A story can sit inside a culture for centuries, painted on temple walls and sung at festivals. Then someone decides it belongs on a cinema screen. That leap is where Durga Prasad Dalai has staked his studio.
The founder and chief executive of Ele Animations has taken Mahaprabhu Jagannath, a tale steeped in Odisha’s spiritual life, and pushed it into theatres. For him it is not a business punt.
“This film is much more than a theatrical release,” he shared. “Mahaprabhu Jagannath is a story and a culture that I have grown up with, and bringing it to the big screen has been a deeply personal journey.”
He will not oversell it as some grand industry turning point. But he does spot an opening. Ele wants to make theatrical animation rooted in Indian soil, not simply borrow formats cooked up elsewhere.
“Indian animation has a very long way to go,” he stated, “but the fact that audiences are willing to watch an Indian animated feature in theatres gives us confidence that the opportunity is much bigger than what the industry has traditionally believed.”
For years Indian animation has been boxed into children’s slots and warmed-over versions of familiar characters. Dalai reckons that box is starting to crack. Creators are reaching for stories with cultural roots, while audiences have grown a sharper eye from watching bold animation from around the world.
Asked him what has shifted most in five years and he does not point to fancier kit. He points to hunger for original Indian intellectual property. Tools have improved, but tools are only half the job. India’s mythology, history, folklore and literature sit there barely touched.
“The next phase of Indian animation should be about building original Indian worlds and characters that can travel beyond India,” he added.
Indian studios have long been the reliable hands behind other people’s blockbusters. Dalai wants his lot to stop taking orders and start writing them.
“The biggest gap is scale of ambition,” he mentioned. “We have artists and technicians who can work at a global level. But we need to think beyond being a production destination and become creators and owners of IP.”
That thinking travels with him to Mipcom Cannes. He is open to co-productions, distribution and financing, but he is not chasing a one-off cheque.
“I am particularly interested in finding partners with whom we can build something for the long term rather than simply make a transaction around one project,” he mentioned.
What makes a foreign buyer look up? Story, he insists. Production economics and good visuals can open the door. What makes them remember the project is the world behind it.
Indian tales, he argues, carry a built-in edge. They can be rooted in one specific place and still hit an emotional nerve anywhere. Authenticity is non-negotiable.
“I strongly believe in authenticity,” he said. “The world doesn’t need India to become less Indian in order to be understood.”
Mahaprabhu Jagannath proves the point. It is Odisha to its core, yet its themes reach well past the map.
On artificial intelligence he draws a firm line. It will shake up pre-production, storyboarding, asset building and the repetitive grind. It will not replace the storyteller.
“I don’t believe AI can replace the fundamental role of a storyteller,” he answered. “The decision about what a character should feel, why a story should be told, what cultural detail matters and what emotion we want an audience to carry home, that has to remain human.”
His verdict is neat. Technology should give creators more freedom, not take creative ownership away from them.
Back at Mipcom he returns to the myth he most wants busted. Indian animation is not just a cost-effective production destination. The real treasure is the material itself: thousands of years of history, hundreds of cultures, a teeming cast of legends still waiting for their close-up.
“There is a new generation of Indian creators who don’t just want to execute someone else’s ideas,” he replied. “We want to create, own and take our stories to the world.”
Mahaprabhu Jagannath is his opening gambit. The god has left the temple. Now Dalai wants him to conquer the multiplex, and then everywhere else.
