Mattel Television’s all-new animated children’s series Deepa & Anoop made its debut on Netflix on 16 August 2022. Created by acclaimed Bollywood animator Munjal Shroff (Shortcut Safari), accomplished writer Lisa Goldman (Dragon Tales) and award-winning producer Heather Kenyon (Doki Adventures), the show’s second season released on the OTT platform today.
With inputs from Late Ram Mohan who is known as the father of Indian animation, the colourful, music-driven series follows the adventures of seven-year-old Deepa and her best friend Anoop, a half-ton, colour-changing baby elephant. The dynamic duo, self-appointed ‘concierges of fun,’ makes everything bigger, grander and more wonderful for guests at Mango Manor, the bed and breakfast run by Deepa’s multigenerational family.
“I am super excited to share that the season two of my Netflix Original Deepa and Anoop has launched today. Season one got so much love! It has been truly rewarding for my co-creators Lisa Goldman and Heather Kenyon and me to see kids showering their love on our super cute Deepa and Anoop. No greater joy than that. I would once again like to thank the brilliant teams at Mattel Inc., Kickstart, VSync and Netflix who have given their best to this show,” Shroff wrote in a social media post.
In an interview with Animation Xpress, Mattel Television SVP creative and executive producer Christopher Keenan had mentioned that Deepa & Anoop’s uniqueness, had attracted the toy brand to this show. He also disclosed that Netflix will be dropping a second batch of Deepa & Anoop episodes this year.
“When I first heard the pitch for Deepa & Anoop eight years ago, I was immediately struck by the richness of its cultural roots, its dedication to introducing under-represented characters to a global audience, and the sheer passion of the project’s creators. It was the very first original property that I optioned back then as I took up the mantle as the head of creative for Mattel’s HIT Entertainment,” Keenan had exclaimed.
The Netflix Original production was produced by Mattel utilizing the animation test done by Shroff’s Graffiti Studio and, ultimately, KickStart Entertainment and Vsync was hired to do the animation production out of Vancouver and India. The writing, however, was done out of Mattel’s studio in Los Angeles, utilising consultants during every aspect of the creative process.
The debut season of Deepa & Anoop had 10 episodes with a duration between 20 to 25 minutes. There are eight 24-minute episodes in season two.
