''Lava Kusa: The Warrior Twins'' is a 2010

animation film Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

written and directed by Dhavala Satyam as a joint venture of Kanipakam Creations with RVML Animation.

Plot

Lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

and

Kusa Kusa or KUSA may refer to: * Kusa, Russia, a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia * Kusa, Latvia, a village in Madona District, Latvia * Kusa, Oklahoma, United States * Kusa, indigenous name of Beles River (in Gumuz language) * Kusa, Afghanistan * ...

were born to mother

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

at Sage

Valmiki Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ) is celebrated as the wikt:harbinger, harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic ''Ramayana'', dated variously from the 5th century BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on ...

's hermitage; they grew up learning the essence of Ramayana and master the art of war by using divine weapons from the guidance of Sage Valmiki. The story goes on with their thrilling childhood experiences blended with action, comedy and enchanting magical powers. The role of gigantic falcon, squirrels, monkeys, rabbits and tortoises delights not only the children but also to all age groups. On invitation the twins set off to

Ayodhya Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...

to recite

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

in front of the King Rama. The story turns gripping as the twins learn that Mata Sita was sent to vanvas by Rama. They return from Ayodhya with anger and rage over Rama. Rama performs

Aswamedha The Ashvamedha ( sa, अश्वमेध, aśvamedha, translit-std=IAST) was a horse sacrifice ritual followed by the Śrauta tradition of Vedic religion. It was used by ancient Indian kings to prove their imperial sovereignty: a horse accomp ...

yagna for the prosperity of his kingdom and sets off a horse (ashwa), which encounters with Lava Kusa finally. The twins happen to read the declaration of Rama inscribed in a golden plate on the forehead on the horse, arrests the horse considering that this would bring Rama in front of them so that they can question him regarding the ill treatment given to Mata Sita and to debate on Rama's most acclaimed principle of dharma. They arrest the

horse thus inviting the mighty

Empire to a war against them. The story gets into a fast-paced array of battles packed with scintillating/thrilling action sequences blended with spell bound visual effects. Lava Kusa defeats the two brothers of Rama,

Shatrughna ''Shatrughna'' ( sa, text=शत्रुघ्न, translit=śatrughna, lit=killer of enemies) is a prince of Ayodhya, King of Madhupura and Vidisha, and a brother of Prince Rama in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is also known as ''Ripudaman' ...

and

Lakshmana Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...

thus bringing Rama against them face to face in the battle field. Debate concludes with the start of war leading to both of them inevitably about to use the most dreaded weapons against each other. Hearing this Sita and Sage Valmiki enter the battle field and reveal the truth to Rama that these twins Lava and Kusa are his own sons. Rama affectionately accepts the twins and praises their courage, requests

to return to

refuses and recedes to the lap of her mother Bhoomatha (the goddess of earth) and merges into the earth. Rama announces Lava Kusa as the crown princes of the Ayodhya kingdom and he Backs in he's form as

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

Production

Pre-production of the film was announced by The Kanipakam Creations in April 2006. Using the skills of approximately 315 animators at the RVML Animation Studios in both

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

and

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, the film will be initially be released in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

, with later versions to be dubbed into

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

, Oriya,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and other Indian languages. In 2006

L. Vaidyanathan Lakshminarayana Vaidyanathan ( ta, லக்ஷ்மிநாராயண வைத்தியநாதன்; kn, ಎಲ್.ವೈದ್ಯನಾಥನ್; 9 April 1942 – 19 May 2007) was an acclaimed musicologist, music director and compo ...

and lyricist

Veturi Veturi Sundararama Murthy (29 January 1936 – 22 May 2010), known mononymously by his surname Veturi, was an Indian poet, lyricist and journalist who is popular for writing Telugu songs. His career in the Telugu cinema spanned more than four de ...

created 5 original compositions for the film. Hindi lyrics were written by

Dharmesh Tiwari Dharmesh Tiwari (27 April 1951 – 6 August 2014) was an Indian actor and film director. He is memorable for portraying Kripacharya in the TV series ''Mahabharat'' and Malayraj in ''Chanakya''. He essayed the role of a judge on the Hindi TV s ...

and Pandit Kiran Mishra, with Telugu lyrics written by Ramamurthy. Additional dialogues in English and Telugu were provided by

K. N. Y. Patanjali K. N. Y. Patanjali was a noted writer, journalist from Andhra Pradesh. He worked in various news papers like Eenadu, Andhra Bhoomi, Udayam, Andhra Prabha. He was also the editor of Sakshi (newspaper), Sakshi news paper. He wrote many novels and ...

and in Hindi by lyricist D.K. Goel. The film is expected to be released across India in late December 2009 or early January 2010.

Sound Track

The music and background music of this film is composed by

.This album features the voices of legendary singers like K. J. Yesudas &

K.S.Chithra Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963), always credited as K. S. Chithra or Chithra, is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over four decades, she has recorded over 25,000 songs in various I ...

. Also features eminent singers like

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. Personal life and early career Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chembur, Mumbai into a Tami ...

Sadhana Sargam Sadhana Sargam (née Ghanekar, born 7 March 1969) is an Indian singer known for her playback career in Indian cinema predominantly in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil language films. She is a recipient of the National Film Award and Filmfare Awa ...

Vijay Yesudas Vijay Yesudas (born 23 March 1979) is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son of ...

. This album features 5 songs and 3 instrumentals. First

penned the lyrics for all the original compositions in

, later the lyrics were dubbed into

for original Motion Picture.

Hindi version

All lyrics were penned by

and Pandit Kiran Mishra.

Telugu version

All the lyrics are penned by

Reception

The film is reputed to be a "magnificent 2D masterpiece", and is reported to be the most prestigious animation movie ever made in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, having a budget of Rs. 25 crores (

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

5 million) and taking 3 years to complete. This film is expected to bring the Indian animation industry to international standards.

References

External links

* * {{India Animation Industry 2010 animated films 2010 films 2010s Hindi-language films Hindu mythological films Indian animated films Animated films based on the Ramayana