Here's why you should check out this new animated series set in a post-Third World War era

Stills from the trailer feature Aman navigating a series of events leading up to the discovery of his superpowers. Pics courtesy/@deerdost on YouTube, dreamachine

There might be a school of thought that believes India's animation industry hasn't moved much beyond Chhota Bheem and Motu Patlu, and their iterations. While there is a mature audience that longs for nuance in animation, they rarely turn to Indian shows. It's where countries like Japan take the helm.

But Santacruz-based Prashant Sharma has stepped into the battlefield to make an attempt to change Indian cartoons for adults in his own way. "The rich culture that India has does not translate into our animation. So, our idea with Deerdost is to offer India its first mature animated story," the 29-year-old elaborates.

He is the creator of Deerdost, an animated series that reimagines our Mumbai in a cyberpunk avatar, where adulthood collides with caste and capitalism. The show that began as a comic series, has been in conceptualisation for eight years now and the teaser was finally unveiled on May 18, and is tentatively set to release on June 27, on YouTube.

Punk it up

Taking art movements like cyberpunk and solarpunk as reference points, the team (Dreamachine) has created their own art style called Bombay Punk - a style that makes space for the Mumbai's unique ecosystem, "When we started the visual development of the show, we did not want it to feel like you're looking at America or Japan, because the world still needed to feel like our city. In that way, Bombay Punk is unique to us." he adds.

Keeping it real

The team from DreaMachine with voiceover artists in the masks

While the show is set 50 years after a fictional Third World War, Sharma warns us to not expect a dystopia as it is still rooted in Mumbai's real class divide, "In our world, Dharavi is approximately 100 to 200 floors underground. There is no clean air or water. But its inhabitants have become immune to that." he says, also revealing that South Mumbai will be a rich and booming tech hub in contrast.

An illustration of Aman acquiring his superpowers

Speaking about why they chose this particular timeline for the show, Sharma reveals, "India has been known only for its poverty. But there's a lot of cool stuff to be found in this place, and we chose this timeline to depict India in a futuristic manner which has never been done before."

Young outlook

Prashant Sharma

The show follows a central 21-year-old college-going character, Aman, who is grappling with adulthood and new-found superpowers. When asked about the reasoning behind depicting this world through the eyes of the youth, Sharma says, "I think at that age you are more emotionally volatile. It is also the age where you have to take serious decisions but are also always distracted. In that sense, it is easy to play with complex emotions through this character."

Sharma reveals why Deerdost took shape, "I think this is going to be one of those stories where we look at humanity's leap of faith through this one character. The final message however, is open to interpretation." he laughs.

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