Bheem bhakts give their favourite hero a huge happy hug and (right) little fans dance and jive with Chutki and princess Indumati, who made her City Centre debut this year. Pictures by Anindya Shankar Ray, Sayantan Ghosh and Arnab Mondal

The city may have been teeming with “heroes” over the weekend — from Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan to Irrfan Khan and Ranveer Singh — but the thousands of fans at City Centre Salt Lake had eyes for only one superhero on Saturday — Chhota Bheem!

Three-year-old Kaavya Jain gets busy angling at the Dholakpur Ka Fisherman game stall while (below) three-year-old Sahanj Rathore takes aim at demon Kirmada as Dholakpur Ka Archer.

Like the last two years, the boy hero of Dholakpur is back with his gang — Chutki, princess Indumati, Jaggu the talking monkey, Mighty Raju and the naughty Kalia — for the two-day Telekids Chhota Bheem Carnival, in association with City Centre Salt Lake. Day 1 saw over 20,000 visitors, all of them little Bheem bhakts and their families.

Pranay Agarwal wears his love for his hero on his arm — a Chhota Bheem temporary tattoo. “Chhota Bheem is my favourite cartoon. Once I reach home from school, all I do is watch Chhota Bheem. I like heroes who fight,” said the KG student of Sri Sri Academy.

The kids waited patiently, parents in tow, for their turn to meet their favourite toons. Tattoos, games, photo booths and merchandise — all themed on the popular animation series aired on Pogo — also drew a steady stream of fans.

After meeting Bheem on stage, little Vedant Lakhotia is all set to gobble up Bheem’s favourite laddoos.

“I have no clue why he loves Chhota Bheem so much! I can only get him to eat when he watches Chhota Bheem,” said Avantika, mother of four-year-old Vedansh Jain, a student of St. James’ School. If Vedansh doesn’t eat without his daily dose of Chhota Bheem, three-year-old Vivaan doesn’t make a fuss about brushing if he has his Chhota Bheem toothbrush and toothpaste. And on Saturday, they had their hero right in front of them!

Yogyata Giri, a two-year-old from Bhutan, must have earned a few fans of her own with her dance moves. “She loves watching Chhota Bheem. We came to Calcutta on Friday and heard about the carnival. I could not have missed this opportunity to bring her to meet Bheem,” said mom Nikki.

The carnival will continue on Sunday, 11am to 8pm.

Text: Sibendu Das and Shweta Keshri