Indian animation giant Cosmos-Maya has acquired more IPs from the library of Lotpot Group, the owner of Lotpot Comics and Mayapuri magazine, the oldest and largest circulated Hindi film weekly magazine of India. Cosmos-Maya’s production of Lotpot Comics’ creation Motu Patlu has been airing on Indian television for nearly a decade with over 1000 episodes.
Cosmos-Maya has been an IP-led Indian animation studio that is known for many firsts. The company recently had a round of fund infusion from NewQuest Capital Partners and eyeing further growth, organic as well as inorganic. The acquisition of Lotpot Comics’ more super-hit IPs is first among the many major growth announcements from the studio.
Motu Patlu was the tip of the iceberg that is the rich IP library under Lotpot Comics’ umbrella that contains a multitude of evergreen popular characters like Natkhat Neetu, Janbaaz Deva, Minni, Faate Khan & Kaate Khan & Kaka Shree among various others. Cosmos-Maya will bring these IPs to life in 3D/2D formats, just the way the company did with the iconic comic brand Motu Patlu, which has become the greatest pop culture phenomenon in Indian animation. The company currently commands a whopping 60 per cent share of the Indian animation market, and with this deal, their presence is geared to grow much deeper and wider.
Cosmos-Maya CEO Anish Mehta said, “The deal with Lotpot comics will be an organic extension of our mantra ‘Novelty with familiarity’ – recognizing cultural nuances and media properties that our audiences have grown to love and associate with and giving them our own unique spin. As we move forward on our journey of innovation, introspecting into cultural legacy gives us a certain grounding to which we add our contemporary flair. With this acquisition, Cosmos-Maya will add some of Lotpot’s most popular and classic cartoon characters to their shining family of animated IPs. Lotpot comics have crafted brilliant characters with their fingers on the pulse of Indian cultural elements and the trends they have followed across the decades. We plan to create some wonderful stories for both the domestic TV and OTT space, with massive recognition value that will open up opportunities across the licensing and merchandising ecosystem.”
Cosmos-Maya have a rich portfolio of over 25 shows and feature films in the domestic and global space and are consistently churning out new seasons and content titles on both pay TV and the digital OTT streaming space. Since 2020 alone, the company has released six new shows, the latest being Dabangg which has the iconic Chulbul Pandey, a character immortalised on celluloid by superstar Salman Khan.
With more characters from Lotpot comics’ library coming under their banner, Cosmos-Maya will consolidate their name on the path to progressive diversification within the content universe.
Lotpot comics publisher P. K. Bajaj stated, “Cosmos-Maya has changed the way the world looks at comics and animation with the way they have created and nurtured our beloved Motu Patlu and taken it to the next level of being pop culture icons, and we are confident they’ll achieve the same for our other characters as well. We have full confidence that they will spin their magic once again on our IPs from Lotpot Comics that they’ll bring to life and ensure that the rich legacy of our brands will enthral a few more generations in an entertaining format.”
Lotpot Comics have been a mainstay in printed kid’s entertainment since 1969 and carry a rich history/legacy of entertaining millions of Indian kids across generations. The magazine saw its initial foray into the kids’ TV space with Cosmos-Maya launching their 3D production of Motu Patlu on Nickelodeon. In the nine years since the show’s launch, it has grown to become a massive content brand across the Indian subcontinent, and a pop culture icon in its own right. In 2019, the classic IP cemented its spot in the hall of fame of Indian pop culture with the installation of their own wax statues at Madame Tussauds.