Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali

Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali is a 2013 Indian animated film written, produced and directed by Rajiv Chilaka, with production help from Samir Jain. Based on the Indian animated series Chhota Bheem and his friends, it is the sixteenth installment in the Chhota Bheem film series and the second such film to be released directly to movie theatres. The film was distributed by Yash Raj Films and released in four different languages — English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu — receiving mixed reviews. This movie was also released in the USA on 1 February 2014. The movie was premiered on Hungama TV on 27th July 2013 and has premiered on POGO TV on 30th January 2021.

Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali
File:Chhota Bheem and the throne of Bali 2013 poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rajiv Chilaka
Produced by	Rajiv Chilaka Samir Jain
Written by	Rajiv Chilaka
Screenplay by	Darshana Radhakrishnan Teja Pratap
Based on	Chhota Bheem by Rajiv Chilaka
Music by	Sunil Kaushik
Edited by	Karthik Chilkuri
Production company	Green Gold Animation
Distributed by	Yash Raj Films
Release date	3 May 2013 (2013-05-03)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	India
Language	English Hindi Tamil Telugu
Budget	₹5 crore (US$570,000)
Box office	₹116 crore (US$13 million)

Production

The animation series Chhota Bheem was launched in 2008. Due to its huge success, Green Gold Animation, an Indian animation content producer, in association with PVR Pictures, released their first full-length movie, Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan, which was a surprise success at the Indian box office. The second film was also directed by Rajiv Chilaka, with Yash Raj Films being the distributors of the film.

The film was produced in the Summer of 2010 while the prequels "Chhota Bheem And The Curse Of Damyaan" and "Chhota Bheem Master Of Shaolin" were running, animator Rajiv Chilaka read a newspaper article about Bali and was inspired to create another full-length movie with Green Gold. He began to work on the movie on 17th of August 2010. The movie was released on 5th June 2012.

Plot

The film opens with Dholakpur under attack, with some wild wolves taking away a baby of an innocent woman. Bheem comes to the rescue and defeats those wolves to save Dholakpur. Later, in the Dholakpur royal palace, Princess Indumati sees a horrible dream and requests her father, King Indravarma to tell her a story. Indravarma tells Indumati about a beauty of a land, Bali. In Bali, a Balian chants some mantras to release an evil and deadly demon, Rangda. Next day, King Indravarma gives a brief introduction of a boy of Bali who is none other than Arjun, the prince of Bali. Rangda is released from Kaal Dhund and creates her own army of magical demons called Leykas.

The next day, King Indravarma, Princess Indumati along with Bheem and his friends set out on a trip to Bali. Indravarma tells more about Bali on their way. But before they reach Bali, it is attacked by Rangda and her magical demons, Leyaks. However, Arjun manages to escape and is rescued by Guru Bahula, the royal priest of Bali. Bahula manages to escape with Arjun and hide in a cave. Arjun is found unconscious lying on a bed. He soon wakes up and addresses Bheem and friends as mere kids. Chutki and Raju feel that they should not help Arjun at all. Bheem explains his friends to keep patience and asks them not to leave Arjun in this dangerous situation. Meanwhile, Rangda sends Leyaks to kill any one in Bali who has survived their previous attacks.

The next day, Arjun does not look fully recovered and he is cheered up by Bheem who throws a laddoo high up in the air. Arjun successfully jumps and catches the laddoo and eats it, which indicates his recovery from his injuries. Bheem and his friends along with Arjun train under the supervision of Guru Bahula to face Leyaks.

They then see Leyaks attack Bali and all run to stop Leyaks by pulling their horns and tails. They fight bravely until Bheem sees a Leyak coming to attack Arjun and stop him. However, Arjun still didn’t like Bheem helping him out. Raju challenges Arjun and Bheem for a Leyka killing competition.

The competition ends with Arjun killing 99 Leyaks and Bheem killing 100 Leyaks, emerging as the winner. Dholu and Bholu meet up with two pretty Indonesian girls, Aci and Ayu and fall in love with them. Meanwhile, Guru Bahula wanted to find out what kind of devils these Leyaks are, so he chants a mantra and sees Guyang, Rangda's sycophant taking two sheep of Bali to Rangda to be killed. Rangda reveals that after three days, she is going to destroy Agung Mountain to destroy Barong, the supreme God of Bali. She forms electrifying rays which hit Bahula on the other side, making him unconscious. Rangda sends Rarung, a demon to kill Bheem and Arjun. Both Bheem and Arjun make up as a team and kill Rarung. Then, Rarung turns into a beautiful fairy named Sonmukhi who tells them every useful information about Rangda. The kids form a monkey army to fight with Rangda.

