Sangram Borse embarks on a new chapter, pursuing directing and creative opportunities across global animation

MUMBAI: Animation directors rarely stay tethered to one studio once they have built a reputation across continents, and Sangram Borse has just proven the point. After three and a half years at Climb Studios, where he led the creative development of original animated films and series and helped shape the studio’s broader creative vision, Borse is stepping out to work independently, opening himself up to writing, directing and creative direction roles with studios, streamers, producers and creators around the world.

The Climb Studios stint was substantial rather than incidental. Borse directed multidisciplinary creative teams across development, design, storyboarding and production, built story worlds from the ground up, and forged partnerships with international studios, broadcasters, distributors and co-production partners, work that sat at the intersection of creative leadership and global business development. That the studio trusted him to shape long-term creative strategy for its original animation slate says as much about his range as any single project credit could.

That range, in fairness, was already well established before Climb Studios. Borse trained at Sheridan College in Canada and spent three years as a senior animator on Disney television staples including Mickey Mouse Shorts, Kick Buttowski, Wander Over Yonder and Jake and the Neverland Pirates, a grounding in big-studio craft that few Indian animation leaders can claim. He then spent nearly a decade as founder and creative head of Regh Animation Studio, working with international clients such as Warner Brothers, Six Point Harness and Big Jump Productions, while also contributing to landmark Indian productions including The Legend of Baahubali and Chakra: The Invincible, Stan Lee’s first Indian superhero project. Award-winning short films 1001 Days and Emsahar, made with the Doha Film Institute, and a co-directing credit on the feature JG and the BC Kids round out a filmography that spans children’s entertainment, prestige shorts and franchise television in roughly equal measure.

Borse has also kept a foot in newer, more experimental territory alongside his studio work. He served as show director on an unannounced animated series for Mako Kids, shaping storytelling and character performances designed to teach positive values through humour and adventure, and worked as creative development supervisor on Project Ollie for KidsAI, billed as the world’s first animated series designed to teach children the ethical use of ai. Between a legacy Disney pedigree and a hand in shows built explicitly around emerging technology themes, Borse’s résumé reads like a fairly complete map of where children’s animation has been and where it appears to be heading next.

For studios and streamers hunting for someone who can take an animated project from concept to global-standard completion, that combination, big-studio training, founder-level entrepreneurship, and current work on genuinely new formats, is a rare one to find in a single hire. Borse’s own pitch is characteristically direct: if you need a writer, director or creative director who can shepherd animated work from idea to screen while meeting international creative standards, he is open for the conversation.