Hindi cinema’s most durable characters rarely say goodbye when the credits roll. Some get sequels, some get songs, and a few have earned a second life in animation – facing new villains, new audiences and, in some cases, a much younger version of themselves.
This look at Bollywood’s animated avatars is a reminder of how far a strong screen persona can travel. A cop created by Rohit Shetty, a superhero built by the Roshans and a swaggering Dabangg star have all crossed into cartoons and comics. Here is how they made the leap.
The heroes who became kids
Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish was already one of Indian cinema’s most recognisable homegrown superheroes. His universe expanded through Kid Krrish, developed by Rakesh Roshan’s Filmkraft in association with Cartoon Network. The animated feature-film series reimagined the hero as his younger self, opening up spectacular battles and action-packed adventures that could be told in animation. Crucially, it introduced the franchise to a generation that may not have seen the original films first.
Ajay Devgn’s Bajirao Singham followed a similar path. The fearless, honest cop created by director Rohit Shetty was reworked as Little Singham – a brave young police officer with the strength of a lion. On Discovery Kids, he protects his town from quirky villains and monstrous threats. The franchise grew into multiple animated television movies, making Singham a fixture in children’s entertainment in his own right.
The cop who refused to grow down
Salman Khan’s Chulbul Pandey took a different route. Dabangg The Animated Series, produced by Cosmos-Maya and Arbaaz Khan Productions, was an action-comedy for children and families – but it didn’t turn its hero into a child. Chulbul stayed his adult, quirky self: trademark sunglasses, cheeky confidence and exaggerated, gravity-defying action moves. The format simply gave the character a bigger playground for his over-the-top adventures.
Animation-ready, even without a series
Not every avatar came from a studio. A quick look at the characters fans and filmmakers saw in animated form:
- Krrish → Kid Krrish, an animated feature-film series from Filmkraft and Cartoon Network.
- Bajirao Singham → Little Singham, a Discovery Kids series and a run of animated television movies.
- Chulbul Pandey → Dabangg The Animated Series, made by Cosmos-Maya and Arbaaz Khan Productions.
- Ra.One → Arjun Rampal’s 2011 digital villain, whose futuristic, video-game-inspired design lends itself naturally to comics and animation.
- Kunal Kapoor → a fan-made comic illustration casting him as Indra Dev, the king of the gods, which caught attention online.
The pattern is clearest in the official spin-offs. The younger-avatar route gives a familiar character a fresh identity while keeping the original films alive in family viewing. The non-official examples – a fan-drawn Indra Dev, a CG villain that already looks built for a comic panel – show the appetite for more.
For fans, the takeaway is simple: these characters were never only their films. Krrish, Singham and Chulbul Pandey are now entry points for younger viewers discovering Hindi cinema’s heroes for the first time.
Source: Filmibeat