Mumbai, June 13, 2024: Just in time for the biggest global celebration of animation at Annecy, Graphic India announced today that for the first time in Indian history not just 1 but 2 of their original Indian animated shows have reached the Top #1 and #2 Spots on Disney+ Hotstar’s Top 10 show rankings for the country as of Friday June 7, 2024.
This is an unprecedented milestone for Indian animation as there has never been a moment where two animated shows topped the Indian charts and surpassed all live action productions.
Sharad Devarajan, the Co-Creator, Producer and showrunner of both shows commented, “Over the last two decades my mission has been to recruit, train and showcase India’s amazing artists, writers, creators and disruptors at our studio with one defining mission – to help transform the perception of India in animation from being an ‘outsourcer’ to being ‘the source’ – to create stories, heroes and characters that are uniquely Indian but spark the imaginations of audiences all across both India and the world. That’s the goal of our company and the personal driving mission of my life. The rise of India’s animated pop-culture renaissance has just begun.”
Graphic India’s hit series, The Legend of Hanuman, previously reached #1 on the streaming charts for each of its 3 previous seasons, becoming the only 3D-animated show to ever make the list. The most recent Season 4 was launched June 5th and quickly rose to the #1 spot on June 7.th The Legend of Hanuman was created by Sharad Devarajan and Jeevan J. Kang, with a story by Devarajan and directed and produced by Jeevan J. Kang and Navin John at Graphic India.
In just its first week Season 4 received a staggering, 6.1 Million views according to independent media consulting and data analytics group, Ormax Media, which tracks viewership figures across the major Indian platforms. Ormax also estimated the previous season 3 of The Legend of Hanuman, which released in January 2024, had 11.4 million viewers in the first 3 weeks of release with 3.4 Million viewers in its first week. Season 4 is now tracking much higher and nearly double that number in the first week.
Baahubali: Crown of Blood, originally launched on May 17th has repeatedly moved up to the #1 spot on the platform since then as each episode is released weekly. Season 1 of the series is a trailblazer as the first original 2D-animated show to ever appear in the top of the streaming charts. The series was created by acclaimed filmmaker, S.S. Rajamouli (‘RRR’) and Devarajan and produced by Rajamouli, Devarajan & Shobu Yarlagadda, with a story by Devarajan and directed and produced by Kang and John at Graphic India.
Ormax Media estimated that Baahubali: Crown of Blood had 11 million viewers in the first 3 weeks of release.
Creator of the Baahubali universe, S.S. Rajamouli, previously commented on the series, “The world of Baahubali is vast, and the film franchise was the perfect introduction to the same. However, there’s so much more to explore, and that’s where Baahubali: Crown of Blood comes into the picture. Arka Mediaworks and I are delighted to collaborate with Sharad Devarajan, Disney+Hotstar and Graphic India as we reshape Indian animation for a broader audience beyond kids.”
Both shows achieved new streaming milestones and on June 7th 2024, The Legend of Hanuman, was ranked #1 and Baahubali: Crown of Blood was ranked #2 in the Disney+Hotstar platform.
The two shows firmly establish Graphic India as the most successful animation producer in India, with three separate launches (The Legend of Hanuman Season 3 and Season 4; and Baahubali Crown of Blood Season 1) each reaching the #1 ranking on Disney+Hotstar upon release in just the first half of 2024.
Prior to Graphic India, animation in India was seen largely as just a niche kids-genre with most locally produced animation projects targeting audiences under 10-years old. Graphic India focused on animation that resonated with older audience through sophisticated storylines, complex drama, higher quality, and deep characterization. In the same way countries like Japan and Korea have looked at animation as an older storytelling medium, Graphic India proved that older, mass-market, Indian audiences were not only open to watching animation, they were excited for it. By topping all live action original streaming shows, the Company hopes to spark a creative renaissance in original Indian animation for the nation and the world.
Devarajan and Kang have been frequent collaborators across comics and animation, and also previously worked with Marvel to create the Indian Spider-Man, Pavitr Prabhakar. That character was recently featured in the latest Spider-Man film, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” The film set a milestone in India becoming the highest grossing animated theatrical film ever released in the country.
At this year’s Annecy conference, Graphic India will be announcing its more aggressive push into theatrical animation with a number of projects in development. The Company recently announced a new English-language animated film called, “Cinnamon,” with acclaimed author and creator, Neil Gaiman. Based on Gaiman’s short story about an Indian Princess and talking tiger who journey into a fantastical jungle, the film will mark a return to animated film from the creator of the Academy Award nominated, Coraline. The screenplay is being adapted by Gaiman and Devarajan with Sarena Khan and Sujatha SV. It will be directed by Kang.