My Friend Ganesha 2
Hawking with Ganesha
by Vishal Verma

Banner: Baba Arts Limited
Genre: Drama
Target Audience: Family
Shooting Studios: Filmcity
Director: Rajiv S. Ruia
Star Cast: Harsh Chhaya, Bhairavi Goswami, Upasna Singh, Sulabha Deshpande
Suhasini Mulay, Kurush Deboo, Shiva, Sanjay Swaraj, Manoj Joshi, Mika Singh & Raja Hasan (Special Appearance)
Cinematography: Jai Nandan Kumar
Story / Writer: S Sachindra
Sound: Ashfaque A Rentia
Editor: Avinash Walzade
Action: Mehmood Akbar Bakshi
Music Directors: Sameer Phaterpekar, Vinay Kapadia & Frequency Band
Singers: Mika Singh, Raja Hasan, Shravan Suresh & Khushboo Jain
Lyricist: Sudhakar Sharma & Kuku Prabhash
Choreography: Lolly Pop & Vicky Khan
Costume: Jimmy
Publicity Designs: Midia House
Media Promotion: Peter Martis.  

Technical Analysis
My Friend Ganesha II" is hitting the screen today and My friend Ganesha III ground work is in full swing!!.
Now that spells confidence for the following reason - The most loved elephant God amongst Hindus in his first appearance for Baba Arts last year ended its 13 week run in multiplex with occupancy of 61.04%, in the multiplexes of metros.

The story doesn’t ends here; the elephant deity was also an instant hit at the small tube. The film was telecast on television 53 times – almost every week – a record of sorts, and now its 2nd part hits the screen today.

So what ‘My Friend Ganesha 2’ has to offer? First of all, its not a sequel it’s a series like Batman, the story doesn’t move further from where it ended in ‘My Friend Ganesha’. Well this time in "My Friend Ganesha", the animated character Ganesha is cool, zingy and happening with a guitar in hand, donning bermuda shorts, a tattoo and a cap, speaks more English words and plays ice hockey.

God, they spared the almighty to be a disk jockey. Khair anyway, Rajiv S. Ruia’s previous experiment in ‘My Friend Ganesha’ had its share of defying moments which made the composite animation film a decent watch. And that’s why it gained popularity amongst the kids. Everybody went inside the theatre to watch the cute little Ganesha without minding other whether the other essentials of cinema where required in the film or not.

Comparisons with the first part will be obvious and Unfortunately, ‘Ganesha 2’ is below par as compared to the first in every department.                 

The Story
Lacks conviction and fails in intriguing the audience for the 2+ hrs. Vashu (Master Ali – so so) is the only child of brilliant parents - Airhostess Anita (Bhairavi Goswami – kdly sms acting guru Namit Kapoor’s number to this wannabe Kumari, she is okay but can be good.) and Dr. Amit (Harsh Chhaya – as usual),.
But Vashu is also an extremely unhappy child. Because he has this funny habit of covering his ears all the time, everybody in school teases him and calls him 'Gandhiji's monkey'. While others laugh at him, his friend Tanya is the only person who bothers to find out why he's doing this. Vashu helplessly confesses that the moment he removes his fingers, he starts hearing his parents fighting and the noise is unbearable. Besides Tanya, Vashu's only other friend and ally is his new maid, Gangu Tai (Upasana Singh – loud but beautiful). 

When Vashu decides to enter the dance competition in school, Gangu Tai promises to teach him, but the school bully Rocky and his friends disrupt Vashu's practice and break his music CD. Gangu Tai consoles a crying Vashu saying that if he prays to Lord Ganesha, he will definitely help him. And the obvious happens Vashu befriends Lord Ganesha and brings him home, not only does he win the dance competition but all his other serious problems also miraculously disappear. But he also learns a very important lesson - 'Not To Take Lord Ganesha For Granted', because as Mushak Raj warns him, Ganesha only helps those who help themselves!

Now there is a fear, overwhelmed by the part one success the makers had given the feeling to the almighty that he had been taken for granted.        

Promotion
Its not ‘Singh’ but the ‘zing’ and ‘vigor’ in promotional strategies that makes you rule at the B.O. In this case, the promos are interesting but begin targeted to appeal to the biggest consumer of the world – the child, some gimmicks and innovative strategies were required.

Media Promotion by the veteran Peter Martis had been apt.

Business Analysis
It’s impossible to understand why commit such hara-kiri and release the film one over another and loose its own share of the pie.

This one in particular is targeted at the family audience and the first part did well in multiple screens.
But part 2 faces a bumpy ride due to its competition from a comedy (one of the current flavors of the season), a horror (by a helmer who is known for his eerie thrills) and a stark and realistic eye-opener which the industry (those who have seen) going ga ga over.

Part one’s popularity amongst kids, Ganesh Chathurthi (the biggest festival in Maharashtra falling after 11 days of the film release), may bring in some audience in Maharashtra.

One more significant fact is that last  year, ‘My Friend Ganesha’ did not had much competition for a week and the truth is the second part will unfortunately have to face the tough competition this Friday and next week also there are at least 3 films line up for release.

Prospects at the B.O. look bleak.