The heavily cel-shaded film tells “the untold story of India’s greatest warrior”, Arjun. Based on the trailer, it has a feel similar to DreamWorks Animations’ The Prince of Egypt, telling the story of an ancient mythical hero. The animation uses cell shading to transform CGI into a more 2D feeling image, which, honestly, feels bit jaring and unnatural at times during the trailer.
For those that don’t speak Hindi, rough translation of the dialogue was provided by Cartoon Brew:
“Have the mothers of earth stopped giving birth to brave men?”
“Is there an archer (who can accomplish this)? Is there?!”
Drona: “Yudhishtira, what do you see?”
Yudhishtira: “Ten mango trees, three Bo-trees and one Audumbar tree.”
Drona: “Move aside! Arjun…?”
Arjun: “My eye sees only the eye of the bird, teacher.”
Drona: “Then release the arrow!”
“If you have to break the Pandavas, then first attack… Arjun!”
Draupadi: “Give me your word – that you will take vengeance for my humiliation from all the Kauravas!”
“Create the chakravyuha (circular formation)!”
Drona: “Get ready for battle!”
“Forget about victory and defeat – focus on action and you will fear nothing.”
Earlier this year, Disney purchased a controlling stake in the Indian production company. According to Variety, Disney and UTV will co-produce a number of films that will be released under the Disney name and UTV will handle all the production, marketing and distribution the films in India. Arjun: The Warrior Prince is the first of these films to be released under this agreement.
The Arjun trailer will be released before showings of The Avengers in India, with the Arjun opening on May 25th. Currently, there is no release US release date set for the animated Bollywood flick.
Check the trailer and poster below. Are you excited for Arjun?