Written by Jaydeep Hasrajani and Jake Goldman with Nitya Mehra attached, feature follows an Indian American teenager from New Jersey suddenly dropped into a Bollywood musical.
Paramount Animation is developing Diya, a musical comedy about an Indian American teenager from New Jersey who is suddenly dropped into the middle of a Bollywood musical. Reel FX Animation Studios, where the project started, will produce.
Jaydeep Hasrajani and Jake Goldman will write the screenplay. Hasrajani created Boons and Curses for Netflix, and has worked as an animator, designer, storyboard artist, and director on The Powerpuff Girls, The Fungies!, and Ghee Happy. He is also a co-founder of SAVA (South Asians in Visual Arts), the nonprofit that spotlights the people and cultures of South Asia in the entertainment industry. Goldman is an Emmy-nominated writer whose credits run from Futurama to DC Metalforce and Hero Inside, with comics for Oni Press and IDW alongside them.
Nitya Mehra is attached to direct as development continues. The Indian filmmaker helmed Baar Baar Dekho, a Hindi-language science-fiction romantic drama whose songs, Paramount says, have drawn billions of views on YouTube. She was showrunner and executive producer on Prime Video's Made in Heaven, created and ran Big Girls Don't Cry for the same service, and has Hunkkaar arriving on Hotstar September 18.
Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley produce through GoldDay, which has a first-look deal at Paramount, with Sara Smith overseeing the project for them. Kunal Nayyar - Raj Koothrappali on The Big Bang Theory - produces through his Good Karma banner, with Logan Kovarick executive producing.
Goldstein and Daley wrote Horrible Bosses, directed Game Night, and wrote and directed Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves; they are attached to direct an original Star Trek film for Paramount. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, which they co-wrote, is their only animation credit.
Reel FX has partnered with major studios on The Book of Life, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, SCOOB!, Rumble, and Back to the Outback, and produces series - Super Giant Robot Brothers, The Chosen Adventures - along with theme park attractions.
Under president Jennifer Dodge, Paramount has been filling out a slate: The Naughty List, an original Christmas film from Robert Rodriguez; an animated feature built on CBS' Survivor; and a family horror comedy from Dan Trachtenberg, dated for October 13, 2028, drawn from Yehudi Mercado's comic Freddy the 13th. PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie arrives August 14.
Source: Paramount Animation
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
