Anime is a beloved art form that touches people from all over the world. The anime fanbase is completely global now. As a result, it is no surprise that other countries would be willing to create anime of their own, such as China and South Korea.
Studio Durga is in one of these countries, being India's very first anime studio. With one film project under their belt thus far, this anime studio is giving Indian animation fresh representation and proving that India has a lot to offer in the form of hand-drawn animation.
About Studio Durga
Studio Durga was founded in 2017 and is based in New Delhi, India. The studio was created to produce animation in the style of anime but without the need for international collaboration. Their target audience is young adults and teenagers. The studio was established after anime bloomed in popularity amongst Indian youth, and thus an idea for an anime set in India (named Karmachakra: Episode Zero) was set in motion. There was then a need for the story to be animated in anime style, and so Studio Durga was consequently formed.
Studio Durga was founded by Rajorshi Basu. He is the director, writer, and producer of Karmachakra. He is one of four animators at the studio, but he is not solely concentrated on animation as music and film production was his initial field of study as a graduate of the Berklee College of Music (which he attended on scholarship).
Karmachakra: Episode Zero
Karmachakra, which translates to "a cycle of action and reaction", is a mystery drama that follows a young orphaned girl trying to unravel the truth about herself and her family. It is entirely set in a fictional version of India. The inspiration for this film stems from Hindu mythology, psychology, and cybertechnology. The first 20 minutes of Karmachakra are available on YouTube. It was made in the Bengali and Hindi languages with a crew of seven people and is intended to be a series.
The film was well-received, earning accolades at the 2020 Independent Shorts Awards in Los Angeles for Rajorshi Basu, the director, writer, and producer of the film. These include the Platinum Award for Best Animation Short, Honourable Mention for Best Webseries/TV Pilot, and Honorable Mention for Best Original Score.
Karmachakra earned high praise in the Indian community. The mature tone of the film was new to Indian audiences, as anime was typically viewed as entertainment for children. Many Indian viewers have declared the film as an advancement in Indian animation.
The Challenges
Despite the demo trailer for Karmachakra being uploaded to YouTube in 2017, there was initially no interest and the trailer was removed. When Weathering With You and Dragon Ball Super: Broly garnered excitement in India, only then did the studio start to see the potential of an Indian anime.
Basu stated that the first challenge the studio faced was finding animators, claiming that hand-drawn animation is a "lost art". Because of that, it was very difficult to find animators who were willing to work with him. Even though the team at Studio Durga is very small, their first project Karmachakra was finished after several years and was a resounding success. The studio has four hand-drawn animators, which is rare in India. It is this that makes Studio Durga unique, according to Basu. Basu has stated that he wants to create a platform for young talent to showcase their skills.
Another challenge the studio has faced has to do with distribution, as India does not have a real distributor of anime. Although anime is available on platforms such as Netflix and Crunchyroll, and Disney+, Hotstar (a channel with a massive audience in India) does not air any anime. This challenge was interpreted as a gap in the market for Studio Durga, as there was a "solid market and demand for anime in India, but there's hardly any supply". Basu asserts that the means of distribution is very important. For example, if Netflix or Amazon Prime is involved, they will see the film as independent and will ask about similar films that were successes with the public. There is no distributor of mature animated content in India, despite the demand for it; this is a major stumbling block for the studio.
Completely Made in India
Japan and India have had collaborations in the past on projects such as Ramayana and Batu Gaiden. Indian characters have even been featured in various anime such as Amitabh Kapoor in Darker Than Black and Silat in Berserk. However, Basu wanted Studio Durga to be the first of its kind. He wanted to create an anime that is by Indians, for Indians; an entirely Indian-produced series dubbed as India's first anime.
Source: Studio Durga; Crunchyroll