Behind the Screen: The Untold Story of Indian Animators Shaping Global Entertainment

While animation is still widely seen as something meant for children in India, a silent creative force has been reshaping the global entertainment industry. Indian animators, often underappreciated in their own country, are playing key roles in building the visual worlds of major international films, series, and video games.

As studios around the world increasingly rely on Indian talent, a striking contrast stands out: these artists are gaining global relevance, even as they remain largely unrecognised at home. 

Tracing the Journey: How Animation Took Root in India

Globally, animation began making waves in the early 1900s, with landmark creations like El Apóstol in 1917 and Disney’s Steamboat Willie in 1928 setting the stage for the medium’s rise. India entered the scene more modestly, with The Banyan Deer (1957) produced by the Films Division marking one of the earliest known efforts. In the decades that followed, animator Ram Mohan emerged as a key figure, often credited with shaping India’s animation identity. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, animation in India largely remained confined to state-backed educational films, awareness campaigns, and experimental work, with limited public reach.

The fundamental shift began in the 1990s, when India’s economic liberalisation and the entry of cable TV channels dramatically expanded demand for animated content. As channels like Cartoon Network and Pogo sought localised versions of their programming, Indian studios found new ground. Companies like Toonz Animation (founded in 1999 in Kerala), Maya Entertainment, and Crest Animation became global outsourcing hubs.

A FICCI-EY report valued the Indian animation and VFX sector at ₹107 billion in 2022, forecasting growth to ₹180 billion by 2025. Today, with over 120,000 professionals and a substantial share of the international animation pipeline, India has become a vital contributor to the industry. However, domestic recognition for this creative workforce is still lagging.

Frames of Influence

Once confined to the footnotes of international credits, Indian animators are now emerging as creative forces shaping some of the world’s most celebrated visual stories. Visionaries like Kireet Khurana have pushed boundaries within India, blending live-action and animation in films like Toonpur Ka Superrhero, while utilising the medium to address social issues.

Vanitha Rangaraju took her skills abroad, helping to bring DreamWorks’ Shrek to life, a landmark moment in animated filmmaking. Their journeys reflect a larger shift, where Indian talent is not just executing tasks but leading the storytelling process itself.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jahnvi Shah North (@januscribbles)

That momentum continues with figures like Shilpa Ranade, whose poetic, hand-drawn film Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya captivated festival circuits with its charm and depth. At the other end of the spectrum is Jahnvi Shah, who helped coordinate production for Pixar’s Inside Out 2, after working on films like No Time to Die and Wonder Woman 1984.

Young prodigies such as Shubhavi Arya, making award-winning stop-motion films as a teenager, and VFX experts like Alroy Jovi, who lent his skills to Harry Potter and Men in Black 3, signal a future where Indian artists aren’t just contributors to global animation; they’re central to its evolution.

Why Indian Animation Still Hasn’t Had Its Golden Age

Despite having the technical talent and global exposure, Indian animation continues to hit a creative ceiling, largely due to deeply rooted, uniquely Indian challenges. This creative stagnation was thrown into sharper relief when the Studio Ghibli aesthetic went viral across Indian digital spaces. Social media feeds became flooded with AI-generated scenes of misty chai cups, Ghibli-style train rides through monsoons, and floating houses above Mumbai skylines, visually charming, yet often hollow imitations.

Many Indian animators voiced concern, not just about the uncritical mimicry of Ghibli, but also about how AI tools are flattening cultural nuance and replacing handcrafted animation with derivative, soulless visuals. Another significant roadblock is the industry's near-total dependence on foreign outsourcing. Indian studios are often hired to execute someone else’s vision, frame by frame, without any room for creative authorship.

As a result, while Indian animators may have helped build Frozen’s snow or crafted The Lion King’s fur, the stories themselves never come from here. There's little incentive or funding for original Indian narratives, especially those that cater to adult or cross-generational audiences. When was the last time an Indian animated series tackled caste, climate change, or urban loneliness?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Karadi Tales | Children’s Book Publisher (@karaditales)

Another stark issue is cultural perception. Animation in India is still seen as “kids’ stuff”, a form of visual babysitting rather than serious cinema. This has a domino effect. Studios are reluctant to take risks. Parents discourage children from pursuing animation as a career. Funding bodies don’t see the medium as bankable unless it has toys or lunchboxes attached.

Moreover, a majority of animation education in India remains under-equipped, with students often learning outdated software or generic design without any exposure to narrative construction or world-building. Add to that the harsh realities of contract labour, unstable job security, and low pay, and you get a creative workforce that’s technically brilliant but systemically stifled. Until India starts respecting animation as an art form, not just an export service, its animators will remain world-class workers without a world of their own.

The Road Ahead for Indian Animation

Indian animation is at a crucial juncture; its artists contribute significantly to global entertainment, yet their creative presence remains largely invisible at home. With the rise of OTT platforms and a growing demand for fresh, diverse storytelling, there's now an opportunity for India to build its own animation identity rooted in local narratives.

However, to move beyond being a back-end service hub, the industry must invest in original content, overhaul animation education to focus on storytelling rather than just software, and challenge the perception that animation is only for children. If these gaps are addressed, Indian animation can evolve from a silent contributor to a powerful creative force with stories that resonate both locally and globally.