Green Gold teams up with UK’s Red Kite for edgy animated feature ‘The Assassin’

HYDERABAD: Indian animation heavyweight Green Gold has dived into darker, high-end territory with The Assassin, a gritty India–UK co-production with Scotland’s Red Kite Animation unveiled at the Goa Film Festival and Co-Production Market. The move marks a sharp pivot for the studio as it steps beyond family fare and into globally minded, director-led animation.

For more than a decade, Green Gold has pushed original Indian storytelling; The Assassin signals its most ambitious leap yet. Written and directed by Martyn Pick, known for his painterly, hybrid visual grammar and muscular action, the film is being shaped with script editor Martha MacDiarmid and design teams in Hyderabad who are crafting its graphic-novel aesthetic.

Set in a tense, near-future metropolis, the story follows a young man whose life unravels after an industrial disaster. As corporate power tightens its grip on the city, his pursuit of justice spirals into a perilous transformation blurring rebellion, survival and vengeance. With its emotional edge and contemporary themes, the film underscores Green Gold’s appetite for bolder, globally resonant storytelling.

The project is being developed under the India–UK Audio-Visual Co-Production Treaty, with both studios partnering equally across financing, creative development, production and international distribution. A hybrid pipeline mixing guerrilla live-action, rotoscoping and high-end 2D/3D animation is being built across Hyderabad and the UK, aiming for a nimble 15–18 month turnaround and a visual signature primed for festivals and global buyers.

“Indian animation has the depth and ambition to stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s best,” said Green Gold founder and chief executive Rajiv Chilaka. “The Assassin is a bold, original film led by a singular creative vision, and working with Ken and the Red Kite team brings two creative cultures together in a meaningful, future-facing way.”

Red Kite founder and chief executive Ken Anderson called the project “exactly the kind of internationally resonant filmmaking the UK and India can deliver together,” adding that the partnership reflects a deeper push to strengthen creative and industrial ties between the two countries.

Unveiling the feature at the WAVES Film Bazaar, one of India’s most influential hubs for global audiovisual partnerships, signals Green Gold’s growing international hunger and its intent to plant Indian animation firmly on the world stage.

The assassin may be on screen, but the ambition is unmistakably real: Green Gold is aiming straight for the global bullseye.