Animation / Motu Patlu

The title means "fat guy, thin guy".^note From left to right: Ghasitaram, John the Don, Motu (above) and Patlu (below), Dr. Jhatka, and Inspector Chingam.

Motu Patlu, also known as The Adventures of Motu Patlu, is an Indian All-CGI Cartoon that is an Animated Adaptation of the comic from the Lotpot magazine. The original 1985 series had Limited Animation, but Cosmos-Maya rebooted it in 2012 with updated graphics. Most tropes on this page are about the reboot due to it being far more popular than the original.

The series concerns two friends named Motu and Patlu, who live in a fictional city called Furfuri Nagar. Motu causes problems and gets into funny situations, and Patlu always has to help him. Their friends include Chaiwala, who makes Motu's favorite samosas, Dr. Jhatka and his assistant Ghasitaram, who create experimental gadgets for Motu and Patlu, and Inspector Chingum, who tries to catch criminals. The Big Bad is John the Don, who tries to harm Motu and Patlu with the aid of his henchmen Number One and Number Two. Motu and Patlu always find a way to foil his plans.

In India, Motu Patlu airs on Nickelodeon India and Rishtey. It is one of the most popular children's shows there; it has had several television movies along with a theatrical film titled Motu Patlu: King of Kings. Outside of India, Motu Patlu can be watched mostly^note Motu Patlu received English, Spanish, and French subtitles up until early 2017 with English subtitles on the official YouTube channel Wow Kidz and an English dub can be watched on this channel and this channel.

A Spin-Off titled Inspector Chingum premiered on May 4, 2018 on Amazon Prime Video in India. Another spin-off titled Guddu the Great, starring Guddu the lion from the movie Motu Patlu: King of Kings, premiered on Prime Video in India in 2019.

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Tropes:

• Ageless Birthday Episode: Motu's age is never specified in "Motu Ka Birthday".
• Agitated Item Stomping: In "Future Camera", John the Don angrily grabs the future-predicting camera from Motu and stomps on it a few times when he and the others realize that the treasure that the camera showed in Ghasitaram's possession is actually fake jewelry that Ghasitaram lets people rent.
• Alien Episode: Several.
  • "Motu Patlu aur Lalchi Alien" is about pot-shaped aliens coming to steal some stones from Furfuri Nagar. One of them stays behind to steal more stuff, and Motu and Patlu suspect John the Don's behind it.
  • In "Golden Alien", some aliens land in Furfuri Nagar requesting people who are yellow to work for them in a goldmine. John abuses this to his liking by painting everyone yellow in an attempt to get them all taken away by the aliens.
  • Yet another episode, "Chor Aliens", is about a pair of aliens, one light blue and one light green, going around Furfuri Nagar and stealing stuff.
  • "Denture Alien" shows what happens when an alien with dentures is directed to Motu and Patlu while searching for food to eat.
  • "Glass Man Alien" introduces the Glass Man Alien, who can turn anything into glass.
• Aliens Speaking English: The aliens in "Antriksh Yatra" can speak Hindi perfectly.
• All-CGI Cartoon: The series is made entirely with 3D graphics.
• All Just a Dream: The episode "Angry Clouds" is all just a dream Motu was having.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Appu, the elephant Motu and Patlu try to save from a ring master in "Gulabi Hathi", has light purple skin.
• Amnesia Episode: In "Memory Loss", Motu loses his memory after hurting himself on the head, and the others help him to remember who he is.
• Animated Adaptation: From the original comics.
• Animorphism:
  • The ray Dr. Jhatka invents in "Animal Converting Gadget" can turn people into animals and vice versa.
  • In "Motu the Monkey Man", an experiment by Dr. Jhatka goes wrong and turns Motu into an anthropomorphic monkey.
• Antagonist Title: Used for the first episode, "John Banega Don", where the antagonist is John the Don.
• Anthropomorphic Food:
  • The episode "Onions" is about John the Don finding a strange camera left behind by aliens. Instead of taking pictures, the camera turns people into anthropomorphic onions when used.
  • The magical tree woman in the episode "Jadoogami Ka Seb" grows sentient apples with arms and legs.
• Art Evolution: The animation has greatly improved and become much more fluid when compared to the very old series. The animation has also slightly improved over the past few years.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In "Big John", John finds a way to make himself huge and uses his new size to do none other than wreak havoc on Furfuri Nagar.
• Awesome, but Impractical: A lot of Dr. Jhatka's inventions fall into this category. While they sound cool or even awesome on paper, in practice they get people in trouble more often than not.
• Babysitting Episode: "Boxer's Baby" is about Boxer having Motu and Patlu babysit his baby son when his wife has some work to do. When the baby starts to bother them, Motu and Patlu bring him to Dr. Jhatka, who gives him a remoted-controlled trolley that he rides away in.
• Balloon-Bursting Bird: In "Photography Competition", Motu and Patlu float into the sky with balloons tied around them to get a better view of the bird they want to photograph. The bird, who is fed up with Motu and Patlu following it around, angrily pecks at the balloons, popping them.
• Balloonacy:
  • In "Photography Competition", Motu and Patlu borrow a bunch of balloons and use them to float in the sky and get a better photo of the bird they're trying to photograph.
  • In "Race to Rock Garden", Dr. Jhatka take a bunch of balloons from a balloon vendor and use them to float in the air and catch up with Motu and Patlu in the hot air balloon they hijacked.
• Banana Peel: At the beginning of "John Banega Don", Patlu reads a newspaper as he is walking and slips over a banana peel on the ground.
• Bank Robbery: John the Don has attempted multiple times to rob Furfuri Nagar's local bank.
• Baseball Episode: A cricket episode, actually, in the appropriately-named episode "Cricket League", where Motu and Patlu start their own cricket league.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: In "Antriksh Yatra", Motu and Patlu are sent into space through a rocket Dr. Jhatka has made. They can still breathe perfectly fine despite not wearing spacesuits.
