Bilal: A New Breed of Hero – the film’s Hindi dubbed version is now streaming on OTT platform. This is the first ever CGI animation, and the story behind this 1400-year-old animation saga is truly gripping. The cast includes Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (who played the yacht assassination target for Matt Damon in Bourne Identity and Ian McShane from HBO’s “Game of Thrones” TV series.
This animation film Bilal: A New Breed of Hero is based on the true story of Bilal ibn Rabah (voiced by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a legendary historical figure in Islam who was the first muezzin — a person who calls people to prayer — in Mecca. Of Abyssinian descent, young Bilal (Andre Robinson) and his younger sister, Ghufaira (China Anne McClain), are captured and sold into slavery to Bourne Identity pagan landowner and merchant Umayya (Ian McShane) in a faraway land in the 7th century.
Set a thousand years ago, the film is about one boy with a dream of becoming a great warrior who is abducted with his sister and taken to a land very far away from home. Thrown into a world where greed and injustice rule one and all, Bilal succeeds in raising his voice and making a change. Inspired by true events, this is a story of a real hero who earns his rightful place in time and history.
Bilal becomes a teen (Jacob Latimore), and has a few tense confrontations with Umayya’s son Safwan (Sage Ryan), who never fails to remind Bilal of his extremely lowly unenviable place. As an adult, Bilal, who’s known for his beautiful voice, befriends prominent men who’ve met Muhammad and follow his belief in one god, equality, and overthrowing the polytheists and after being tortured escapes his bonds and joins a group planning to resist the greedy Umayya and his cohorts and turn the area (now Saudi Arabia) into a free land.
The film shows us how Bilal survived through all those pains, hurts misery, and all those sort of pains to become who he needed to be in order to fight through his life to save his sister, though he thought she was dead but at long last he meets her and conquers the enemies.
Running time – 109 minutes. Platform of Release- OTT Mask TV App Exclusive
– Review by Jyothi Venkatesh
Cast of Bilal: A New Breed of Hero –
Andre Robinson as Bilal
China Anne McClain as Ghufaira
Ian McShane
Jacob Latimore
Sage Ryan
Credits of Bilal: A New Breed of Hero –
Hindi Producers- Anju Bhat and Chiranjeevi Bhat
Hindi Production company – Mask TV, TAG Productions
Channel Producer – Mansie Bhatt
Written by – Redone, T I Jakke
Production company – Barajoun Entertainment
Produced by Ayman Jamal, Arif Jilani
Directed by Khurram H. Alavi, Ayman Jamal
Screenplay by Alex Kronemer, Michael Wolfe, Khurram Alavi, Yassin Kamel
Story by Ayman Jamal
Edited by Patricia Heneine
Music by Atli Örvarsson