Time is Ripe for India: Munjal Shroff on Co-Productions and Globalising Indian IPs

By Pickle October 18, 2024

Munjal Shroff, Director & COO of Graphiti Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. discusses India’s animation potential, the success of Bharat Hain Hum, and the future of global collaborations at MIPCOM 2024.

Munjal Shroff, Director & COO of Graphiti Multimedia Pvt. Ltd, is a seasoned veteran with nearly three decades of experience in the animation industry. As he approaches his 30-year milestone early next year, Shroff reflects on India’s burgeoning potential to create compelling global content, highlighted by the immense success of Deepa & Anoop and the groundbreaking new series Bharat Hain Hum. In a recent conversation with Pickle, he shares his insights on the upcoming MIPCOM 2024, the expanding opportunities for Indian intellectual properties, and the ambitious journey of Bharat Hain Hum, a series that aims to resonate not just in India, but around the world.

What is your objective at MIPCOM 2024?

We are exploring opportunities for co-production and co-development, as well as investing in new shows or established IPs that are transitioning into new seasons.

We are also seeking distribution for our new series Bharat Hain Hum (We Are India), part of the Krish, Trish, and Baltiboy franchise.

Apart from this, we have two other shows in our catalogues for which we are seeking distribution: Yom, an action adventure series based on an animal-inspired yoga avatar, and the award-winning movie series Krish, Trish, and Baltiboy, which are exquisitely animated and based on folk stories and folk paintings.

To ensure the success of Made in India Show the World, we must establish a system for our intellectual property (IP) that originates from India. Is time ripe for India now?

Yes, absolutely!! The timing cannot be better. India has now established a co-production fund that allows shows to receive up to 30% of their budget from the country. Further Indian studios have a proven track record of delivering high-quality animation for some of the best shows that we see around the world. Graphiti has been working with other international partners for over two decades. We have developed and successfully produced shows with Cartoon Network, Disney, Nickelodeon, Discovery, Honest Entertainment, SABC, and more recently with Mattel and Netflix.

I believe that when international co-producers look at Indian studios just as a service partner, they are not exploiting the full potential of that relationship.

Graphiti has been an innovator with Deepa & Anoop, creating and designing products from India to the world. Now this tagline is taking off…

Our Netflix Original Deepa and Anoop that was produced with Mattel is a strong testament to that belief—Create in India for the World. I am deeply humbled by the fact that Season 1 of the show was nominated alongside shows like Sesame Street and Ada Twist, Scientist at Kidscreen 2023, and for us to win not one but four Kidscreen Awards (Best New Show, Best Inclusivity, Best Music, and Best Voices) was unbelievable! Deepa and Anoop Season 2 received another nomination for Best Show in 2024. I believe you will see more such success come out of India.

Tell us about the making of Bharat Hai Hum. Is it the most unique IP from India?

Bharat Hain Hum has been our most ambitious production. The story of India’s 400-year freedom struggle is a glorious story with thousands of people sacrificing their youth, their wealth, their dreams, and laying down their lives to free India. A team of dedicated research scholars led the series, conducting exhaustive research. We setup a team of passionate writers who took this exhaustive research and crafted each episode with a very crisp telling. We also conducted thorough research on the show’s artistic elements. Our pre-production team did extensive research on costumes, architecture, weapons, armor, flora, and fauna. The pre-production level for each episode significantly surpasses that of a typical 52-part series. Over 700 characters and more than 3,000 backgrounds were created for the show. As you can see, the production schedule is quite extensive.

The show has had a tremendous launch! It is India’s largest multi-platform and multi-lingual release. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video simultaneously launched the series in 150+ countries worldwide. This is a global first! It is an inspiring series based on heroes of the Indian Freedom Struggle. It’s a 52-part series of 11-minute episodes and is available in 19 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, and Korean. In the first week, the series ranked among the top 10 shows on Netflix. Doordarshan’s 28 channels nationwide broadcasted the series on Sunday morning prime time. The series delivered strong ratings on these channels and is currently being rerun.

When will the new season of Bharat Hai Hum launch?

We plan to launch Season 2 in November. I am happy to share that all our partners for Season 1—Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and the 28 channels—will continue to be our partners. We will be announcing additional partners and new platforms soon, so stay tuned.