Animation film Hanuman triggered off a trend. It made you realize that 'kiddie films' can stand on their feet if they tell a story that they [kids] haven't watched on the numerous kiddie channels.

Like ‘Hanuman’, ‘Maruti Mera Dosst’ is about Lord Hanuman too. This one has two kids essaying central roles, merges animation and live, has loads of computer graphics, but, for a very valid reason, it just doesn't magnetise the kid or the kid in you.

Let's probe. Movies targeted at kids ought to have that certain innocence, that purity, that simplicity that zooms straight into their heart. Surprisingly, like the animation ‘Roadside Romeo’ last year, ‘Maruti Mera Dosst’ also treats kids as grown ups.

The negative forces here [Sushmita Mukherjee, Murli Sharma, Shahbaaz Khan] are straight out of masala films that adults enjoy. Even the lighting of sequences as also their make up [Sushmita, Murli specifically] are straight out of scary movies. Plus, these are very strong characters [partly due to their strong performances] too.

Is this really a kiddie film? That's one question that crosses your mind at several points of the narrative. No wonder, the censors have also passed it not with a 'U' certificate [which should've been the case had it been a kiddie film], but a 'U/A' certificate.

Rameshwari, an eight-year-old, lives in a palatial house with her doting father [Chandrachur Singh], stepmom and the stepmom's mother [Sushmita Mukherjee]. Kokoi aka the stepmom's mother has come to the palace with the evil intention of inheriting the wealth.

... contd.