Originally published at: REEL FX ORIGINALS TEAMS WITH NITYA MEHRA, KUNAL NAYYAR FOR THE ANIMATED FEATURE FILM “DIYA” - People of Con
Author: Newsroom
LOS ANGELES (June 6, 2022)—Reel FX Originals, the award-winning animation production company behind “The Book of Life,” has teamed with Nitya Mehra (“Baar Baar Dekho”, “Made In Heaven”) to direct and actor/producer Kunal Nayyar (“The Big Bang Theory,” “Suspicion”) to executive produce the original animated feature film, DIYA. A fantasy adventure set in the world of Indian mythology, the DIYA screenwriters are Shiwani Srivastava (Netflix’s “Wedding Season”) and Dr. Amy Bhatt. Producers are Steve O’Brien and Jared Mass of Reel FX Originals. Nayyar is executive producing through his company, Good Karma Productions, with his head of production, Jason Hiro Kim (“Gook”). Lucas Koppel will serve as executive in charge of DIYA’s production on behalf of Reel FX.
Reel FX Originals is known for partnering with world class talent in creating great stories for global audiences, such as the critically acclaimed feature film, “The Book of Life” directed by Jorge R. Gutiérrez and produced by Guillermo del Toro, and the crowd-pleasing “Free Birds” starring Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson—both of which generated more than $100 million in worldwide box office. The company’s most recent film, “Rumble,” starring Will Arnett and Geraldine Viswanathan, is an original animated family comedy about a reluctant monster athlete and his human wrestling coach which debuted December 2021 on Paramount+.
With DIYA, Reel FX is once again excited to collaborate with top filmmakers in bringing an original and authentic Indian/Indian American story the big screen. The company’s other upcoming projects include the highly anticipated Netflix 3D animated action comedy “Super Giant Robot Brothers!” from Oscar®-winning director Mark Andrews (“Brave”) about giant robots who must save the world from invading kaiju, while overcoming their own sibling rivalry. Debuting this summer, the 10-episode series is a ground-breaking achievement in animation marking Reel FX as the first company in history to successfully create a season of shows fully visualized within a video game engine (specifically, the company developed an innovative virtual production animation pipeline by utilizing a proprietary combination of live-action techniques and Epic Games’ Unreal Engine). Also, Reel FX will unveil its latest short film, “La Calesita,” at next week’s prestigious Annecy International Animation Film Festival where it was invited to make its world premiere in competition.
Director Nitya Mehra made her directorial and screenwriting debut in 2016 on the hit Hindi-language feature, “Baar Baar Dekho,” and received critical acclaim for her film, “Chaand Mubaarak,” in the Hindi-language anthology “Unpaused.” She is showrunner/executive producer and director of the Amazon series, “Made In Heaven”, which is currently in post-production for its second season. Her upcoming calendar includes a new series with Amazon Prime. She is also working on projects with Roy Kapur Films, Excel Entertainment and Rainshine Global. Mehra started her career as an Assistant Director to acclaimed filmmakers Ang Lee on “Life of Pi” and Mira Nair on “The Namesake.”
Executive Producer Kunal Nayyar is also an actor known for playing Raj Koothrappali on the hit CBS show, “The Big Bang Theory,” as well as a voice actor in the hit animation film franchises “Trolls” and “Ice Age.” He currently stars in the hit Apple TV + series “Suspicion” and will next be seen in the Netflix feature film “Spaceman.” Through his company, Good Karma Productions, Nayyar executive produced Vertical Entertainment’s “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” in which he also stars.
Screenwriter Shiwani Srivastava is a ScreenCraft award-winning writer whose debut original screenplay “Wedding Season,” produced by Netflix and Imagine Entertainment, will be released as a feature film later this year.
Screenwriter Dr. Amy Bhatt is a writer, museum curator, and former Associate Professor. She is the author of High-Tech Housewives and the co-author of Roots & Reflections: South Asians in the Pacific Northwest.
Producer Steve O’Brien is Chairman and CEO of Reel FX Animation.
Producer Jared Mass is Head of Reel FX Originals, overseeing a slate of animated feature films and episodic content for the company.
Executive Producer Jason Hiro Kim heads production at Kunal Nayyar’s Good Karma Productions. He was previously Nayyar’s manager while at Lovett Management. Kim was also Executive Producer on the critically acclaimed feature film, “Gook” which earned the 2017 Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT Audience Award.
Mehra is represented by Evan Anglin at Zero Gravity Management and Darshana Bhalla at D’Artist Talent Ventures. Nayyar is represented by Innovative Artists and Lovett Management. Srivastava and Bhatt are represented by Nicholas Bogner of Affirmative Entertainment, Valarie Phillips of A3 Artists Agency and their lawyer is Mark Temple.
