamond. But thanks to the Sanjeevani plant that belonged to a learned Brahman named Gargya, the king came back to life. After getting the Kohinoor diamond, the three crimanals became upset that the king was still alive. The guilty Shatadhanwa gave the diamond to Akrur and fled Dholakpur. But Bheem and his team caught Shatadhanwa while he was fleeing. They took him to the king. King indravarma had Shatadhanwa arrested for his crime. When Akrur and Kritavarma heard that Shatadhanwa was arrested, they both went into hiding. Kritavarma stayed in Dholakpur but he was living in the guise of a barber and became the king's royal barber. Akrur was living in the guise of a minister and became the king's prime minister.

Daku Mangal Singh

Mangal Singh is a daku who used to terrorize Dholakpur when he was free. But he was caught by Bheem when he went to take some plants to cure Indumati and nabbed him. Soon, he escaped with the help of his followers and kidnapped the princess, but again he was caught by Bheem. In the episode "Old Enemies", he returned and robbed the Treasury but was later caught by Bheem. He, then became a small thief in the episode of "Greed".

Dhooni Baba

Dhooni Baba is a sage who lives in a cave. In the former episodes, he was called as "Baba Bol Bachchan" and has a body smeared with ash and seen meditating on some needles. Later, his body has no ash smeared and he walks with a walking stick. He is described as a sage who knows almost everything. He gives advice and also solution to Bheem and his friends. In the episode "Superheroes", he had granted Bheem and Raju to be superheroes for a day. He has helped Bheem in various occasions like in the episodes "Curse of Bramhabhatt", "Chhota Bheem Aur Krishna", "Daku Mangal Singh" and "King Chandravarma".

Tuntun Mausi

Tuntun is the mother of Chutki. She owns a laddu shop where she sells laddoos. Her laddu is considered as the most tastier one in the series. She stays mostly angry with Bheem as he steals laddoos from her shop. She usually gets angry with Kalia also and hits him with her belan.

Professor Shastri Dhoomketoo

An inventor who Lives In Gyanpur. He often ends up getting problems with his inventions, like getting his inventions stolen, or malfunctioning. His inventions include a time machine, a hot air balloon, a super fast bicycle, etc. Many of his inventions were misused by Raju. There used to be Professor Avi, whose place is taken by Professor Dhoomketoo.

Behen Shivani

Bheem's foster sister is Shivani. She lives in Pehelwanpur and runs a dhaba there named "Shivani ka Dhaba". Her father is imprisoned, and to free him she needs 500 gold coins. But the Pehalwan Dabbu tries to take over the Dhaba. Bheem comes to her rescue and even frees her father from jail. In the episodes of "20-20 Cricket" and movie -, she has been seen supporting Bheem's team. Also Shivani and Chutki are shown to be good friends.

Avi Chacha

He is also an Inventor. He is often seen in some episodes. Later he got replaced by Prof. Dhoom Ketoo.

Buri Jadugarni

She is an evil witch who is an enemy of Bheem. She meets Bheem in the episode The Chocolate World.

Achhi Jadugarni

She is a good witch who helps Bheem in defeating Buri Jadugarni.

Arjun, The Prince of Bali

Arjun is an 11-year-old boy like Bheem. He is the young prince of Bali. He has a younger sister named Tania, his best friend is Zimboo, a baby tiger, and Pucho, a 4-year-old brave character of the show "". He is very brave and valiant and always is there to help his friends, no matter what the situation. He is also extremely intelligent and uses this intelligence to help others. In "Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali", Bheem and Arjun are rivals, but they soon get to know each other better, and they become good friends. An expert in the bow and sword, Arjun is extremely hard to beat, and in a competition for killing Leyaks, Bheem wins to him. Nevertheless, Arjun and Bheem work together to defeat Rangda.

Voice cast

Hindi version

Development

wanted to create his own intellectual property instead of working for other companies. He established his animation studio Green Gold Animation in 2001. He had to struggle as no TV channel was ready to pick up the Indian animation content and most Indian contents aired were mythological in nature. His company produced Vikram Betal and Krishna animation shows which convinced Pogo TV to give chance. After the five years of conception, Chhota Bheem made his first appearance in 2008 on Pogo TV. It succeeded and continued to run. He is financed by Samir Jain, who belongs to the famous Jain-cum-Agarwal business family from Meerut., who did the writing for the first four years of Bheem before leaving the series, Arun Shendurnikar, Nidhi Anand are prominent among those who have written the stories for the show.

Influences

Rajiv Chilaka had conceived an adventurous young boy with the strength and attributes of Bhima from Mahabharata, living in an unspecified period in medieval India. He was also influenced by his childhood spent with Disney's animated shows, Tintin, Amar Chitra Katha and other superhero comics.

Broadcast

It is aired on Pogo TV in India. As of August 2011, more than 200 episodes, 29 movies have been released and aired.
In April 2020 DD National acquired the syndication rights of the series from 17 April 2020 to 3 May 2020 when the production of the ongoing series had to be stopped by the channel due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Reception

The show became highly successful among younger children due to its relatable characters and vernacular nature. It is considered as the India's largest children's entertainment brand. The show has viewership of 40 million viewers in India and beyond. The brand is valued around 300 crore in 2013. The show received backlash from older audience due to its poor storyline and stereotype portrayal of characters.

Films

Feature films

Mighty Raju

Mighty Raju is first spin-off series of Chhota Bheem focusing on the character Raju in modern world, who has superpowers and is known as "Mighty Raju" and lives in the modern city, Aryanagar.

Arjun - Prince of Bali

Arjun - Prince of Bali is the second spin-off series of Chhota Bheem based on the Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali character Arjun. Arjun is the young prince of Bali. It features his adventures with his friends and pet Zimbu, a baby tiger. Each episode consists of two stories and is targeted for kids up to 13 years of age. The series will show adventures of Arjun during his childhood. It exists in the same timeline as that of Chhota Bheem. The series aired from 1 June 2014 to 11 September 2016 on Disney Channel India.

Super Bheem

Super Bheem, a third spin-off series of Chhota Bheem was launched in 2017. It is an updated version of Bheem with superpowers. Super Bheem is based on Chhota Bheem: Sky Dragon. The Super Bheem show is 3D animation whereas the Chhota Bheem is traditional 2D animation.

Mighty Little Bheem

Mighty Little Bheem, a fourth spin-off launched in 2019 on Netflix.

Other

Green Gold Animation launched merchandise and comics in 2009, and toys in 2010. They had brand association with many products such as a drink, soups, fans, stationary, bags, biscuits. They also produced mobile games including educational ones. The merchandise portfolio expanded to more than 300 products and they established merchandise store franchise Green Gold Store, which has stores in several cities of India.