One Life Studio is taking Indian stories to the global stage with two major announcements at Mipcom: the launch of kids’ animation IP Raaya: The Great Indian Tales and a licensing deal that will bring the award-winning series Rocket Boys to Canadian screens through British Columbia’s Knowledge Network.
The announcements mark a decade of the Indian media company’s journey across content production, acquisition, distribution and syndication.
One Life Studios CEO Siddharth Kumar Tewary shared, “One Life Studios is thrilled to be at both MipJunior and Mipcom as we celebrate ten years of bringing compelling Indian stories to audiences around the world. This milestone year comes with exciting new developments, including the launch of our new animated children’s IP, Raaya: The Great Indian Tales, and our partnership with Canada’s The Knowledge Network to license the multi-award-winning docuseries Rocket Boys, telling the extraordinary story of two pioneering Indian scientists.”
Raaya brings Indian tales to life as curiosity takes centre stage in the series, which follows Raaya, a nine-year-old Indian girl with a knack for questioning everything from history and religion to nature and the universe.
With Uncle Al, a traditional storyteller, and Veda, her AI bot, by her side, Raaya sets out to find answers, blending India’s age-old oral storytelling traditions with the instant knowledge of technology.
Launched at MipJunior and Mipcom, the IP is making waves at the Palais des Festivals, where a live Raaya character is interacting with delegates and handing out game pieces. Visitors can collect the complete deck of illustrated game cards at the One Life Studios booth (P-1, K11).
Rocket Boys blasts off to Canada, from a curious young mind to two scientific trailblazers, the studio is taking another homegrown story overseas. The company has licensed two seasons of Rocket Boys to Knowledge Network (a Canadian public educational broadcaster and streaming service), bringing the acclaimed series to audiences across British Columbia. Licensed from Sony, the series will make its Canadian broadcast debut through the public broadcaster.
The non-exclusive deal runs for four years and five months, with each season comprising eight episodes of 60 minutes. The rights cover free English-language broadcasts and permitted simultaneous distribution across cable, satellite, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), mobile and broadband streaming platforms.
Starring the stories of Dr Homi J. Bhabha and Dr Vikram Sarabhai, Rocket Boys explores the friendship, ambition and scientific breakthroughs that helped shape India’s nuclear and space programmes. Bhabha played a pivotal role in establishing India’s nuclear science infrastructure, while Sarabhai helped lay the foundations of the country’s space programme.
Knowledge Network senior manager, primetime programming and acquisitions David Van Poppel stated, “We’re thrilled to have the Canadian broadcast premiere of the series Rocket Boys. BC audiences include over 300,000 people of Indian origin, some whose ancestors arrived in BC in the late 1800s. We look forward to sharing the series with our audiences in British Columbia.”
The series struck gold at the 2022 filmfare OTT awards, winning eight awards from 15 nominations. The wins included best series, best director for Abhay Pannu, best actor series (critics, male) for Jim Sarbh, and honours for original screenplay, cinematography, production design, costume design and VFX.
