India’s animation renaissance

Sharad Devarajan, CEO & Co-Founder, Graphic India, writes about how the opportunity to create global character entertainment franchises from India has never been greater, especially in the pandemic times when people are mostly confined to their homes. 

With over 600 million people under the age of 25, the youth of India will transform not only the country’s entertainment landscape, but also the world’s. Despite having the world’s largest youth market, India has one of the smallest shares of the over US$100 billion annual global character and entertainment licensing industry. Yet, the opportunity to create global character entertainment franchises from India has never been greater. 

During the pandemic, there’s been a huge demand for new content of every type by consumers stuck at home – be it live action, documentary or animation. Fortunately, animation is something that can still move forward in production through remote working systems even during unpredictable lock-downs, which is why it makes a compelling option for all platforms as part of their content portfolio strategy. We had two fairly large productions in the pipeline last year when the shutdowns began and still managed to work effectively through the pandemic, with remote teams minimising the disruptions to production. 

However, in India we need to break the perception that animation is just a kids’ genre. Animation should be seen as a medium and not a genre. Similar to other creative mediums such as art, music, novels, live-action films or television, it is a tool for expression that can be used by all types of creators to target all types of audiences. 

Indian GEC audiences, who may not have been as open to non-kids’ animation before the pandemic, may find themselves willing to experiment with new content during this time because live action releases have slowed down. This creates a moment to shape new experiences and hopefully create new fans that last far beyond the pandemic. 

Graphic India’s recently produced streaming series, “The Legend of Hanuman” has been a great step forward for the eco-system and we are honoured and humbled by the positive responses we have received. Also, to have it be the first animated Hotstar Special is a responsibility and honour we all took very seriously when crafting the show. The amazing team at Disney+ Hotstar really supported our vision to create the first high-quality 3D animated series that resonated with audiences of all ages – from 8 to 80 – and did justice to the complex subject matter of this epic myth. It reinforces our belief that animation has the potential to be enjoyed by wide audiences in India. 

In the same way, the West has created superheroes or Japan and Korea have exported Anime, Manga, Manhwa, India has the potential to become one of the biggest creative exporters of pop-culture in the years ahead. It is time to unleash the mythic power of a nation of storytellers across animation, comics and gaming and ensure that the spark of a new creative renaissance has just begun!