• Beard of Evil: The main antagonist, John the Don, has a goatee.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist is John the Don, who always tries (and fails) to harm Motu and Patlu.
• Big Ball of Violence: In "John Banega Don", Motu and Patlu create a big cloud of dust as they attack Number 1 and Number 2 to retrieve the bag of 10 crore from them.
• Big Eater: Motu loves to eat lots of samosas.
• The Big Race: In "Patlu Ki Race", Patlu enters a running competition. Naturally, John the Don tries to keep him from winning the race.
• Big "SHUT UP!": In "John Banega Don", Inspector Chingum asks Motu and Patlu who threw a suitcase on his head. Motu and Patlu struggle to tell him who threw the suitcase before Chingum shouts "SHUT UP!!!" at them.
• Birthday Episode:
  • Motu's birthday is celebrated in "Motu Ka Birthday".
  • John invites everyone to his birthday in "John Ka Birthday".
• Bland-Name Product:
  • In "Flying Helmet", Motu is shown to have a page on Fakebook, a social media website which is a reference to Facebook.
  • In "Motu Patlu Ka ATM", the ATM has logos for "FasterCard" and "Faestro", both references to the real-life credit/debit card companies MasterCard and Maestro.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: In "Chote Chote Motu Patlu", a shrunken Motu and Patlu accidentally wind up on the claw of a flying bird and, when they finally make it off of the bird, they land on top of Inspector Chingum's head. Motu then shouts at the bird, using Chingum's "It's impossible to escape from Chingum's web! Impossible!" catchphrase.
• The Boxing Episode: The episode "Boxing Competition" is about Boxer challenging Motu to a boxing match.
• Breath Weapon: In "Dragon Motu", Motu eats Dr. Jhatka's capsule which gives anybody who consumes it the ability to breathe fire. Motu uses this ability on John the Don and his minions when they run into him and Patlu.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": Motu and Patlu's superhero costumes in "Super Duper Man" have an M and a P on them, respectively.
• Bull Seeing Red:
  • In "Bull Power", Dr. Jhatka creates a drink that causes whoever consumes it to become as powerful as a bull. Ghasitaram suggests he give the drink to Patlu, who starts to chase anything he sees that is colored red after drinking it.
  • In "Motu Patlu Ka Fashion Show", Motu and Patlu wear red-colored clothes provided by John the Don during the fashion show, so that John can have a bull chase them around.
• Burning Rubber: In "Alien Hat", when John the Don uses the alien hat to give himself the ability to run super fast, he ends up running so fast that it leaves a visible trail of flames behind him.
• Burning with Anger: In "Motu Ka Birthday", there are two instances where Motu burns up in anger when his friends seemingly forget his birthday, once when he talks to Inspector Chingum and Chaiwala and once when he talks to John the Don and his minions.
• By the Lights of Their Eyes:
  • In "Scooter Race", Dr. Jhatka turns off the lights in his workshop, leaving Motu and Patlu's eyes as the only visible objects.
  • In "Motu Banega Don", Motu and Patlu are chased around by John the Don and his minions in a container yard. They hide in one of the containers, and Inspector Chingum notices John the Don's gang following them inside and goes to catch them. Only the characters' eyes can be seen as they beat each other up in the container's dark interior.
• Captain Obvious:
  • The YouTube songs feel the need to point out that they're "Available Worldwide!" They're normal YouTube videos, why wouldn't they be?
  • In "Motu Ke Sawaal", Motu watches a TV show where the host says that one's knowledge will increase if they ask questions. Isn't it the whole point of asking questions to get an answer to increase your knowledge about something?
• Catching Some Z's: In "Magical Scenery", as the king is sleeping, one short shot of him shows several Z's forming a line near his head.
• Character Catchphrase: Quite a few of the main characters have at least one catch-phrase of some kind.
  • Motu often reminds Patlu that "My brain doesn't function on an empty stomach! You think of something!" whenever he is asked to come up with an idea.
  • Patlu himself says "Idea!" whenever he comes up with an idea. Usually this is accompanied by an Idea Bulb appearing near his head.
  • Dr. Jhatka often exclaims "I swear on my patients!" and also sometimes angrily says "May all the bitter medicines fall into your mouth!"
  • Ghasitaram, whenever met with an unusual situation, says something along the lines of "In all my 20 years of experience, I've never seen this before!"
  • Chingum has a few. "Why fear, when Chingum is here!", "It is impossible to escape from Chingum's plans, impossible!", "Stop! Stop in the name of the law!"
  • John the Don's catchphrase is "John banega Don" ("John will become the Don").
• Cephalothorax: The fireball aliens from "Fire Ball Aliens" are nothing but heads with arms, legs, and a flame on top of their heads.
• Character Name and the Noun Phrase: Certain episodes have titles following this naming format. Usually these are named "Motu Patlu aur [x]" (with "aur" meaning "and" in Hindi).
• Chaste Toons: Motu does not have any children of his own, but he does have a nephew named Chotu.
• Christmas Songs: Some of the YouTube songs are Christmas songs, like "Jingle Bells".
• Chromatic Arrangement: The four main members of Motu and Patlu's gang each wear outfits that represent one of the four basic colors - Motu wears red, Patlu wears yellow, Dr. Jhatka wears green, and Ghasitaram wears blue.
• Clear My Name: In "Motu Patlu in Jail", John gets Motu and Patlu thrown in prison by blaming them for a bank robbery he committed. Naturally, they try to prove themselves innocent.
• Clingy MacGuffin: The portable AC device Dr. Jhatka invents in "Motu the AC" gets stuck to Motu, and he has to find a way to get himself unstuck.
• Clip Show: The YouTube channel uploads compilations of clips from older episodes.
• Coconut Meets Cranium: Inspector Chingum can shoot his gun and make coconuts fall down on people, usually himself.
