When I was little, my after school staple was cartoons. Before my mother could yell at us to do our homework, we’d blissfully escape into the folds of Thundercats or Transformers. We’d beg for “just ten more minutes” of Duck Tales or The Smurfs. We were kids of the ’80s and ’90s, who were lucky enough to have families that could afford satellite television in Pakistan and VHS tapes of Western cartoon serials.
But looking back on my childhood, I wish we had more options that celebrated our own culture and heritage, that taught morals and values from a nuanced and indigenous perspective, that gave us our own heroes to look up to. (No offense to Lion O, though. He was pretty awesome. Thundercats HO.)
Meet Chota Jatt!
The new Chotta Jatt animated series promises to be all that and more. The cartoon draws inspiration from a line of Lollywood films from the 1970s (i.e., Waishy Jatt, Shera Jatt, and the most iconic one – Maula Jatt). According to Creator Daniyal Noorani (who wrote & produced the song “Find Heaven”), “The character “Chota Jatt” uses his strength to fight for justice and to battle against corruption, feudalism, and extremism. The series will be high octane, action packed and hilarious.” He added to me, “The hope is that this show can be used as a vector to instill solid values such as equality, perserverance, and standing up against injustice,” ultimately universal values expressed through a Pakistani lens.
The series just completed a trailer to generate buzz about Chota Jatt, and Noorani is now looking for distribution on a Pakistani channel, noting that they will soon be releasing a three-minute “webisode.” The Chota Jatt team includes Marria Khan and Ryan for Character Design, Abdullah Saeed for music, Zahid Gill for animation and Shahjehan Khan for narration.
When I asked Noorani what he hopes children take away from this animated series, he answered, “A character whom they can relate to and to whom they can turn to for moral guidance. You know how kids go, What would Superman do in such a situation? I hope that kids can someday say, What would Chota Jatt do in such a situation?“
hummmm…sounds good.
I like to see him fighting American commandos and killing Reymond Davis and saving Mullah Omer and Taliban leaders and kicking the butts of all enlightened moderates of Pakistan….
Um, I don’t think so.
why not?
yeah – that would be quite good to see
[...] Introducing Chota Jatt [...]
Ideally, I’d like to see Chota Jatt ‘kicking the butts’ of Dr. Jawad Khan and co.
hahahhaha…
honey….why don’t you try?
Love the concept and the background music. I can see how this appeals to our generation. However, I dont think the character is catchy enough or enigmatic enough for the kids. The Sultan Rahi style references are now cool on tshirts, not sure how the kids of today will relate to it. Still, have to say its a great effort and I hope it does really well in Pakistan.
i was already working on smthing similar…more of a southpark style 8bit animation maula jutt fighting aliens and all . great work everyone …two thumbs up for pulling this off .
I suppose the chota jatt have some super natural powers that is why he will always kick some bad asses…but..
he must be a Pakistani hero…right? but what if some bad guy offered him a “chaaey pani”? how he will be able to decline the “chaaey pani”?
now this is something interesting. i along with many of my generation mates spent childhood in watching cartoon character fighting against evil but all of them were either Americans or belong to any other part of the west. i have no harsh feelings for all of my childhood heroes but there has been a regret that none of them belonged to Pakistan.
i like this concept of chota jutt and i am waiting anxiously for it now.
Checkout the photo series: “The Evolution of the character design of Jatt” http://goo.gl/g0xnt
Very cool!