Disney India Plans to Dive Headfirst Into Adult Animation
Following the success of The Legend of Hanuman, which was derived from the ancient Indian epic The Ramayana, Indian streamer Disney+ Hotstar is planning a major push into adult animation.
“There are so many stories around ‘The Ramayana’ that remain to be told. We feel that this is a franchise, which has lots of storytelling left, and we want to really scale up and build this world in an exciting manner,” Gaurav Banerjee, head, content, Disney+ Hotstar and HSM (Hindi-language speaking markets) Entertainment Network at broadcaster Disney Star, told Variety.
Photo: Disney Hotstar
Next up, Hotstar will team up with Graphic India for another adult animation series, which will be unveiled in the next six months.
“It’s an extension of a great Indian franchise, certainly aimed at adults, complex storytelling, great action, and a world that Indian entertainment fans are familiar with and they have deeply liked,” Banerjee said. “We’re taking something big that has happened in the live-action space and giving it an animation rendition.”
Photo: Disney+ Hotstar
More Content Is on the Way
Meanwhile, Disney+ Hotstar has Karan Johar’s Showtime on the horizon. The series stars Emraan Hashmi, Mouni Roy, Shriya Saran, and Naseeruddin Shah.
“Karan is creating something that he’s really, really familiar with – Bollywood, nepotism, drama,” Banerjee said.
Photo:amplitude.com
Additionally, the high seas drama Lootere, season 2 of The Trial, season 4 of Criminal Justice, a new season of Special Ops, and the final season of Aarya will soon arrive on the streamer.
Outside of the North Indian language, Hindi, Disney+ Hotstar is also developing content in South India’s Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam languages. The next three Indian languages likely to be commissioned are Bengali, Marathi, and Kannada.
Cricket Remains Central
Finally, there is cricket. Disney Star holds the Indian TV and digital rights to men’s and women’s global events conducted by the International Cricket Council from 2024 through 2027. Last year’s Men’s World Cup was a massive success for the company.
Photo: Forbes
“Live cricket brings in a huge volume, also, because it’s free to users. And, therefore, it creates a massive top of the funnel, which is great for recruiting people to entertainment. And honestly, this thing about live cricket being central to building scale in streaming is something that Hotstar has pioneered over the last nine years,” Banerjee said.
Still, following the loss of the lucrative Indian Premier League, Hotstar has seen an erosion of its subscriber count.
Photo: BBC
“The biggest thing that we have done is strengthen our entertainment portfolio. Because we believe that in a world where we want to chase growth. But we also need to be a profitable, sustainable business. A large part of that story will come from building scale of our own IP. And I think that’s been a really large area of focus for us,” Banerjee said.
An Uncertain Future
With a merger with Ambani Reliance potentially on the horizon, the future of Disney’s India business could be bright. For now, however, it is awash in uncertainty.
FILE PHOTO: Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, poses for photographers before addressing the annual shareholders meeting in Mumbai, India, June 12, 2015. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade
Zee Entertainment’s reneging on a cricket licensing deal could cut the valuation of Disney+ Hotstar in half and jeopardize the Reliance merger.
Despite all of this, Disney Star is the largest TV and entertainment network in India.
Photo: Hindustan Times
“India is uniquely placed as the only major media market in the world where television is also growing, and not just digital. So not only are we leaders in this category. We’re leaders in a category that is growing,” Banerjee said, adding that the growth is due to the Star branded channels across Indian languages that have stood the test of time. “We are always thinking about what do we need to do to grow the luster of these brands to ensure that we have more and more and bigger hits there,” Banerjee said. “The biggest things that we are focused on on a daily basis is our ability to create the big hits.”
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