• Cool Teacher: Chotu in the "D se Dab" commercial, where he's a school teacher who teaches everyone how to dab.
• Confronting Your Imposter: In one episode, Motu disguises as the person Dr. Daniel, only for him to meet the real Dr. Daniel.
• Cranial Eruption: In "John Banega Don", Patlu throws the bag of 10 crore over a wall. Inspector Chingam is on the other side of the wall and is hit by the bag, giving him a bump on his head.
• Crying Critters: In "The Revenge of Crows", when the crows fall into the net trap, they start to cry as they beg Motu, Patlu, and Chingum to let them go, worrying about their children in their nests.
• Cumulonemesis: In "Angry Clouds", the Rain God, an anthropomorphic cloud, comes after Motu for insulting him.
• Delayed "Oh, Crap!": In "Snow Man", Dr. Jhatka traps the snowman in his lab and increases the temperature to try to melt him. The snowman escapes, sneaks up behind Motu, and asks if he's dead yet. Motu responds by explaining that he'll surely be done for now... and then he turns around and realizes who asked him that question.
• Dem Bones: In "Bhoot Bangla", John the Don controls several skeletons as part of his effort to scare Motu and Patlu in the seemingly haunted mansion.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: In "Bhoot Bangla", one of the skeletons John the Don controls to scare Motu and Patlu sings a short snippet of the show's theme song.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons:
  • The baby dinosaur in "Baby Dinosaur" has little wings and the ability to breathe fire.
  • In "Dragon Motu", when Dr. Jhatka explains his new capsule to Motu and Patlu, he says that it will make Ghasitaram breathe fire like the dinosaurs in his book... which not only clearly depicts a dragon on its cover, but is labeled "Dragon Book".
• Disembodied Eyebrows: In "Alien Patlu", the extra eyes that Patlu grows from Dr. Jhatka's medicine have eyebrows that float above them.
• Disguised in Drag:
  • In "Angry Clouds", Patlu dresses up Motu as a woman in an attempt to keep the Rain God from recognizing him.
  • In "The Revenge of Crows", Ghasitaram suggests that Motu and Patlu disguise themselves as women to keep the crows from recognizing and bothering them. The crows still recognize them through the disguises and proceed to keep pecking at their heads.
• Distracted by the Sexy: In "Angry Clouds", several townspeople notice and get distracted by Motu while he is Disguised in Drag.
• Don't Try This at Home: Some airings include a "don't try this at home" disclaimer during scenes that could be considered violent.
• Domino Mask: Motu and Patlu's superhero costumes in "Super Duper Man" feature masks of this kind.
• "Double, Double" Title:
  • The episode "Khazana khazana".
  • The episode "Kabaddi Kabaddi".
• Dream Intro: "Motu Ka Birthday" begins with Motu dreaming that he is celebrating his birthday with his friends. After they finish singing "Happy Birthday to You", Motu gobbles up the entire birthday cake, causing his friends to get angry with him and pummel him.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: In "Motu Ka Birthday", the dream Motu has about his friends beating him up after he eats the whole birthday cake comes true, albeit in a different location (the dream is in Furfuri Nagar and the actual thing is in a grassy plain), at the end of the episode.
• Dub Name Change: The Sinhalese dub is titled Sutin Matin and the characters' names are changed to match.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In "Samosa Vending Machine", Motu gets very distressed by the vending machine not giving him a samosa. After he helps capture John when he tries to steal the money from the machine, however, the machine happily gives Motu some samosas as a reward.
• Eating Solves Everything: Sometimes, Motu will eat samosas which will make him stronger and help him fight his enemies.
• Elongating Arm Gag: Characters' arms will occasionally stretch to cartoonish lengths to grab stuff. For example, in "Super Duper Man", Dr. Jhatka's arm stretches when he grabs the patient whose teeth he was taking care of.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first episode, "John Banega Don", begins with short scenes introducing Motu and Patlu. Motu's scene shows him being attracted to and eating some of Chaiwala's samosas, establishing that he's a Big Eater, and Patlu's scene shows him slipping on a banana peel, establishing that he's a Butt-Monkey.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Boxer, a recurring character, is only known by his affinity for boxing.
• Everything Makes a Mushroom: In "Diamond Robbery", Motu and Patlu falling directly onto John the Don and his minions as they are riding on their motorcycle is somehow enough to create a mushroom cloud explosion.
• Exact Words:
  • At the beginning of the episode "Water Problem", Motu is about to eat some samosas as per usual when Patlu reminds him that the doctor has warned him not to eat outside foods due to a stomach problem. Motu eats the samosas given to him anyway... but he takes the shells off of them and only eats the insides. He explains to Chaiwala that he can't have outside foods, so he's eating inside foods instead.
  • In "Robot of Furfuri Nagar", the contestants of the robot competition are asked to read the robots' manuals, as "whoever drinks up the information in this manual tonight and digests it really well, only he will be able to win the competition". Motu complies by turning his manual into a soup and literally drinking it.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin:
  • The episode "Cricket League" is about... a cricket league by Motu and Patlu.
  • "Denture Alien" is about an alien with dentures.
  • "Time Machine" does indeed involve a time machine. More specifically, Dr. Jhatka invents a time machine and Motu and Patlu use it to go to the Stone Age.
• Expository Theme Tune: "Motu Aur Patlu Ki Jodi" explains who Motu and Patlu are, how they get along, and what they do.
• Eye Pop: Happens often whenever characters get scared. For example, in "Bahroopiye Patakhey", Inspector Chingum's eyes pop when he notices the fire cracker in a nearby trash can.
• Fashion Show: Motu and Patlu compete in one in "Motu Patlu Ka Fashion Show". John the Don replaces their clothes with ones made of materials that animals could target and has an animal attack them because of it (a swarm of bees sting Motu and Patlu because their clothes are laced with honey, a goats eats the clothes since they're made of leaves, a bull chases them because their clothes are red).
