Tune in to the Great Dane

From toon tamasha it’s time for live action. Scooby-Doo sniffs into your drawing rooms on HBO on June 24.

The story of Scooby-Doo, based on the longest continually running cartoon series in television history, takes off as the clumsy crime-fighting mutt and his human counterparts, Fred (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Velma (Linda Cardellini) and Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) are reunited to investigate a series of paranormal incidents at the Spooky Island, owned by Emile Mondavarious (Rowan “Bean” Atkinson).

It seems like only yesterday when Scooby-Doo bounded into television, but this actually happened 32 years ago on September 13, 1969. This lumbering Great Dane has ruled the hearts of millions of animation lovers across the world since then. Though afraid of monsters, ghouls, witches and even his own shadow, Scooby-Doo bumbles his way through mysteries often solving them by fluke.

Scooby-Doo soundly captured first place at the box-office on its opening weekend. The $54.2 million opening is now the second biggest for a June release in box-office history.

It seems that when the legendary William Hannah and Joseph Barbera developed Scooby Doo, Where Are You? more than 30 years ago, they were taking a risk - it was the first time that an animation series would incorporate an action-adventure format with an animal in a lead role and “humans” in supporting roles.

Fred Silverman, the then head of CBS children’s programming, inspired by the Frank Sinatra song Strangers in the night where Sinatra improvises the refrain “Scooby-dooby-doo”, advised William Hannah and Joseph Barbera to call the dog “Scooby-Doo”. He also asked the duo to make him more fun and turn him into the show’s star. Thus Scooby-Doo was born!

Scooby-Doo has starred in a range of animation series in his 30-year career as a full-time cartoon character, since his debut in 1969. What’s more, the franchise has got bigger with Scooby Snacks made at the Scooby Snack Factory, which tastes like a large butterscotch-coloured morsel.

Now that you know so much, get ready for a bigger munch of the mutt this Friday at 9 pm. A moment from the Moroccan film Ali Zaoua: Festival pick

Foreign films

Another chance to catch some offbeat foreign films in Calcutta. The French Embassy in India and the French Association, in collaboration with Kolkata Film Festival and Nandan, present “Au sud du cinema”, a festival of 10 films from different parts of the world.

All the 10 films have been supported by the Fonds Sud Cinema which, since 1984, “has fostered cinematographic productions in Africa, Asia and Latin America, by co-financing”.

Starting June 22 and on till July 1, the festival will be kickstarted with the inaugural Senegalese film Hyenes by director Djibril Diop Manbety which explores love and betrayal and its co-relation with money.

The other films to be shown at Nandan II and Nandan III over the 10 days include fictional works from countries like Cambodia, Tunisia, Lebanon, Tadjikistan, Morocco, China, Argentina and South Africa. Most of the films have been honoured or screened at the Cannes Film Festival. So, get ready to taste everything from civil wars to Zulu rituals. Snow White: Fairy fare

Back in time

It was the very first feature-length animated film made and the winner of an honorary Academy Award. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres in Hindi on Disney Channel on June 25, 6 pm.

Nominated for the Best Music Score Academy Award in 1938, the movie is the 10th highest grosser of all times. The timeless tale of Snow White comes alive with fairy-tale magic, suspense and adventure loved by kids and adults alike.

The story is legendary -when Snow White’s wicked stepmother, the Queen, consults her Magic Mirror to learn that her stepdaughter’s beauty surpasses her own, she orders for snow white’s assassination.

You know the rest, but rediscover the magic nevertheless with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on June 25.