Sanjay’s Super Team

You know that Pixar is known for their amazing shorts. Well, the short before Sanjay’s Super Team is beyond amazing also. Sanjay Patel is the amazing man who wrote it.

Sanjay has worked at Pixar for over 20 years. (He must have started when he was a baby, because he look so young!) He has worked on movies like The Incredibles, and he has been inspired by people like ROnnie DelCarment and Enrico Casansa. Sanjay’s Super Team is a story about him and his dad.

It was really cool learning about Sanjay’s background and how it really tied into the story he told with Sanjay’s Super Team. Sanjay spent many years just trying to figure out who he was and how he fits into the world. He wanted to see his parents culture in a way that looked cool to him. He was embarrassed by his culture until he found Asain art. He then found his place in the world and understood his family.

Sanjay created a book called Little India. He was able to tell his stories in his world. He then created The Little Book of Hindu Deities: From The Goddess Of Wealth to the Sacred Cow. He wants people to look at the modern and the ancient simultaneously. That’s why he created Ramayana: Divene Loophole. Even though he grew in understanding his culture with these books, he still was embarrassed. Pixar asked him to do a short of them more than once. Finally, he asked his dad and he told him it would give him bad karma if he didn’t!

I’m glad Sanjay decided to this short. Sanjay’s Super Team is about a boy struggle with his culture. It is the struggle with the new world vs. the old world. It is a short movie that we can all take something away from. Yes, after learning the real Sanjay’s back story, there were a few tears shed when we saw it with our greater understanding. Sanjay always felt like he didn’t fit in; he was always was the little brown boy that nobody knew what to do with. He was always ashamed of his parents and their culture. Sanjay’s Super Team was a way to move beyond that and share his culture with us.

The last movie that Sanjay’s dad saw was the Sound Of Music. Up to this point, he had only been to Pixar once. They recorded his reaction to the short. It was amazing to watch. You could see how proud he was (just thinking about it right now is tearing me up!). A quote I took away from it was when he said “my hope is coming true”.

Sanjay’s Super Team is more than just a short. It is a glimpse into Indian culture. It is a glimpse into all of our lives when we don’t understand our parents and are embarrassed by them. It is a short you have to watch!