• Fat and Skinny: Motu and Patlu, respectively. Their names are even the Hindi words for "fat" and "skinny" respectively.
• Feather Fingers: The chickens in "Super Murgiyan" use their wings like hands to punch Motu and Patlu's gang, drive a car, and throw eggs at Inspector Chingum.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: In "Baby Dinosaur", Patlu makes a plate of samosas laced with chili to keep Motu from cooking the dinosaur egg. Motu eats one of the samosas and breathes fire as a result of its spiciness.
• Firing Day: In "Reporter", Motu takes on the job of a press reporter. His task is to go out and "cover" the story of the stray dogs. He thinks this means to cover the dogs with blankets. This misunderstanding leads to Motu getting fired on the first day of his job.
• Fleeting Demographic: Often falls into this, with many people enjoying it when they're younger and growing up to dislike it.
• Flying Car: Dr. Jhatka invents a flying car in "Pilot Training" that functions similarly to a plane.
• Flying Carpet: In "Wishing Stone", Motu and Patlu use the wishing stone to wish for a flying carpet to fly away from Dr. Jhatka, Ghasitaram, and John the Don, who are all after said stone.
• Flying Saucer: The glass man in "Glass Man Alien" owns one. Motu accidentally causes the saucer to crash-land while the glass man is riding it, causing it to stop working and thus trapping the glass man in Furfuri Nagar. The glass man gets angry at Motu for wrecking the ship.
• Follow Your Nose: At the beginning of "John Banega Don", Motu picks up the scent of samosas and floats into the air as he follows it.
• Forced Transformation: In "Onions", if the alien camera is used on people, it turns them into anthropomorphic onions, thus putting them in danger of being eaten.
• Four-Fingered Hands: The glass man in "Glass Man Alien" has four-fingered hands, whereas the human characters have the proper five fingers.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: In the episode "Soul Change", Ghasitaram tricks Motu and Patlu into entering a body-swapping machine made by Dr. Jhatka. The two confuse Chaiwala when they go to his samosa stand and he assumes that Patlu is eating samosas while Motu is reading the paper - the exact opposite of what they would normally do.
• Frying Pan of Doom: In "Motu Ke Sawaal", Motu just barely dodges a frying pan Patlu throws at him when he gets fed up with Motu asking so many questions.
• The Full Name Adventures: The Adventures of Motu Patlu, the show's full title.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Dr. Jhatka makes tons of unique scientific inventions for Motu and Patlu to use, though his inventions sometimes lead to trouble.
• Gag Nose: Motu and Patlu usually have normal noses, but the plot of the episode "Lambi Lambi Naak" is kicked off when their noses grow to an unrealistic length after they use some of Dr. Jhatka's medicine to help take care of the colds they caught.
• Gag Sub: Most of the English-subbed episodes are done by Wow Kidz and are of average quality. However, a few episodes have received fanmade gag subtitles that are nothing like the original Hindi version. These were submitted to Wow Kidz and put up on the official channel. The subs usually had naughty language and pop-culture memes (like Roblox). The only one still remaining is "Khazana khazana". The rest were removed.
• Gale-Force Sound: One episode features a scene where Motu gives such a loud whistle that it blows his friends and various objects (including cars) away like in a bad windstorm.

• Good Angel, Bad Angel: In "Motu Banega Don", Motu is thinking of ways to become a Don like John, and a devil resembling him appears and gives him the idea to rob Furfuri Nagar's bank. An angel resembling Patlu then appears and objects to the Motu devil's idea, but Motu tries to rob the bank anyway. Later in the same episode, the Motu devil and the Patlu angel reappear when Motu is given the idea to smuggle gold that is being shipped nearby.
• Gratuitous English: English words are used in the titles of episodes and within the episodes themselves. It makes sense since English is one of the official languages of India alongside Hindi and others. An example of this is the "D se Dab" commercial which uses English words to describe how to be cool.
• Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: In "Pilot Training", Motu runs off the flying car and into the air to grab his mango from a bird that has taken it. Motu does not realize he's in midair until the bird motions toward the ground to indicate this, and he falls only after realizing this.
• Green Aesop: At the end of "Snow Man", Patlu tells viewers not to do anything that may cause global warming, or otherwise it'll somehow create something to attack you, similar to the snowman who attacks Motu, Patlu, and others over the course of the episode.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: In "Super Murgiyan", Motu, after jumping up into the air to gobble up several samosas, lands on the ground and creates a big crack where he lands due to having gained more strength from the aforementioned samosas.
• Hammered into the Ground: In "Super Murgiyan", when the chickens initially become stronger from Motu overfeeding them Dr. Jhatka's special powder and attack the gang, they punch Dr. Jhatka enough times to drive him into the ground.
• Harmless Freezing: In "Ice Factory", Motu and Patlu decide to take a nap break in the water tubs that are frozen into blocks of ice. Dr. Jhatka accidentally starts up the conveyor belt, causing Motu and Patlu to be frozen into blocks of ice. Dr. Jhatka, Ghasitaram, and the manager of the ice factory notice them snoring while they are in the ice blocks, and the two are perfectly fine upon being unfrozen.
• Hat of Power: The episode "Alien Hat" features a hat that allows the wearer to get whatever they desire.
• High-Pressure Emotion: In "Bura Na Mano Masti Hai", when Inspector Chingum realizes Motu and Patlu staged the entire "mountain ghost" to scare him, his head becomes red and steam shoots out of his ears right before he angrily attacks them.
• Holiday Episode: There are episodes where the characters celebrate Holi and Diwali.
• Human Cannonball: Not a human cannonball, exactly. In "Ants Attack", one of the attacks the ants use on Motu and Patlu is to shoot some of the other ants at them through cannons.
• Humanity Ensues: The ray Dr. Jhatka invents in "Animal Converting Gadget" can turn animals into people and vice versa.
