Animation
Escotoonz to work on international children rights 2D animation series
NEW DELHI: Escotoonz Animation Studio, a part of the Escorts Group, has signed a co-production deal with Europe’s CyberDodo Productions for a 2D animation series on children’s rights.
The Faridabad-based 2D animation company will work on pre-production and production of the 36-epsiode five-minute series titled`CyberDodo’.
aConfirming the development, Escotoonz head of production, Alice Manuel said, “We will be working pre-production with CyberDodo Productions apart from handling the entire animation production. The post production will be handled by another animation studio in the UK. Each episode is of five minutes and it primarily talks about children rights. Each episode will have a different script.”
According to Escotoonz production manager Mahesh Newalkar, the animation production is expected to finish by March next year. The studio, which was launched in July 2001, had recently finished its first international animation production ‘King’. The 13-episode 22-minute series was commissioned by Canada’s Funbag Animation Studio. Besides Escotoonz and Funbag, Decode Entertainment was the other co-producer. The series has been being premiered on the Family channel in Canada.
Escotoonz is currently working only for international markets. “We are doing a mix of service-oriented work as well as co-production, so we have a share of the property rights,” added Manuel. It had earlier produced animation for advertisements and documentary films after setting up its
operations.
On the structuring of the organisation, Manuel said, “It’s a mix of fixed and variable or contractual model. For instance, if we have an employee on 12-month contract who can work on a new project after the previous one finishes, we extend the contract for another period. Most of our 195-odd team is in animation department – in clean-up, creative supervision or managerial role, but it is tough to give the break-up in terms of fixed or variable model.”
MUMBAI: History is getting a fresh rewrite this time with code, creativity and a longer arc in mind. Lens Vault Studios has announced its first original production, Bal Tanhaji, marking the official entry of the newly launched, tech-driven studio into India’s evolving entertainment landscape.
Arriving six years after the box-office success of Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, the new project expands the universe rather than revisiting familiar ground. Bal Tanhaji explores uncharted narrative territory, signalling a clear shift from one-off cinematic spectacles to long-format, world-building storytelling designed for digital-first audiences.
At the heart of this ambition is Prismix Studios, the in-house generative AI and technology arm powering the creative engine behind the show. The studio’s approach blends storytelling with next-generation tools, aiming to reimagine how Indian IPs are created, scaled and sustained beyond theatrical releases.
For Lens Vault Studios chairman Ajay Devgn the new venture represents a deliberate step beyond traditional cinema. The focus is firmly on building long-form intellectual properties across fiction and non-fiction, tailored to changing viewing habits and platform-led consumption. He said the studio intends to explore formats that remain largely untapped, while drawing on the team’s experience with large-scale cinematic storytelling.
Lens Vault Studios founder and CEO Danish Devgn echoed that sentiment, describing Bal Tanhaji as the studio’s first generative-AI-led IP and the starting point of a broader vision. The aim, he noted, is to carry forward the legacy of the Tanhaji universe while connecting with younger audiences through a blend of powerful narratives and emerging technologies.
With Bal Tanhaji, Lens Vault Studios is planting its flag early not just launching a show, but signalling a larger play for cinematic universes that live, grow and evolve across platforms. If this debut is any indication, the future of Indian storytelling may be as much about imagination as it is about innovation.
