India makes more than 1,500 films every year, the most in the world. We have Bollywood blockbusters, South Indian spectacles, indie films, and endless shows on OTT platforms. But there’s one big gap: we don’t have a single dedicated animation studio like Pixar, DreamWorks, or Studio Ghibli. For such a huge film-producing country, that feels strange. Why has animation not found a proper home here?
The easy explanation is that “Indians don’t watch animation.” But that’s not true. Whenever Hollywood animation films release here, Frozen, Kung Fu Panda, Minions, or Inside Out 2, they do really well in theatres and later on streaming. Audiences clearly enjoy them. The real problem is that Indian animated films haven’t reached that same level of quality, storytelling, or vision. Hollywood treats animation as cinema for everyone. In India, most animation is still made and marketed as “cartoons for kids.”
Money also plays a big role. In countries like the US or Japan, animated films make money in many ways, toys, games, theme parks, sequels. The box office is only one part of the business. In India, that support system doesn’t exist. Multiplexes don’t give Indian animation films prime slots, and there’s no strong market for toys or merchandise. So producers see animation as a high-risk business compared to live-action films, which are cheaper to market and can rely on star power for instant attention.
And that’s another issue, Indian film industry is built around stars. A Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan film will sell tickets before anyone even knows the story. Animation can’t work like that. It needs strong characters, built from scratch, who can live on for years. Studios like Pixar or Ghibli put decades into creating such worlds. Indian producers are usually unwilling to invest that kind of time and patience into something that doesn’t come with celebrity value attached.
Still, things are changing. A huge anime fanbase is growing in India. Young audiences are already watching Japanese anime and Hollywood animated films with the same passion they show for live-action blockbusters. The audience is ready. It’s the industry that’s lagging behind.
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For India to finally have its own Pixar moment, a few things need to happen. A filmmaker or studio will have to think long-term, not just about making one film, but about building a whole pipeline of stories and characters. We need writers and directors trained in animation storytelling, not just outsourcing work for foreign projects. And we need investors who are willing to put money into original ideas that can turn into IPs, sequels, and franchises.
India doesn’t lack stories. It doesn’t lack talent or audiences either. What it lacks is vision and commitment. Animation here has always been treated as a side experiment, not as a serious form of cinema. But the potential is massive. The day one filmmaker or studio decides to take that leap of faith, India could finally create its own Pixar moment. And when that happens, it won’t just change Indian cinema, it will change the way the world sees stories coming from here.
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