Mahavatar Narsimha Success: Fluke or Wakeup Call to Indian Cinema?

Hombale Films has scored a blockbuster without having any big names in the movie. The animated film Mahavatar Narsimha has become the buzz of the town, garnering positive reviews from its first day. The success was unexpected, and even though Hombale was confident of the movie being lapped up by audiences, the overwhelming reception to Mahavatar Narsimha might have surprised them as well.

Indian mythology and folklore are vast, and multiple stories can emerge out of the same. This was Hombale's intention when it announced a series of animated films based on Lord Vishnu's Dashavatarams. Mahavatar Narsimha managed to mint more than Rs.30 crore in the first five days of its release, and the accomplishment should give confidence to Hombale to churn out more movies along these lines.

The success of Mahavatar Narsimha should also be a wake-up call to other industries that always maintain that animated films have lost their charm and will no longer work on the big screen. For decades, Hollywood has been depending on such movies. Lilo & Stitch is one of the biggest hits from Hollywood this year, and it's an animated film.

Disney and Pixar have made billions of dollars after honing the craft of making animated movies, and it's only Indian cinema that has a lot of catching up to do. There is no dearth of stories from Indian folklore. Hombale's initiative will inspire other production houses to tell stories across genres.

Two films that were released recently turned out to be eye-openers for Indian cinema—one is Saiyaara, a love story filled with soulful music, and the other is Mahavatar Narsimha. Both the movies have proved that audiences are always willing to watch movies in theaters provided that the makers understand what they want and give them the same.