Podna and Podni

Podna and Podni is an animated short that is adapted from a folkloric story of Pakistan. It is an episode part of the series "Animated Tales of the World".

Summary
"Blue skies, green fields, sunlight shining through the trees, singing birds and buzzing bees, children playing on a cool fresh breeze. Smell of spring and flying free, these are things that mean the world to me. They mean the world to me (3x)"

- Podni singing at the start of the episode

Two weaver birds named Podna and Podni live happily in the forest until their lives are disrupted by a mysterious monarch known as the Raja captures Podni after hearing her beautiful singing. The Raja insists that Podni should be kept in his palace so he can enjoy her singing. While Podna is away gathering for food, he then realizes that his mate Podni is captured by the Raja in his palace. Soon, Podna sees a nearby kitten who is separated from her mother. The kitten then explains that a falcon captured her and dropped her in a place far away from his mother. Podna decides to help reunite the kitten with her mother.

Having reunited the kitten to his mother, Podna returns to the nest to discover what has happened to his beloved Podni. Suddenly, while on the nest, the tree talks to Podna by telling him that Podni is captured by the Raja, a greedy man who takes whatever he wants. Podna makes a plan to free the female bird that is captured by the Raja, but the tree warns him that the Raja is a very powerful monarch who takes anything he wants. The tree agrees to help Podna on his quest. He then tells a story that there was a wise man that developed a potion that grants magical powers to whoever drinks it. The tree gives him the potion to help him on his quest, but the potion only works if he travels via cart. The tree says that Podna needs two frogs for the cart to help him on his way to rescue Podni in the palace.

Upon consuming the potion, Podna uses his powers to bring some unlikely allies to help him on his quest: a cat, an ant, and a stream. Meanwhile at the palace, the Raja asks Podni to sing in order to receive lovely food from him. However, she refuses to sing and tells the monarch that she can only sing for her friends. Upon arriving to the palace, the vizier tells the Raja to capture him and imprison him into a chicken coop. Suddenly, the cat helps Podna scare away the chickens so that she can save Podna from being eaten. Enraged that the cat scared away the chickens, the vizier tells the Raja to put Podna in a cage and to be tied to the foot of the royal elephant. The ant comes to the rescue and attempts to free Podna from being crushed by the elephant. As the ant sees the elephant, the ant was able to stop the elephant before he crushes Podna.

The Raja is then furious that the elephant was unable to crush Podna. Suspicious of Podna with his power of bravery, the Raja decides to keep Podna in another cage near his bed. That night, Podna asks the stream for help him free Podni. With the help of the stream, water rises in the palace and fills the room, capturing the Raja. Podna is angry with the Raja for his wrongdoings. Before the water reaches too high, the Raja almost drowns and promises to free Podni. The Raja was able to free Podni and then he asks Podni for her forgiveness for being rude to her. Upon freeing Podni, Podni is finally reunited with Podna, living together in a happy life.

Voice Cast

 * Shiv Grewal (credited as Shiv Grewel) - Podna


 * Shaheen Khan - Podni / The Kitten / The Stream


 * Phaldut Sharma (credited as Paul Sharma) - The Raja


 * Lyndam Gregory - The Ant / The Vizier


 * Katya Mirza - The Mother Cat


 * Chanda Sharma (credited as Chanda Sherma) - The Tree