The film is set in the animal world and the core love story revolves around three canine characters accompanied by an assortment of other animals such as a cat (the only one in the story for whom the voice is lent by Simi Garewal). Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji lend their voices to the lead characters in the movie, which will be 90-95 minutes long and is likely to be ready in 2009.
The ensemble voices for this novel venture are being dubbed by Riteish Deshmukh, Anupam Kher and TV host/filmmaker Sajid Khan among others.
“The first half of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai already had a very Archie comics type of look. It was almost like a cartoon strip,” admits the filmmaker. Quite like animation movies such as Finding Nemo and The Lion King, there was a strong emotional core.
The story of this child who on her mother’s instructions set about finding her father’s closest buddy for him made him feel that it would provide an interesting emotional base for an animation film.
Tarun Mansukhani who was the chief assistant on Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and is also working on Dharma Productions’ Dostana with Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham is helming the film.
The animation offering is being co-produced with Prana Studio, a Mumbai- and Los Angeles-based company that has worked with Pixar, a first for Dharma Productions.