The next day, Bheem and Arjun along with their friends set out for Agung Mountain to complete their mission. They come across a beautiful lake in Bali and cheer up Arjun by singing a funny song. Arjun runs to a hill and sees that Rangda is increasing her powers through a ritual. Bheem speaks about something to Arjun and he hugs Bheem, an indication of their friendship. They set out in different directions, with Bheem heading towards Chief Dukun, leader of the Bali Agah Tribe while Arjun, Kalia, Dholu and Bholu encountering with Baruk, caretaker of a temple on Agung Mountain. Arjun explains to Baruk that Rangda is going to attack Agung Mountain the next day. Later in the night, Chief Dukun gives Bheem and his friends a few special weapons and soon they head towards the palace.

Meanwhile, Kalia, Dholu and Bholu are day dreaming. On the other hand, Baruk reaches the temple along with Arjun and tells him that they take care of this temple because it has the supreme weapon, Keris which was used by Bali's last prince to fight Rangda. Arjun rushes inside to find Keris. Bheem and his friends reach the palace to stop Rangda from completing her rituals and to save Arjun's parents. They manage to rescue Arjun's parents but when Bheem tries to stop Rangda, she sends a demon named Shadow Rangda to trick Bheem. Bheem tries to stop Shadow Rangda, thinking it is Rangda but fails and falls down under the demolished palace and is trapped.

Chutki feels that Bheem should have reached back by then but he did not, so she, Raju and Jaggu go and look for Bheem. Rangda finishes her rituals and attacks Agung Mountain becoming stronger and more powerful. Arjun is still searching for Keris when he sees fire inside the palace and thinks that his parents have been killed. King Indraverma, Baruk and Chief Dukun along with their armies head towards Agung Mountain to fight Rangda and her Leyaks. A long fight ensues while on the other hand, Chutki, Raju and Jaggu are looking Bheem in the demolished palace. They fail to find and Jaggu calls his monkey army and they manage to find Bheem, the kids and the monkeys think that he is dead. But he opens his eyes and as soon as he eats two laddoos, he is full of energy. They head towards Agung Mountain along with Arjun's parents.

They all fight with great bravery and determination and soon Jaggu once again calls the monkey army to kill the Leyaks. King Indraverma reaches there with his army and they finished all Leyaks. Bheem finds Keris but gives it to Arjun who in an attempt to finish Rangda fails. Bheem hears a voice saying that the throne of Bali must be saved, or Keris will belong to Rangda for once. To save the throne, Bheem jumps into boiling lava and is rescued by Barong. He explains to Bheem that he is the real prince and, not Arjun. Bheem succeeds to finish Rangda and bring happiness and prosperity in Bali once and for all. Arjun's coronation takes place in the palace and the ceremony ends with a traditional Balinese dance as the film comes to an end.

Characters

Regular characters

• Bheem— a ten-year-old boy, hero of the film.
• Chutki— a nine-year-old girl, friend of Bheem.
• Indumati— a nine-year-old girl, young princess of Dholakpur.
• Raju— a six-year-old boy, friend of Bheem.
• Indravarma— king of Dholakpur.
• Jaggu— a monkey and Bheem's friend.
• Kalia— a twelve-year-old boy and friend of Bheem, but he is jealous of him.
• Dholu Bholu— identical twin brothers, followers of Kalia.

Film specific characters

• Rangda – evil witch, captures Bali.
• Arjun— an eleven-year-old boy, young prince of Bali.
• Bahula— a scholar of Bali.
• Balian— ex-royal priest of Bali.
• Aci and Ayu— identical twin village girls of Bali
• Leyak – Minion of rangda.
• Barong- The supreme god of Bali.

Filming

(The) first time, we did not have much experience. Probably we did not market the film like we are doing it this time, on a larger scale. This time, the film is bigger than the first one. It has lot of songs and music, more monsters and Bheem will be facing bigger challenges.

Rajiv Chilaka

Release and reception

Professional reviews
Review Scores
Source	Rating
The Times of India
Sify
123Telugu.com

The film was distributed by Yash Raj Films and released on 400 screens on 3 May 2013.

Rajiv Chilaka has/had planned for 3 movies to be premiered on TV in 2021, being "Chhota Bheem Aur Malongh Ka Raaz", "Chhota Bheem Aur Chanda Mama." and "Chhota Bheem And The Coward Village." One has premiered in May, while the others will premiere in July and October.

The film got mixed reviews from critics and reviewers. The Times of India reviewer found the animation quality of the film far better than that of other contemporary Indian works, and also appreciated the simple storytelling in the film. Sify, in their review, found the film "critic-proof" and gave 3 out of 5 stars. 123telugu.com commented that the second half of the film was slower in comparison to the first, but that Arjun's character was well-portrayed. They also gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars.

Box office

The film was very successful at the box office, earning 25 crore in the first week, and 36 crore after the second week. As of 4 June 2013, the film has earned 116 crore worldwide.

Spin-Off

A spin-off series "Arjun - Prince of Bali" ran for 3 seasons from 1 June 2014 to 11 September 2016 on Disney Channel India.

See also

• Indian animation industry
• List of indian animated feature films

External links

• Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali on IMDb
• www.chhotabheem.com/bali/