Indian filmmakers are increasingly turning to comic books to extend the life of movie franchises beyond theatres, using the format to deepen storytelling, strengthen fan engagement and build intellectual property that can travel across multiple platforms.
Balaji Telefilms'The Vvaan and Kannada blockbuster Kantara: A Legend Chapter -1 are among the latest films to launch comic book adaptations. Meanwhile, Mukta Arts has launched SGM Animation Studio, focused on developing, producing and co-producing animated films, series, comic books and games by leveraging the company's IP library, which includes films such as Karz, Hero, Karma, Ram Lakhan, Khalnayak, and Saudagar.
Industry executives say comics allow audiences to remain emotionally invested between film releases, explore characters and storylines that cannot fit within a film's runtime, and deepen mythology in ways that foster long-term fandom.
Franchise play
“The appeal for filmmakers is simple, a film is a 120-minute experience, but a great franchise is a universe you can live inside every day. The target audience is India’s 700 million plus youth market which is the largest in the world and the most digitally connected generation we have ever had. This is a generation that grew up consuming Marvel, anime, manhwa and webtoons alongside their own Indian films, and now they expect their favourite stories to live across mediums,” said Sharad Devarajan, co-founder and CEO of Graphic India, who has also founded webtoon platform Toonsutra, which partnered with Hombale Films for Kantara.
Devarajan said India is witnessing a franchise-building model that differs from the West.
“What is fascinating about this moment in India is that we are essentially running the Western model in reverse. In the US, comics were the source and films came later. Marvel, DC, Star Wars—all of these franchises were born on the page in the 70s and 80s, and the cinema built on top of decades of world-building that already existed in comics. In India, our films are now becoming the source material for comics. That’s not better or worse, it’s just another path to building the same kind of multi-platform character franchises that fuel India to establish the next $200 billion pop-culture ecosystem like what happened in the West,” he added.
Expanding worlds
While Indian films such as Krrish and Baahubali have experimented with comics before, earlier attempts struggled because of high pricing, limited distribution and content constraints.
Today, experts believe those barriers are gradually being addressed through digital platforms, mobile-first formats and a creative ecosystem that is increasingly focused on building original genre-based stories.
According to Devarajan, adapting a film into a comic should go beyond simply retelling the story audiences have already watched.
“Adapting a film into a comic is not about illustrating what audiences have already seen on screen, that is a synopsis, not a story. The real opportunity is to use the comic medium to expand the universe with stories that the film could never tell. This needs writers and artists who can think like the filmmakers but also understand sequential storytelling, panel-to-panel pacing and the unique grammar of comics which are different disciplines,” he said.
Marketing tool
Despite the growing interest, industry experts caution that comic book adaptations remain a niche opportunity in India's still-evolving comics market.
Film producer, trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar described comics primarily as marketing tools that help keep films relevant and generate greater awareness, while offering limited revenue potential at present.
Studios are increasingly looking to monetize successful film franchises beyond the box office by expanding them across different formats.
“Studios are trying to monetize IP in different ways especially when they believe they’ve got a strong brand. Whether it is remakes or comics, these are all ways to gain greater recognition with the audience with the idea of an established brand being the main driver,” Rahul Puri, managing director of Mukta Arts and Mukta A2 Cinemas, agreed.