Pixar has released a short teaser clip from Sanjay’s Super Team, the short film that will play before this November’s The Good Dinosaur. It is the first film by the studio to be directed by an animator of Indian descent.
In the 40-second clip, we see a young boy play with his favorite action figure while watching a superhero cartoon. On the other side of the room, his father is trying to pray and eventually drags the boy away from the television.
The film was screened in June at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France and marks the directing debut of Sanjay Patel, 41. The animator has been at Pixar since 1996 and has worked on A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles and Toy Story 3. It’s a personal film for him, as it reflects the different worlds he grew up in.
“My parents' whole world revolved around their gods, the Hindu deities,” Patel said in an interview with The Los Angeles Times back in April. “Our worlds were diametrically apart. I just wanted my name to be Travis, not Sanjay.”
In the short, while meditating, the boy begins dreaming up a Hindu version of The Avengers, with the gods becoming superheroes. This helps him understand his father better.
“Sanjay has a great deal of knowledge. It saved us in making the film,” producer Nicole Grindle told Variety this week.
Here's a super cool peek for our super cool fans. See Sanjay's Super Team in front of The Good Dinosaur this Thanksgiving.
Posted by Disney Pixar on Thursday, October 15, 2015
Sanjay’s Super Team and The Good Dinosaur hit theaters on Nov. 25.