Recently I got the opportunity to watch Return of Hanuman- courtesy the local cable wala- having watched “Hanuman” umpteen times I sat down to watch with much anticipation, but was I disappointed or felt better after watching the movie. Well read on…

After rousing success of the animated film Hanuman comes the sequel “Return of Hanuman”. Well let me make it very clear on the onset that Return of Hanuman is not meant for those who get offended easily or those who take religion too seriously as this movie is replete with inaccuracies.

The sequel largely tries to make Hanuman more contemporary to kids today. Return of Hanuman caters to kids whose idea of villainy is largely restricted to Hindi cinema types and whose idea of heroism and cool quotient is epitomized by Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar or James Bond.

When, watching this animated movie, don’t try to count historical or mythological inaccuracies or start making unfair comparisons with animation flicks produced in Hollywood- where animation films are made with budgets a hundred times more than what they made Return of Hanuman with. With all its shortcoming, but if seen from the point of view of the wavering mind of kids and you will realize that children don’t really care much about cinematic grammar or inconsistencies with mythology or the feel of the film or the fact that Matrix spoofs are so overdone and outdated.

The plot is simple Hanuman returns to fight Rahu-Ketu and pollution- the biggest problem facing the universe currently. The climax of the movie is a bit of a mess as director Anurag Kashyap decides to slap a save the environment message upon a superhero tale and it comes across like an afterthought. It was a beautiful idea… To come up with scientifically-backed, relevant consequences of a faith-based prophecy like Kalyug and re-define evil in the modern context: pollution, global warming and bio-terrorism. Though he establishes this right at the beginning of the story, somehow this point is never addressed again until the climax.

Return of Hanuman is flawed but it is certainly a step in the right direction for indigenously produced children’s entertainment. The animation is all-cutesy and the score lends a nice vibe to the feel-good comic. Also, there are plenty of ‘aww-inspiring’ moments for girls to gush about. Like, the look on the face of baby Hanuman, for instance, is sure to make you forget all that’s wrong with the film. In a jiffy. All in all Return of Hanuman is an enjoyable movie as long as you see it from a kids point of view and yes your kids will fall in love with the character.