Reel FX’s Bollywood Inspired Original ‘Diya’ Finds A Home At Paramount Animation

Paramount Animation has signed on to develop Diya, an original musical comedy about an Indian American teenager who is transported into the world of a Bollywood musical that originated at Reel FX, which will produce.

Reel FX’s Lucas Koppel shepherded its development before it was set up at Paramount, and Indian filmmaker Nitya Mehra is attached as development continues with Paramount. Mehra made her feature directing debut with the 2016 Hindi-language science-fiction romance Baar Baar Dekho. Its soundtrack became a major success, with music videos from the film accumulating billions of views on YouTube.

Jaydeep Hasrajani and Jake Goldman are writing the screenplay. Hasrajani, an Indian American animator, designer, storyboard artist, and director, previously created the Netflix series Boons and Curses and worked on The Powerpuff Girls, The Fungies!, and Ghee Happy. He is also a co-founder of South Asians in Visual Arts, a nonprofit promoting South Asian people and cultures in the entertainment industry.

Goldman’s animation credits include Hero Inside, DC Metalforce, The Powerpuff Girls, Futurama, and Fresh Beat Band of Spies.

Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley will produce through GoldDay, under the company’s first-look deal with Paramount, with Sara Smith overseeing the project for the banner. Goldstein and Daley wrote and directed Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and are currently developing a new Star Trek feature for Paramount. The Big Bang Theory actor Kunal Nayyar will also produce through his Good Karma banner. Logan Kovarick is executive producing.

While Reel FX has frequently worked as a production partner for larger studios, including Paramount’s 2025 feature The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, it also has a lengthy history of originating animated feature projects. The company developed Guardians of Childhood, which was later acquired and produced by DreamWorks Animation as Rise of the Guardians, without Reel FX’s further involvement.

The Dallas-headquartered studio made its animated feature debut with Free Birds, released by Relativity Media in 2013. It subsequently developed and produced Jorge Gutierrez’s The Book of Life, bringing Guillermo del Toro aboard before the film was picked up and released by Fox. Reel FX later produced Paramount’s 2021 wrestling comedy Rumble and has worked on features including Back to the Outback, Scoob!, and the aformentioned Spongebob flick.

Diya expands an increasingly busy development slate at Paramount Animation under president Jennifer Dodge. Other projects include Robert Rodriguez’s original Christmas film The Naughty List; an animated feature based on the reality competition series Survivor; and a family horror comedy from Dan Trachtenberg based on Yehudi Mercado’s comic Freddy the 13th, dated for October 13, 2028.

The division’s next theatrical release will be Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie, arriving August 14, 2026. Paramount has not announced a release date for Diya.