• Humanoid Aliens: The eponymous alien of the episode "Glass Man Alien" has a human-like body structure, but has a glass head and body, green organic arms and legs with Four-Fingered Hands and three-toed feet as opposed to the human characters' five fingers and toes per hand and foot, and alien antennae.
• Idea Bulb: Whenever Patlu gets an idea, a light bulb usually shows up near his head.
• Identical Stranger: "Duplicate Patlu" is about Motu and Patlu accompanying Dr. Jhatka to a hill station. A man named Taklu who looks exactly like Patlu lives there. Cue obligatory confusion over which one is which.
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: The Clip Show "Inspector Chingam & His coconut Diaries" features a transition where a bunch of coconuts cover the screen.
• Impact Silhouette: In "Time Machine", Motu and Patlu create holes that are shaped like them when they run through giant leaves.
• Inconsistent Dub: The English sub isn't consistent with its own episode titles. One example would be the episode revolving around soccer, which is "Motu Patlu Ka Ball Game" in the thumbnail and "Motu Patlu Ball Game" in the upload title.
• Inconsistent Spelling: The Japanese title is either モツパトゥル or モトゥとパトルー. The latter is more official and used on Netflix.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: "Chote Chote Motu Patlu" has Motu and Patlu accidentally get shrunk by a shrinking machine made by Dr. Jhatka.
• Inflating Body Gag: In "Scooter Race", Dr. Jhatka accidentally inserts the pump for his scooter tires into Motu's mouth, causing Motu's body to inflate to the point that he floats in the air.
• Informed Species: The fireball aliens from "Fire Ball Aliens" are an interesting variation. While they do have enough features to make them recognizable as fireballs, literally the only indication that they're aliens at all is how they're referred to as such in the title and in the episode itself; they are never stated to come from another planet, don't own any spacecraft for travelling, or anything like that.
• Ingesting Knowledge: In "Robot of Furfuri Nagar", Motu tries to learn his robot's instructions by turning the manual into a soup and ingesting it.
• Instrumental Theme Tune: The older animated series has an instrumental opening.
• Invisibility Ink:
  • The episode "Invisible Oil" is about John using a bottle of invisibility oil on Motu and Patlu.
  • Dr. Cyrus uses an invisibility spray on his assistant in "Mr Gayab".
• Invisible Holes: In "Toys Attack", the toy soldiers hit Motu and Patlu with so many arrows that, at the end of the episode, they show Inspector Chingum just how times the arrows pierced their skin by drinking some nearby pitchers of water. Sure enough, the water emerges from the holes in their skin.
• Involuntary Dance: In "Magical Flute", John the Don uses a magic flute that, when played, hypnotizes people into dancing uncontrollably.
• Irony: The plot of "Party Invitation" is triggered by an ironic occurence - Motu hasn't been given an invitation to a party that was made specifically for him.
• Jackass Genie: In "Motu Patlu Jinn", Motu and Patlu become jinns who work for John the Don. They mess with him primarily by granting his wishes in an Exact Words manner (Jon wishes for a palace and gets an upside-down one since he never specified whether the palace should be right-side up or not, and he also wishes for the lockers from the bank only to get just the lockers themselves without the money since he never specified that they should still have the money in them).
• King of Beasts: The theatrical movie being named King of Kings is likely referring to Guddu the lion, who serves as one of the film's main characters.
• Leitmotif: "Motu Aur Patlu Ki Jodi" is the leitmotif of the two main characters and it often plays in the background when they interact.
• Licensed Game: Nickelodeon India has made several online games based off of the show. They can be found here.
• Lie Detector: Dr. Jhatka invents a lie-detecting robot in the episode "Lie Detector Robot". The robot, upon hearing anyone say a falsehood, gives them a big slap. However, John the Don and his minions try to steal it and accidentally damage it in the process, causing it to slap people if they say anything true instead.
• Limited Animation: The 1980's series had cheap, stiff animation. The animation has improved with the 2012 reboot.
• Living Hat: "Alien Hat" features a living hat that listens to its wearer and gives the wearer whatever power they desire.
• Living Toys: In "Toys Attack", John the Don steals a box of toy soldiers from Samba the magician. The toy soldiers are sentient and try to help John to defeat Motu and Patlu.
• Logical Weakness: In the episode "Fire Ball Aliens". What's the best way to get rid of pesky fireball aliens? Douse them with water, of course! Even then, though, Motu and Patlu's gang have to have the water poured above the fireball aliens, and Dr. Jhatka gives the others a special chemical to use in the clouds to pull this off, since he wants to have the rain put out the fireball aliens.
• The Magic Touch: The alien in "Glass Man Alien" can turn any object or person into glass simply by touching it. He intends to turn Motu into glass because he's the one who got him stranded in Chatpata Nagar by accident.
• Magical Flutist: In "Magical Flute", among the loot that John the Don's minions stole from a store is a magic flute that, when played, causes anybody within hearing range to do an Involuntary Dance. Naturally, John utilizes the flute in yet another of his villainous schemes.
• Man-Eating Plant: In "Time Machine", a big plant tries to eat Motu. Patlu manages to get the plant to spit him out.
• Meaningful Name: "Motu" is the Hindi word for "fat" and "Patlu" is the Hindi word for "skinny".
• Meat-O-Vision: In the episode "Motu Ke Samose", Motu gulps down an entire bottle of medicine made by Dr. Jhatka, causing him to hallucinate samosas everywhere.
• Mechanical Horse: The episode "Robot Horse", as suggested by the title, is about Motu and Patlu borrowing a robotic horse from Dr. Jhatka to replace the actual horse they used to replace their bike. The robotic horse, unlike the real horse, doesn't annoy people by eating their vegetables and crops, but it does eat jewelry, and John the Don takes advantage of this by hijacking the robot horse so that he can have the jewelry.
• Medium Blending: The 1980's series mixes CGI characters and backgrounds with live-action footage.
