Film Production
Graphic India raises $2.8 million to create mobile content
MUMBAI: Graphic India has closed a new seed-financing round of $2.8 million.
The financing was led by CA Media, the Asian investment arm of Peter Chernin’s The Chernin Group that had picked up a stake in Graphic India in 2013, and Michael Maher’s New York based Start Media. The other investors in the seed-financing include Backflip Studios Julian Farrior and Dale Thoms.
The funds raised will be utilised to create content in English, Hindi, Tamil and other Indian languages for the Indian youth to consume on their mobile devices. India has more than 850 active mobile connections and 550 million people under the age of 25.
Graphic India is looking at launching a new wave of enduring characters and mythic heroes for audiences in India and around the world.
Graphic India CEO and co-founder Sharad Devarajan said, “The next Steven Spielberg, JK Rowling, Stan Lee or Miyazaki exists somewhere in India, ready to change the world through their stories. At Graphic, we will find these breakthrough talents and give them the resources and the digital platform to share their creativity with the world. This new financing will expand our content offering and allow us to create India’s premiere mobile platform for comics and animation – engaging and building a passionate community of superhero, sci-fi and mythology fans through Graphic’s content and characters.”
Over the next few months, Graphic India will unveil a number of digital products and apps in India to build direct engagement with the growing community of comic book and animation fans in the country.
“We have always believed in the immense potential of Graphic India. An amalgamation of talent and creativity, the characters, heroes and stories from Graphic India, tap into the unique ingenuity and culture of India, but appeal to audiences worldwide. With smart phones increasingly becoming the preferred medium of entertainment for the youth and the ever increasing consumer reach of mobiles in India, the move towards expanding their offering and creating content for smart phones and tablets will give them with a significant boost and enthuse the next generation of comic buffs,” added Chernin Asia Media Group COO Rajesh Kamat.
Founded in January 2013, by Devarajan, Gotham Chopra and Suresh Seetharaman, Graphic India had previously raised $2.5 million in initial seed financing from CA Media.
Film Production
Disney to cut 1,000 jobs under new chief executive
The entertainment giant’s freshly installed boss inherits a restructuring already in motion, with marketing and corporate roles bearing the brunt
CALIFORNIA: Walt Disney is preparing to slash up to 1,000 jobs in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the entertainment giant’s freshly installed chief executive moves swiftly to trim fat and tighten the ship.
The cuts, less than 1 per cent of Disney’s global workforce of 231,000, will fall hardest on marketing and corporate roles. The planning, notably, began before D’Amaro formally took the top job in March, suggesting the new boss inherited a restructuring already in motion rather than one of his own making.
Driving the push is Asad Ayaz, Disney’s newly appointed chief marketing officer, who in January assumed command of a unified, company-wide marketing operation spanning film, television and streaming. His consolidation drive has been given a suitably cinematic internal name: Project Imagine.
The move is modest by Disney’s recent standards. Between 2023 and 2025, under former chief executive Bob Iger, the company eliminated roughly 8,000 positions across several brutal rounds of cuts, saving $7.5 billion, comfortably exceeding its own targets. As recently as June 2025, several hundred more jobs were axed across Disney Entertainment, hitting film and television marketing, publicity, casting, development and corporate finance.
Disney’s structural headaches are well-documented: shrinking streaming margins, a weakened box office, and fierce competition from Amazon and YouTube gnawing at its flanks. The company is merging its Disney+ and Hulu teams into a single app, has brought in consultants from Bain & Co to guide its broader cost strategy, and is betting heavily on digital growth.
The wider entertainment industry offers little comfort. Sony Pictures, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have all taken the knife to their workforces in recent years, and further cuts loom if Paramount’s acquisition of Warner goes through.
For D’Amaro, the message is clear: there will be no honeymoon period. The magic kingdom still has some cost-cutting spells left to cast.
