Animation
Pocket Entertainment introduces AI-powered Pocket Toons to transform comics
MUMBAI: The comic world just got a serious upgrade. Pocket Entertainment, the parent company of Pocket FM and Pocket Novel, has launched Pocket Toons-an AI-first comics platform that blends artificial intelligence with human creativity to supercharge storytelling. With its proprietary AI studio, Blaze!, the company is rewriting the rules of comic production-pumping out high-quality episodes 20 times faster and at just a third of the usual cost.
At the heart of Pocket Toons lies Blaze!, a cutting-edge AI studio designed to enhance, not replace, artistic vision. This powerhouse technology automates background rendering, scene composition, colouring, and quality control-freeing up artists to focus on what truly matters: storytelling and character development. The result? An unprecedented production speed of three episodes per day, compared to the industry standard of one per week. That’s not just fast-it’s warp speed for comic creation.
Since its beta launch in January 2025, Pocket Toons has exploded onto the scene with over 30 comic titles, demonstrating a strong product-market fit. Readers are spending an average of 60 minutes a day on the platform, showing that AI-powered comics aren’t the future-they’re already here. To fuel this growth, Pocket Entertainment has pledged a $15 million investment in 2025, setting its sights on a bold $100 million ARR target by 2026.
Pocket Toons’ beta phase has already delivered eye-popping engagement stats:
. Users spend over 60 minutes daily on the platform.
. Paying users clock in more than two hours per day.
. Total reading time has surpassed six million minutes.
. More than 100,000 downloads recorded in just two weeks.
Pocket Entertainment co-founder & CEO Rohan Nayak sees AI as a creative enabler, not a disruptor: “The fusion of AI and human storytelling marks the beginning of a new creative era. Every major shift in entertainment—cinema, animation, digital streaming-has been fuelled by technology. AI is the next frontier, amplifying human creativity without replacing artistic expression.”
Pocket Toons SVP Shreyas Joshi echoed this sentiment, “The demand for high-quality, episodic content has never been higher. We are producing comics 20x faster at a third of the cost, making premium content more accessible than ever. Blaze! supercharges the creative workflow while keeping originality intact.”
Pocket Toons is deploying AI across multiple dimensions:
. Personalised content: AI curates and recommends comics tailored to individual preferences.
. Diverse storytelling: AI unlocks new formats, including interactive and immersive genres.
. Global reach: AI-powered analytics drive localisation and cultural adaptation at breakneck speed.
The global comics industry, valued at $8.63 billion in 2023, is on track to reach $15.38 billion by 2033, with AI at the helm of this growth. As digital reading skyrockets, AI-powered platforms like Pocket Toons are redefining the way we create and consume comics-one hyper-efficient, visually stunning episode at a time.
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.
