Cosmos-Maya CEO Anish Mehta exits after decade leading Indian animation studio

Dabangg

Anish Mehta. CEO of Indian animation studio Cosmos-Maya is stepping down after a decade at the helm of the company.

He is expected to announce a new venture sometime this year.

Under Mehta’s leadership, the Mumbai-based firm has expanded from a 30-member team to an animation powerhouse of more than 1,200, behind titles including Selfie With Bajrangi, Titoo and Dabangg.

Mehta took over as CEO and minority shareholder in Cosmos-Maya in 2012 and led the studio’s foray into original Indian animation IP creation with the launch of Motu Patlu on Nickelodeon India that same year.

Anish Mehta

He spearheaded efforts towards co-productions with European and other international players, and worked to bring private equity investors into the business, first with KKR-backed Emerald Media and then last year, with Hong Kong private equity firm NewQuest Capital Partners taking majority ownership of the studio.

Mehta also led the initiative of building the company’s YouTube network, WowKidz, with 35 channels, which the company said had achieved 80 million+ subscribers, and 41 billion+ views worldwide across 10+ languages in the past five years.

The firm, which was founded in 1996 by Indian filmmakers Deepa Sahi and Ketan Mehta, last year struck a deal with WarnerMedia for a new season and four feature-length specials of Titoo – Har Jawaab Ka Sawaal Hu for its Indian entertainment channel Pogo.

Last year, Mehta told TBI how the expansion of streaming services in India had allowed local content creators to maximise their content base, leading to successes for Cosmos-Maya shows such as Vir: The Robot Boy and Selfie With Bajrangi.

Commenting on his exit, Mehta said: “I would like to thank Ketan & Deepa, the promoters of Cosmos-Maya for trusting me with the opportunity of growing the company. I would also like to extend gratitude to our previous investors KKR backed Emerald Media, Rajesh Kamat and angel investor Tilak Sarkar for providing the right guidance and support on this journey.

“It has been a great pleasure working with the current investor, TPG affiliate NewQuest Capital Partners and I wish them and the team of Cosmos-Maya all the very best for future growth and to carry the legacy forward.”