The Legend of Hanuman‘s second season has made some large waves in the Indian streaming market. According to the Mumbai-based consultancy, Ormax Media, the second season, which streams on Disney+ Hotstar, has topped all other movies and shows in the competitive Indian streaming market on paid video on demand services access the last week.
According to Ormax’s estimates, the show has attracted 8.5 million viewers in just the first 10 days. This number places The Legend of Hanuman right up in the top of the pack with India’s most successful streaming content across the past year. Ormax Media measures their data by using their Stream Track tool and they take a survey of streaming audiences in India every week.
The Legend of Hanuman which first premiered in January, is produced by Graphic India. It follows the adventures of Mahadev, who incarnates as Hanuman to serve Lord Rama and transforms from a mighty warrior to a god who fights the forces of darkness.
Series creator Sharad Devarajan (alongside Jeevan King and Charuvi Agrawal) is a big name in both comics and animation between India and the U.S. Having collaborated with Stan Lee in the past and having created Baahubali: The Lost Legends, he spoke on the viewer milestone that The Legend of Hanuman had reached, “It’s an amazing milestone for original Indian animation and we are humbled by the response.”
With the rapid increase in streaming services and original streaming content over the last several years, animation that appeals to wider audiences outside of a young demographic in India can be difficult. But Devarajan marks the series’ success to a few different elements. “The Disney brand is synonymous with animation, and I have no doubt that this association had an enormous impact on the show’s success. To have this be launched on Disney+ Hotstar as their first animated Hotstar Special is an amazing responsibility and honor we all took very seriously.”
Alongside being launched on Disney+, Devarajan also spoke on the production ability behind Hanuman. “Hanuman is the quintessential Indian hero whose legends and stories have inspired over a billion people, including myself. However, most previous live action film and TV versions of the Indian myths have all been limited in their production ability on being able to show the vast visual world of mythical beings… we were able to portray that visually, through high quality, immersive animation, for the first time.”
Devarajan noted that he also took inspiration from Japan, including how Hayao Miyazaki approached the redefinition of anime; “In the same way filmmakers like Hayao Miyazaki redefined anime with Princess Mononoke, our goal was to create a transcendent moment for Indian animation and make audiences experience the medium as a new form of sophisticated storytelling that does justice to the complex subject matter and deeply spiritual themes of our mythologies. One of our goals of the series was to make Indian audiences forget it’s an ‘animation’ and just be pulled into the story, the world and the characters.”
Here is the Season Two Trailer:
Source: Deadline
