Gaju Bhai is an Indian animated series produced by Toonz Animation and aired on Disney Channel. It premiered in 2016 and has two seasons.
The anthropomorphic elephant man Gaju Bhai enjoys fame as a film actor from Jollywood. When he's not busy working on movies, he goes from a "reel-life" hero to a real-life hero when he is sent to another world called Gajrajpuri by the boy prince Iravan and the constantly-meditating Mahaguru to fight off all sorts of monsters and baddies.
The series was made available on Disney+ Hotstar in 2020.
Gaju Bhai contains the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: Bhagat gets his own on the episode "Gullab Ke Kaante", as he feels left out of Gaju Bhai and Iravan's friendship and tries to get over it by falling in love... with a thief.
- All Webbed Up: In "Tin Tin Tula", Tin Tin Tula weaves webs all over Gajrajpuri, going as far as to wrap some of its residents with webs, including General Bhagat. They're freed the moment the spider is defeated.
- Birthday Episode: One Season 2 episode has everyone excited for Iravan's birthday. Needless to say, it goes sour.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure:
- Bhagat suffers one after all his clothes get sucked off by a black hole in the episode "Gajrajpuri Ki Batti Gul". After he manages to break free by the end, he's still on his boxers and sheepishly covers himself with his cape.
- The same happens to him on "Hip Hoppers", after one of the teammates of the eponymous team pants him during a basketball match.
- For the third time in "Rock Shock", after Mahaguru gives him an unpleasant rock concert outfit and then demands him to take them off him.
- Dreadful Musician: Bhagat is revealed to be a terrible singer in "Zombie". Although one has to wonder why he still accompany Gaju Bhai during his musical numbers in past episodes.
- Disappeared Dad\Missing Mom: Neither of Iravan's parents are present in the series aside from flashbacks, leaving the 10-year-old prince to rule Gajrajpuri on his own with Gaju Bhai and Bhagat act as adult supervisors for him.
- Furry Confusion: In one episode, Gaju Bhai faces against an enemy's army which contains... non-anthropomorphic elephants. Gaju never questions this despite being an elephant himself. However, considering that the scene was a movie shooting, maybe he was just following the script.
- Giant Enemy Crab: The villain in "Tiku Thakela" is a giant crab named Crabadu who uses a tank on his back to absorb energy from people.
- Giant Spider: The eponymous villain of the episode "Tin Tin Tula" is a spider who grew giant and webbed up Gajrajpuri after being replaced in her silk-weaving job.
- Gratuitous English: It is from a country that has English among the many languages it speaks. The episode titles fluctuate between being English and the show's native Hindi (e.g. the first two episodes are titled "Wigbang" and "Froginstein"; the third episode, on the other hand, is "Khaali Peeli Kaali Billi").
- Heart Beats out of Chest: In "Tin Tin Tula", Gaju is working on a film and plays a woman whom the men are in love with. One of these males has his heart beating out of his chest, with Gaju using a key to open a keyhole in it.
- Honorable Elephant: Prince Iravan could qualify. Gaju Bhai, on the other hand...
- Inconsistent Spelling: Gaju Bhai's name is spelled "Gajubhai" in Disney+ Hotstar's official episode descriptions.
- Inflating Body Gag: In "Khaali Peeli Kaali Billi", the cat villainess inflates like a balloon when exposed to a scarf of flowers, which she is allergic to. Gaju Bahi uses a pin to pop her suit, sending her flying into the sun.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Between the adult Gaju and the 10-year-old Iravan.
- Levitating Lotus Position: Mahaguru is constantly floating in the air in this position.
- "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: In "Thumkanand", Gaju is surprised to hear about the people of Gajrajpuri dancing without him and agrees to go there for the entertainment, saying "entertainment" is his middle name.
- Mind-Control Eyes: In "Khaali Peeli Kaali Billi", the cat lady hypnotizes the people of Gajrajpuri into doing her bidding. While under her influence, the citizens' eyes are colored red.
- Monster of the Week: Gaju Bhai is routinely brought to Gajrajpuri to fight all sorts of monsters, a different monster being the threat in each episode.
