Canvas, the Mumbai-based microdrama and vertical entertainment platform, will premiere Project Maya in the first week of October. The Hindi-language series has been in development for nearly 12 months and is created by Otaku Bharat, an Indian short-form anime studio. A team of 30 Indian animators and creators built the show for mobile viewing, which means the story is told in short episodes.
The core question is local. Project Maya contrasts what independence meant to Indians almost a century ago with how young Indians understand it today. Visually, it follows anime conventions, but the characters, landscapes and cultural references are Indian.
The local anime bet
Abhinav Singla, Co-founder and CEO of Canvas, said: “India has one of the most passionate anime audiences in the world, but the stories watched here are still largely created outside the country.” The series is a deliberate attempt to reverse that.
“This series has been developed by Indian animators, voiced by Indian artists and built around a question that is deeply relevant to us,” Singla added. Voice actor Sanket Mhatre, known for Ben 10, is part of the project, and Rob Pereyda, former Head of Anime at Netflix, is executive producer.
Why marketers should pay attention
This is not just another title announcement. Project Maya is a live test of glocalisation: taking a globally popular format and investing in local creative ownership instead of simply localising an import.
Canvas says it did not want to place Indian names and locations inside a familiar format. The ambition was to build a visual world and story that feel Indian at their core. For brands and content teams, that distinction matters. It is the difference between translation and genuine local resonance.
The numbers behind the launch
- Canvas reports more than 50,000 app installs globally.
- The platform works with over 50 creators and has an Instagram community above 350,000 followers.
- Short-form shows average approximately one million views per show, according to the company.
- Canvas is also producing about 10 shows in New York as part of its international expansion.
What comes next
Project Maya will first release in Hindi, with English and regional-language versions planned for India and overseas. It also signals a wider content shift: Canvas is expanding beyond relationship-led and family-conflict microdramas into animation, comedy, documentary, food, travel and lifestyle.
If the series performs well, it could encourage more platforms and brands to back locally rooted anime. If it struggles, the takeaway will be about audience promotion and education, not necessarily a lack of appetite for Indian anime.
Source: MediaNews4U