• Mistaken for Aliens: In "Alien Patlu", Dr. Jhatka gives Patlu an injection that gives him extra eyes, which are on eyestalks on both sides of his head. The eyestalks resemble alien antennae, causing people, and eventually actual aliens, to mistake Patlu for an alien.
• Mistaken for Thief: In "Super Duper Man", Motu and Patlu manage to retrieve the bag of money from John the Don but are mistaken for the robbers who stole the money in the first place when Inspector Chingum appears. Naturally, the two set out to catch the real robbers, John the Don and his assistants.
• Mock Hollywood Sign: In "Cross Connection", Dr. Jhatka's Super-Speed capsules cause him and Ghasitaram to run so fast that they end up on Mount Everest by the end of the episode. The mountain has a Hollywood-style sign saying "MOUNT EVEREST" on it.
• Modesty Towel: Inspector Chingum is seen wearing one in "Water Problem". He's trying to take a shower, but he realizes that the water has suddenly gone from Furfuri Nagar and gives up.
• The Movie: The series has received several television movies along with a theatrical film titled Motu Patlu: King of Kings.
• Mummy: There is an episode literally titled "Mummy", where Motu and Patlu find an ancient box containing an Egyptian mummy and her mummy dog. Both the mummy and the dog come to life after Motu grabs the mummy's bracelet.
• Name and Name: Minus the "and". The official Japanese title on Netflix adds in the word "and" in Japanese.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: When Motu receives the conch shell from the alien in "Alien Shankh", the first thing he duplicates with it is a couple of nearby crocodiles. Cue Motu and Patlu being chased down by said crocodiles.
• Never Trust a Title: The music videos say they're "Available Worldwide!" in their titles, but they're actually blocked in India and neighboring countries.
• New Job Episode: There's a decent amount of episodes where Motu and/or Patlu take on a certain job, such as being taxi drivers or running a sweets shop. The jobs only last for their respective episodes.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: In "Ice Factory", Dr. Jhatka, Ghasitaram, and the ice factory's manager suddenly gain the power to breathe fire to melt the ice blocks Motu and Patlu are trapped in.
• New Year Has Come: There is at least one New Year's special which is twice the length of the usual 11-minute stories.
• Newhart Phonecall: In "John Banega Don", John gets a call informing him that the person who was supposed to receive a suitcase full of money as payment for some diamonds is still waiting for Number 1 and Number 2 to give them the suitcase. The person calling John cannot be heard over the phone at all.
• No Focus on Humans: The spin-off Guddu the Great. While the original show focuses primarily on humans, the spin-off instead focuses entirely on Guddu the lion from Motu Patlu: King of Kings and his animal friends.
• No Snack for You: In "Samosa Vending Machine", Motu inserts some money into a samosa vending machine that Chaiwala has set up to do his job while he's attending a wedding. The machine doesn't give him the samosas, instead dropping them right back on the plate contained in it right when it's about to pick them up and drop them into the outside slot. For added kicks, a kid appears and inserts his money into the machine, which not only works for him but scores him a ludicrous amount of the samosas.
• No Theme Tune:
  • The YouTube channel removes the Theme Tune. Older uploads just cut straight to the episode, but newer uploads replace the theme song with a clip of Motu and Patlu telling the viewer to subscribe to the channel. Possibly justified because those who want to hear the theme song can hear it separately.
  • The very short-lived English dub doesn't have a theme song at all.
• Non-Human Head: The aliens in "Onions" have onions for heads.
• Not-So-Forgotten Birthday: In "Motu Ka Birthday", Motu thinks his friends have forgotten about his birthday, when in reality they have a Surprise Party planned for him. They manage to give him a party by the end of the episode, where he wonders why they didn't just throw him a surprise party.
• The Notable Numeral: The theme song refers to the eponymous duo as "Motu aur Patlu ki jodi" ("the awesome twosome, Motu and Patlu").
• Nursery Rhymes: Several of these are posted on the official YouTube channel.
• Ocular Gushers: Anytime someone cries, their teardrops gush out from their eyes like raindrops.
• Officially Shortened Title: Motu Patlu is the shortened version of The Adventures of Motu Patlu.
• Only One Name: Most characters have only one name, such as Motu, Patlu, etc.
• Pinball Projectile: At the beginning of "Pilot Training", Motu has a dream where he spills hot tea on himself and ends up moving around on his bed before landing on a soccer ball. The soccer ball is sent bouncing around the walls of his house.
• The Place: Used for some of the movies, such as Motu Patlu: Octopus World and Motu Patlu: Dragon World.
• Planet Looters: Some of the aliens from the Alien Episodes attempt to steal objects from Earth, such as the pot-shaped aliens from "Motu Patlu aur Lalchi Alien" who steal stones.
• Please Subscribe to Our Channel: On YouTube, the Theme Tune is replaced with Motu and Patlu telling the viewer to subscribe to the channel.
• Portal Book: In "Magical Book", Motu finds a magic book in Dr. Jhatka's laboratory and gets himself as well as Patlu, Dr. Jhatka, Ghasitaram, and Inspector Chingum sucked into the book's world, where sentient cars and trucks populate Furfuri Nagar instead of humans.
• Power-Up Food: Motu will often become stronger after eating samosas, which can help him fight his enemies and save the day.
• Proj-egg-tile: In "Super Murgiyan", the super-powered chickens throw eggs at Inspector Chingum as he and the others chase them and try to get Boxer's car back from them.
• Pro Wrestling Episode: In "FWWE Fight", Motu participates in a wrestling match and takes on several strong wrestlers so that he can win 100,000 rupees' worth of samosas.
• Projectile Webbing: In "Super Duper Man", Motu and Patlu have the ability to shoot webs out of their hands as one of their superpowers. The webs aren't very helpful, however, as they're not sticky enough for Motu and Patlu to use them to stick to walls.
• Pun: In "Reporter", Motu takes on the job of a press reporter. His task is to go out and "cover" the story of the stray dogs. The pun is that Motu thinks this means to cover the dogs with blankets.