- The Movie: It got one called Apna Bhai Gaju Bhai in July 2016.
- Multi-Part Episode: Season 2, Episode 36: Gajrajpuri Premiere League. It features Gaju Bhai recruiting people from Jollywood to compete in a cricket match against Bhagat in order to prove to Iravan that he's still awesome.
- No Ontological Inertia: In "Tin Tin Tula", defeating Tin Tin Tula is somehow enough to cause all the webs she spun to disappear in an instant.
- Non-Mammalian Hair: Mahaguru is a bird with a thick, gray beard.
- Non-Nude Bathing: In episodes like "Lotiya Zubaan" and "Summer Mein Thund", it's shown that Gaju Bhai bathes while wearing his boxers, but still acts like he's caught naked when people walk on him like that.
- Once per Episode: A song typically accompanies Gaju's encounter with the bad guy attacking Gajrajpuri, or some other part of the episode. Makes sense, since Bollywood films are well-known for incorporating lots of music into their narratives.
- Perpetual Frowner: Bhagat, Iravan's tiger bodyguard, rarely smiles or shows happiness, in contrast to Gaju Bhai's enthusiasm. He does smile more in Season 2, though.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: During the middle of season 2, Gaju Bhai is rarely seen doing his job as an actor. In fact, by that point, some episodes seem to show him as a permanent Gajrajpuri citizen. Zig-zagged as he returned to Jollywood to acting for the rest of the series run after that period.
- Rhymes on a Dime:
- Gaju Bhai himself is prone to speaking in rhyme, usually when he is acting in movies.
- In "Tiku Thakela", Gaju Bhai fights a giant energy-absorbing crab named Crabadu who rhymes all his speech.Banana is my food-a! You cannot call me dude-a! My energy source is you-a! Remember my name, it's Crabadu-a!
- Plot Allergy: The cat villainess in "Khaali Peeli Kaali Billi" is allergic to flowers. This becomes important later in the episode, as Gaju Bhai wears a flower scarf throughout the episode and uses it to defeat her.
- Protagonist Title: Named after the main character, Gaju Bhai.
- Shout-Out: In "Thumkanand", Gaju sings the lyrics "I like to move it, move it" from Reel 2 Real's song "I Like to Move It" twice.
- The Smurfette Principle: Gajini, Gaju Bhai's Satellite Love Interest becomes this after the show remained stationary on Gajrajpuri. Before that was the case, the second most recurring female character was Miss Zuzee, a reporter who seemed interested in learning about Gaju Bhai's secret.
- The Song Remains the Same: The English dub keeps the once-an-episode songs in the original Hindi.
- Squashed Flat: In "Tiku Thakela", Gaju's gang gets stuck on a hay cart rolling at high speed. Bhagat tries to stop the cart, only to be run over by it and flattened.
- Sudden Anatomy: Iravan suddenly has a visible tusk in the episode "Chabuk Champion" only so the Villain of the Week can steal it. What's more baffling is that the tusk is too big to belong to a child elephant.
- Temporarily a Villain: Bhagat is much more antagonistic towards Gaju Bhai in "Gajrajpuri Premiere League", to the point he even resorts to recruiting previous villains as his teammates for the cricket match.
- Temporary Bulk Change: Gaju Bhai spends the entirety of "Chonchwala Chor" with a much chubbier build.
- Title, Please!: The episodes themselves don't give their titles.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Gaju Bhai has a large body with rather short legs, as does Bhagat.
- A Twinkle in the Sky: In "Khaali Peeli Kaali Billi", Gaju Bahi is sent flying into the sky by a hypnotized Gajni and disappears with a twinkle.
- Two Shorts: It has this format in television airings. On Disney+, the episodes are divided into Quarter Hour Shorts.
- Verbal Tic: Crabadu from "Tiku Thakela" uses an "-a" to cap off his sentences-a.
- Villainous Gold Tooth: Invoked, as one of the bad guys Gaju faces in the movies he stars in is a gorilla with a golden tooth.
- World of Funny Animals: The show's cast consists almost entirely of anthropomorphic animals.
