By Aftab Shaikh, Sr. Communication Associate, Rocket Learning
On the International Day of the Girl Child, we celebrate the achievements and potential of young girls everywhere. In line with this mission, we spoke with the creative minds behind Chulbuli, a vibrant cartoon character developed by Rocket Learning. Chulbuli embodies curiosity, energy, and playfulness, serving as a role model for children, particularly girls from underserved communities. Through storytelling and engaging activities, she encourages children to embrace learning while challenging traditional gender stereotypes.
Rocket Learning integrates Chulbuli into its educational content, utilizing her character to promote early childhood care and education (ECCE) principles. Through animated stories and interactive activities, Chulbuli helps children learn essential life skills, fosters creativity, and instills confidence. By addressing the barriers to education faced by many families, Rocket Learning uses Chulbuli to inspire both children and parents to value and prioritize early learning.
To delve deeper into Chulbuli’s impact, we interviewed Sangeeta Bahuguna, one of the key creators behind Chulbuli; Aastha Singh, who crafts her stories; and Arnab Banerjee, the illustrator who brings her to life.
Q: What inspired the creation of Chulbuli?
Sangeeta Bahuguna: The creation of Chulbuli serves as a role model not just for young girls and children, but for entire families and communities. From the outset, we made a conscious effort to avoid any stereotypes—Chulbuli is not the typical “cute girl in a frilly dress.” Everything about her, from her clothing and physical attributes to her emotional and cognitive makeup, defies conventional norms.
In our stories and campaigns, we consistently depict Chulbuli engaging in activities that break gender limitations. For instance, we show her playing football, participating in science experiments with household items, enjoying math and counting exercises, and confidently taking the stage for dance or storytelling performances in the Anganwadi.
Chulbuli embodies this spirit of curiosity, resilience, and a zest for life and exploration, reflecting the aspirations of young girls today. Her access to quality early childhood care and education, as well as innovative learning methodologies and technologies, symbolizes the nascent hopes we observe in society. In this sense, Chulbuli represents a new reality for girls, one that is unfolding around us.
Q: Sangeeta, can you talk about the research behind developing Chulbuli, her narrative or the other characters part of the series?
Sangeeta Bahuguna: The overall background, the homes, the Anganwadis are very, very representative. To create this world, we traveled extensively, and we also went through a lot of imagery that we collected of what a typical shop looks like, or what a typical Anganwadi looks like, or what a typical home looks like, what colors are commonly seen, and the kind of art found in homes. After a lot of research, our world came into being. And I think it has been by and large successful because it is very true to life; the context, the setting is very true to life, the life that our target audience leads.
Q. How do Rocket Learning’s overall objectives align with the specific goals set for Chulbuli?
Sangeeta Bahuguna: We aim to bring our content to underserved communities across various states. At Rocket Learning, we utilize a methodology referred to as the AIM framework, which stands for Awareness, Information, and Motivation.
Our approach involves providing information through campaigns, which helps motivate parents to enact change. Based on research conducted with over 500 parents, we identified several key blockers to early childhood learning:
- Lack of Awareness: There is a widespread lack of understanding regarding the importance of early childhood development, especially related to learning.
- Fixed Intelligence Belief: Many parents hold a strong belief that a child’s intelligence is innate and unchangeable.
- Misunderstanding of Play: Many parents equate learning solely with literacy and numeracy in formal settings, such as starting school and learning the alphabet and numbers.
- Educational Qualifications of Parents: Another prevalent attitude is the belief that a parent—especially a mother—needs a certain level of education to effectively guide their child’s learning.
Based on these findings, our campaigns focus on creating awareness, providing information, and motivating parents—particularly mothers—to engage consistently and confidently in their child’s development. The stories we share through WhatsApp groups are bite-sized and easy to understand, featuring demonstrations and activities that parents can easily replicate at home using simple materials—such as bowls, stones, or other common objects.
Q: Aastha, can you shed some light on the key ideas you consider while drafting the stories or brainstorming concepts for the Chulbuli?
Aastha Singh: Our aim is to showcase practical learning experiences that resonate with low-income families. When we brainstormed ideas, we sought to create a character that embodies the aspirations of young girls. Chulbuli is sociable and makes mistakes, learning along the way. She is independent, capable, and empathetic, accepting of people with different abilities. Her bond with her cousin, Guddu, is warm and inclusive. She treats him as an equal, which sends a powerful message to both children and parents about the importance of valuing everyone in a community, regardless of their abilities.
Q: When a young girl sees Chulbuli, what message do you hope she derives from her character? What learning experience do you envision?
Aastha Singh: Chulbuli encourages girls to dream big. Her interactions with Guddu (Chulbuli’s cousin) promote inclusivity, which is crucial in low-income families where social stigma exists, particularly regarding differently-abled children or single mothers. Guddu’s mother, Minni Maasi, serves as a role model for Chulbuli. By focusing on low-cost, easily accessible learning methods, we aim to inspire girls to take charge of their education, thereby breaking the cycle of poverty and emphasizing the value of learning.
Q: What animation technique did you use and why did you choose it?
Arnab Banerjee: Yeah, so the animation method I used is called cell animation, or frame by frame. As for the choice of the animation style, it gives the most freedom and creativity to show a character’s expression. I mean, if you have heard of the 12 principles of animation, in this frame by frame animation field, we have a thing called exaggeration, where if a character is sad, you exaggerate it and make it sadder. So this is why I chose this style, because we can clearly show how a character is feeling in context.
Q: How do you try to make the animation appealing for the children and parents?
Arnab Banerjee: We crafted Chulbili’s character traits like mischievousness, curiosity, playfulness, etc. and those are the most important things that show her character. And not only that, but we don’t show her as a perfect or poster child. She makes mistakes; she learns from her parents, learns from her environment, learns from her friends. She stumbles, falls, and then gets up. So I guess that was the most important thing, and that’s something children can relate to—you can make mistakes. But the most important thing is you learn from it.
Q: What has been the response so far?
Sangeeta Bahuguna: From our field observations, the response to Chulbuli has been overwhelmingly positive. Boys engage with her character without feeling it’s exclusively for girls. They are captivated by her adventures and playful learning style. Parents also express excitement, often mimicking her voice and recalling stories. Our serialized format, releasing one part of a Chulbuli story each weekend, helps maintain engagement and curiosity.