• Real-Place Background: The classic series often uses real-life locations for its backgrounds.
• Rhymes on a Dime: John the Don often speaks in rhyme. One of his minions, Number 1, often thinks he is making a poem and says he likes it.
• Robot Me:
  • In "Robot Chingam", Dr. Jhatka invents a robotic version of Inspector Chingum. The robot will behave just like a given person if their hat is placed on it.
  • In "Patlu Robot", John the Don uses a lookalike robot of Patlu to try to get rid of Motu.
• Rolling Attack: In "Super Murgiyan", the super-powered chickens morph into the shapes of bowling balls and roll into Motu, Patlu, and the others to attack them.
• Rube Goldberg Device: In "Tuition Teacher", Motu, who has decided to come with Patlu to get Bunty and Pinky to pay attention to their schoolwork, notices a sign on the bell on the teacher's desk saying not to press it. Motu presses it to see what it does, and it sets of a complicated Rube Goldberg device set up by Bunty and Pinky. The Rube Goldberg device culminates in Motu and Patlu being covered in flour.
• Scary Stinging Swarm:
  • In "John the Bee Man", John obtains a special light which, when flashed on anyone, causes bees to start chasing after them.
  • In "Motu Patlu Ka Fashion Show", among the clothes John swaps for Motu and Patlu's fashion show clothes are a pair of shirts made of honey. John releases a horde of bees on them so that they can be attracted to the honey and sting them.
• Second Episode Introduction: Dr. Jhatka and Ghasitaram are introduced in the second episode, "Pilot Training".
• Second-Person Attack:
  • In "Ajab Gajab Poster", Chaiwala attacks Motu because he thinks he stole his samosas. The attack is shown from Motu's perspective.
  • In "Robot of Furfuri Nagar", during the battle between the robots, Ghasitaram's robot punches Motu's robot, and the attack is shown from Motu's point of view.
  • In "Super Murgiyan", a few of the punches delivered to Motu, Patlu and their friends by the chickens are shown from the perspective of the person receiving the blow.
• Send in the Clones:
  • In "Chingam Hi Chingam", Inspector Chingum gets several clones made of himself, to help in stopping crime in Furfuri Nagar.
  • In "Motu Ke Clones", Dr. Jhatka clones Motu to give him help renovating his house.
• Sentient Vehicle: In "Magical Book", Motu and his friends are sucked into a magic book detailing how their hometown of Furfuri Nagar was once populated by sentient cars and trucks rather than humans.
• Silent Treatment: In "Motu Ke Sawaal", Patlu and his friends decide to remain quiet so that they don't have to listen to Motu constantly asking them questions. It doesn't work, since Motu notices they're not speaking and keeps asking why.
• Shipshape Shipwreck: In "Mermaid", there is a shipwreck visible in the background in one scene. The ship is mostly intact and standing upright.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title card of "Super Duper Man" is meant to resemble Superman's insignia.
  • There's another reference to Superman in "Super Murgiyan", where, when Motu describes the super-powered chickens to Inspector Chingum, he says they ate Dr. Jhatka's special medicine and then became "super chickens like Superman".
  • One episode is about Motu getting an injection of a Super-Strength serum that causes him to increase in size, similar to The Incredible Hulk. Appropriately enough, this episode is titled "The Bulk". The episode's description on Wow Kidz' YouTube channel outright mentions the Incredible Hulk, saying the episode has Motu become "huge and bulky like the famous Hulk" after Dr. Jhatka injects him with his serum.
  • In another episode, Motu's phone has an app that's similar to the app Jinn.
  • There's also an episode with references to iOS and Android.
  • Motu has a Crazy Frog ringtone in Motu Patlu 36 Ghantey Race Against Time.
• Shrink Ray: In "Chote Chote Motu Patlu", Dr. Jhatka invents a big shrink ray. Motu and Patlu, while looking for Dr. Jhatka, accidentally activate the ray and spend most of the episode trying to catch peoples' attention so that they can return to normal.
• Snowlems: In "Snow Man", global warming causes Furfuri Nagar to become extremely cold and snowy. Dr. Jhatka has a satellite up in the air which is melting the snow, but its ray hits a snowman some children built and brings it to life, causing it to chase down Motu, Patlu, and the others for trying to kill him through the melting satellite.
• Solid Clouds: In "Ghaseetaram the Cloud Man", Motu and Patlu ride on a solid cloud made by Dr. Jhatka.
• Something Person: In "Super Duper Man", Motu and Patlu's superhero identities are Motu Man and Patlu Man.
• Space Episode: The episode "Antriksh Yatra" is about Motu and Patlu being sent to outer space in a rocket built by Dr. Jhatka. They land on a planet where they save several aliens who have been frozen in place by Dark Star.
• Space Whale Aesop: At the end of "Snow Man", Patlu tells viewers not to do anything that may cause global warming, or otherwise it'll somehow create something to attack you.
• Spin-Off: It has two, titled Inspector Chingum and Guddu the Great.
• Squashed Flat: In "Car Park", Motu and Patlu are flattened by Boxer's car running over them.
• Stewed Alive: In "Time Machine", the wild tribe puts Motu and Patlu in a boiling cauldron to cook them.
• Strong Family Resemblance: The only physical feature setting Inspector Chingum apart from his dad is that the latter's facial hair is white from old age.
• Super-Speed: In "Cross Connection", Dr. Jhatka and Ghasitaram eat a couple of the former's speed capsules to outrun a car that has hit the tables that Motu, Patlu, and Bad Man's gang are on, sending them sliding out of control. Unfortunately, the speed capsules work too well, and the two wind up unable to stop running; by the end of the episode, the effects of the capsule have worn off, but the two have wound up in Mount Everest because of how fast they were running.
• Super-Strength: "The Bulk" is about Motu getting injected with a serum that makes him larger and stronger.
