Arré Studio appoints Anaya Mohanty as Creative Director & Development Head

Anaya will head the development plans for Studio expansion into formats and regional markets.

Anaya Mohanty joins the Arré Studio as Creative Director and Development Head. Anaya previously used to be the Executive Vice President & Head of Development at Endemol Shine India.

At Arré, she will bring her creative prowess and energy to the upcoming slate apart from pushing investments into newer stories and formats & widen the network of talent in Hindi as well as regional markets. 

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Anaya is also tasked with putting together a team comprising of the best creative talent from India and internationally, to help build creative scale for the studio’s ambitious plans over the next few years, which comprises of large scale originals (shows and films) in Hindi and regional markets, along with the next seasons of some of Arré’s popular show franchises.

Arré Studio’s content across web series, podcasts and essays is popular among the young audiences of India and currently reaches over 300 million people via its social media handles and through OTT platform collaborations which include Disney+Hotstar, LionsgatePlay, Daily Hunt, MX Player, JioSaavn, MiniTv and more. The Arré Studio slate includes shows such as A.I.SHA, Official Chukyagiri, Official CEOgiri, 1962: The War in the Hills, Pari-war, Murder in Agonda, short films such as the award-winning Transistor, Sorry Bhaisaab and podcasts such as Trial By Error | The Aarushi Files and Ae Dil Hai Complicated, based on original essays first published on Arré.  

Anaya Mohanty said, “I have always admired what Arré has achieved across platforms, formats and genres and am very happy to be a part of this talented team, which brings content from diversified categories to the youth of India, focusing on narrative quirk and uniqueness. I look forward to learning on my experience, while we at Arré design and develop material that touches a chord with one and all”

Sharan Saikumar, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Arré said, “Anaya brings with her strong experience in development for fiction and non-fiction and has led the creative vision for some top notch shows across a range of genres the last couple of years. One of the key things Anaya will be focusing on is mentoring a writers’ room that the studio is building to invest in long form scripts that reflect the Arré lens in storytelling, some of them drawing from our bank of top performing nonfiction essays that have lent themselves till now to successful podcasts and award-winning shorts.”

Niyati Merchant, Co-Founder and COO, Arré said, “We are super excited to have Anaya onboard; she will play a pivotal role in Arré Studio’s upcoming plans of building strong content IPs which include our franchise expansion, adaptations of book rights and the development and execution of original shows and films that are part of our content inventory.”  

Before joining Arré, Anaya worked as the Executive Vice President & Head of Development at Endemol Shine India. Anaya has almost two decades of experience in the creative and entertainment field across Colour Yellow Productions Pvt. Ltd, Eros Now CNBC-TV18, Zee TV, Movies Now to name a few and has been part of projects such as Tumbbad, Newton, Happy Bhag Jayegi, along with a slate of upcoming OTT shows.