Highlights
- Paramount Animation’s Diya is an original animated musical inspired by Bollywood storytelling.
- Diya follows an Indian-American teenager transported into a fantasy world.
- Directed by Nitya Mehra, the film brings together Hollywood and South Asian creators, with production by Reel FX.
Paramount Animation is expanding its slate of original animated films with Diya, a Bollywood-inspired musical comedy that blends Indian cinema with fantasy storytelling. The Hollywood Reporter revealed on August 5 that Diya has entered production at the studio, with Nitya Mehra serving as the film's director.
Diya draws heavily from Bollywood’s signature song-and-dance storytelling, while being positioned as an original fantasy rather than an adaptation of an existing property. Paramount Animation’s creative team for the upcoming feature includes several South Asian talents.
What is the Musical Comedy Diya About?
Diya follows an Indian American teenager from New Jersey who is unexpectedly pulled into the world of a Bollywood musical, THR reported. Not much is known about the plot, but the premise places an ordinary protagonist inside a fantastical realm, a structure that echoes isekai storytelling, a manga/anime genre built around characters transported into alternate worlds.
Whether Diya leans further into that framework remains unconfirmed. Notably, Diya has circulated as a project title before, with both current production members Mehra and Kunal Nayyar attached.
Reel FX first announced Diya in 2022 as a mythology-based fantasy adventure rooted in Indian folklore, as per Deadline. Whether the current version, now based at Paramount with a new creative team, is a reworked take on the concept or a new narrative entirely has not been detailed.
People Behind Creating Paramount's Bollywood-Inspired Musical Diya
As mentioned, Indian filmmaker Nitya Mehra, best known for Baar Baar Dekho, is directing the feature. The screenplay comes from Jaydeep Hasrajani and Jake Goldman, who previously collaborated on Netflix’s unreleased South Asian animated series Boons and Curses.
The Reel FX Animation studio is attached to produce Diya. The studio is known for animated films such as The Book of Life and Back to the Outback. Back in 2022, Diya was framed to be inspired by the studio’s 2014 film The Book of Life.
The producing team includes filmmaking duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, whose credits include Game Night and franchises like Spider-Man. Sara Smith is overseeing the film for their GoldDay studio.
Actor and producer Kunal Nayyar also joins them as a producer through his Good Karma banner. Logan Kovarick will serve as executive producer. Their involvement pairs Hollywood studio experience with creators familiar with South Asian storytelling and global audiences.
Diya’s concept blends diaspora identity with a unique story, offering a perspective rarely explored in Hollywood feature animation. The plot’s emphasis on ‘Bollywood-style’ shows similarity to what the audience found in Netflix’s 2025 breakthrough Kpop Demon Hunters, which mixed Korean cultural elements in a fantasy narrative. Paramount has not announced a release window, voice cast, or further production staff.
Nonetheless, Diya joins a busy stretch for Paramount Animation under president Jennifer Dodge, who took the role at the start of 2026. The studio’s current lineup includes Robert Rodriguez’s The Naughty List and Dan Trachtenberg’s horror comedy Freddy the 13th, alongside the theatrical release PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie on Aug 14, 2026.