• Superhero Episode: Motu and Patlu become a superhero duo in "Super Duper Man".
• Surprise Party: Motu's friends try to pull a surprise birthday party for him in "Motu Ka Birthday".
• Synchronized Swarming: In "Motu Patlu Ka Fashion Show", John the Don provides Motu and Patlu with honey shirts so that he can release a bunch of bees on them. The bees form into several shapes, among them the shapes of a rocket, hands, and teeth, as they aim for and sting Motu and Patlu.
• Theme Tune: "Motu Aur Patlu Ki Jodi" serves as the main theme of the series.
• Theme Tune Extended: The Theme Tune is only around 30 seconds long when it airs on Nickelodeon India, but a longer version exists on YouTube.
• Time Machine: Dr. Jhatka invents a time machine in the episode "Time Machine". Motu and Patlu use it and are transported to the Stone Age, where they deal with a wild tribe who tries to eat them.
• Time Travel Episode: In "Time Machine", Motu and Patlu use Dr. Jhatka's time machine to go to the Stone Age.
• Title Montage: The theme song is comprised of clips from the show.
• Title Theme Drop: The Theme Tune often plays during episodes, usually at the beginning or the ending.
• Title Theme Tune: The Theme Tune is about the two main characters, so it's only a given that the title would appear several times.
• Tooth Strip: Certain characters, such as Motu and Patlu themselves, have long, undivided strips of teeth.
• Totem Pole Trench: In "Bhoot Bangla", John the Don and his minions wear a big ghost outfit that has them stacked on top of each other on the inside.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Motu's favorite food is samosas.
• Transformation Ray: The camera in "Onions" turns people into anthropomorphic onions when used on them.
• Translated Cover Version: Some dubs translate the Theme Tune, such as the Sinhalese dub changing it to "Sutin Y Matin Ki Jodi".
• Trapped in TV Land: "Magical Book" is about Motu inadvertently getting himself and his friends trapped in a magic book about Sentient Vehicles. They wind up having to help a female car named Baby to save her sister from a few cars and trucks who are bullying her.
• Treasure Map: The plot of the episode "Samudri Khajana" is started by Motu, Patlu, Dr. Jhatka, and Ghasitaram finding a map in a book. The map shows where to find a treasure chest that is buried in the sea.
• Tree Buchet: In "Motu Banega Don", John the Don, Number 1, and Number 2 are running away from Motu and Patlu, who are chasing them with pogo sticks. Motu and Patlu hit the opposite end of the cart John, Number 1 and Number 2 are using, sending them flying right onto a big, skinny tree... only for them to be catapulted off of the tree and into the sky.
• Two Shorts: Uses this format on TV.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: Motu and Patlu were brothers in the original comics. The TV show changes this so that they are friends instead.
• Unscaled Merfolk: The mermaids in "Mermaid" do not appear to have visible scales on their tailfins.
• Untranslated Title: Some of the episode titles are in Hindi, and the English-subbed episodes usually don't provide a translation.
• Vengeful Vending Machine: The vending machine in "Samosa Vending Machine" punches Motu when he hits it trying to get a samosa out of it.
• Verbal Tic: In the episode "The Devil Toothpaste", the GermiGarmi Plus toothpaste has a tendency to say "Ding-di-ding!"
• Versus Title: Season 2 episode 50b, "Motu Vs. John".
• Visible Invisibility: In "Diamond Robbery", when John the Don and his assistants use Dr. Jhatka's invisibility stickers, only their outlines are visible.
• Voices Are Mental: In "Soul Change", Motu and Patlu's voices switch to indicate which person is which when they swap bodies.
• Water Wake Up: At the end of the episode "Angry Clouds", which is all just a nightmare Motu was having, Patlu splashes some water on Motu to wake him up.
• Weapons That Suck: In "The Devil Toothpaste", Motu uses a vacuum to defeat the GermiGarmi Plus toothpaste.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Chaiwala becomes one in "Gold Samosa", where a samosa restaurant opens near his stand. Chaiwala is so determined to keep the restaurant from putting him out of business that, instead of just pulling a protest against the restaurant or doing something similar, he not only encourages John the Don when he hijacks one of the rival restaurant's trucks, but actually goes out of his way to keep Motu and Patlu from stopping John from stealing the truck.
• When Trees Attack: In "Time Machine", while Motu and Patlu are in the Stone Age, they are attacked by a big tree with a face.
• Whole-Plot Reference: "Motu Patlu aur Ramghad ke Sholay", an episode of the older animated series, is basically one big reference to the Bollywood film Sholay. An instrumental version of the Sholay song "Mehbooba Mehbooba" even plays in the episode at some point.
• Win to Exit: In the episode "The Game", Motu accidentally gets he and others trapped in Dr. Jhatka's game, and they have to win the game to get out.
• Wingding Eyes: In the New Years 2019 commercial, Motu's eyes are hearts.
• World Tour: Motu Patlu Europe Tour is a Story Arc that has Motu, Patlu, and friends travelling to different European countries, such as Italy, Switzerland, the UK, and France. The story arc has 100 episodes and four movies (Motu Patlu in the Game of Zones, Motu Patlu the Superheroes vs. Alien Ghost, Motu Patlu's Dangerous Road Trip in Switzerland, and Motu Patlu VS Dr. Destroyer).
• The X of Y: The title of the theatrical film is Motu Patlu: King of Kings.
• X-Ray Sparks: In a few episodes, the characters' skeletons become visible as they are electrocuted, such as in "Electric Shoes" when Motu and Patlu get shocked by the electric shoes.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: The episode "Ants Land" is referred to as "Antz Land" in the title of its official YouTube upload.
• You Are Number 6: John the Don's assistants are Number 1 and Number 2.
• You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: In "Angry Clouds", when Motu crashes into a building while riding a bike and trying to escape from the Rain God, Chaiwala asks why he's so scared and wonders if he saw a ghost.

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