As a cartoon-obsessed adult, I've learned that the most exciting shake-ups in animation rarely come from the usual suspects. So when India's animation industry stacks two days of deal-making right as Prime Minister Modi is publicly pushing the country's films, gaming and VFX onto the world stage, I pay attention — and you should too.
The timing is no accident
The eighth Animation & More Summit lands at the Nesco Exhibition Centre in Mumbai on 28 and 29 August, running alongside Anime India and closing with the Ann Awards 2026. The theme says it all: "India to the World: Creating Global IPs for the Next Generation." Translation? Indian studios are done being the back-office pipeline for Hollywood and Tokyo. They want their own worlds to travel.
That's where Modi's call for a global push into films, gaming, VFX and digital content slots in. According to Business Standard, the Prime Minister is publicly championing the country's screen industries as strategic exports. The summit's organizers clearly read the room — this year's edition leans hard into international partnerships, with a dedicated cross-border pavilion built right into the floor plan.
Who's actually showing up
Look at the guest list and the ambition sharpens fast. Hayato Date, the director behind Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, is on hand, alongside producer Ryota Hasegawa of Sakamoto Days and Dr. Stone fame. The advisory board reads like a who's who of the subcontinent's animation establishment — Rajiv Chilaka of Green Gold, Milind Shinde of 88 Pictures, Anand Bhanushali of philmCGI, and a dozen more studio heads who usually stay behind the curtain.
The sessions tackle the questions that keep Indian animation from fully breaking through. Can service studios actually pivot to original IP? Is Indian mythology the next global animation goldmine? Will AI rewrite the pipeline before the talent gap closes? These aren't theoretical debates — they're the survival questions of a sector trying to leap from outsourced labor to originators.
What I'm watching
The production deep-dives alone make this worth following. Season two of Wolf King gets a spotlight, as does Baahubali: The Eternal War and 666: Operation Dream Theatre. The Ann Awards night will hand out the Arnab Chaudhuri Award, Ram Mohan Award, Ramoji Animation Excellence Awards and the DigiCon6 Asia Awards — a sweep that covers everything from prestige shorts to broadcast series.
And this is the year when the broader festival circuit feels like it's catching the same current. BISFF 2026 just opened in Bengaluru with AI cinema and industry forums on the bill, while outlets like Modern Ghana are tracking how C-animation is going global. There's a pattern forming: India's screen culture isn't waiting for permission anymore.
So if you're a fan, mark the dates. And if you're planning to binge whatever comes out of this new pipeline, you'll want to be properly set up for the long haul — a solid pair of dedicated sleep headphones can make those marathon sessions far easier on your ears. Because if Baahubali is finally getting the animated feature treatment, you're going to need somewhere comfortable to watch it.