'Jumbo' to compete with Aamir Khan's 'Ghajini'

New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS) Percept Picture Company's animation caper "Jumbo", might be a film under children's content category, but it aims to give tough competition to Aamir Khan's much-awaited film "Ghajini", releasing on the same date.

"We have purposely pitched 'Jumbo' against 'Ghajini' because we feel that our film has the ability to stand against a big commercial film," said Shailendra M. Singh, managing director of Percept Picture Company.

"This film is a pure Bollywood potboiler just like a Manmohan Desai movie. The film is entirely around relationships and emotions," he said.

"Jumbo" that is scheduled to release Dec 25 is an animation film where the protagonist, an elephant, sets out in search of his parents.

Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Dimple Kapadia, Rajpal Yadav, Gulshan Grover and Asrani are some of the voices behind the animated characters.

Singh explained that even though it was a task making Akshay dub for the title lead character, especially after a hit like "Singh Is Kinng", the actor was always the original choice for the voice over.

Although the recent time has seen a spurt in animation flicks like "Hanuman", "Bal Ganesha" and "Roadside Romeo" among others, Singh maintains that children's content is not considered a priority in India.

"Children's content is not a priority in our country. However, we want to change this scenario. In my view 'Jumbo' is not just an animation film, which deserves to be only in the children film category. I want it to be in the general film category, viewed by people of all ages," said Singh, who has plans to rope in cricketer Yuvraj Singh as the Punjabi voice of "Jumbo".

The film, which is dedicated by Akshay to his six-year-old son Aarav will have a special screening at his place before it formerly hits the screens.

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