Sadhguru Teams With Graphic India on Animated Feature 'Shiva: The Adiyogi'
Sadhguru, the yogi and author whose videos stream in 35 languages, is partnering with Graphic India on an animated feature film retelling the origin story of Shiva — not as a deity, but as the first yogi. Variety reported the project exclusively on 10 August 2026. The film is titled Shiva: The Adiyogi and is targeting a worldwide theatrical release.
Sadhguru shares story credit with Sharad Devarajan, who co-founded Graphic India and co-created the studio's hit animated mythology series The Legend of Hanuman. Devarajan is producing, co-writing and co-creating the new film. Graphic India's in-house animation studio is handling production. Jeevan J. Kang and Subrah S. Iyar serve as executive producers, with Navin Miranda and Nayana Bijli as co-producers.
The narrative is ambitious. According to Variety, the story spans from before creation to the peaks of Kailash — the mountain Shiva is traditionally associated with — and includes the rage of Veerabhadra, a being formed from grief, and the devotion of two women. It builds to a scene at Kanti Sarovar, a high-altitude lake, in which Shiva imparts 112 methods for transcending physical existence to seven seekers.
Sadhguru has stated that in yogic culture, Shiva is not seen as a God but as the Adiyogi, meaning the first yogi, and Adiguru, the first guru. The number 112 recurs in his wider work: at the Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, he built a 112-foot face of Adiyogi, a sculpture that has its own video presentation, Adiyogi Divya Darshanam, depicting the origins of yoga as a science for human well-being.
The Isha Foundation, the nonprofit Sadhguru founded more than three decades ago, now counts over 19 million volunteers worldwide.
For Graphic India, Shiva: The Adiyogi extends a track record in mythological and franchise animation. The studio has produced over 500 episodes of animation across TV and digital platforms, with partners including Amazon Prime Video, Cartoon Network, Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix, Reliance Network and Viacom18, as well as live-action theatrical films in Hollywood, Bollywood and China. The Legend of Hanuman, which Devarajan co-created, became the most-watched series across Indian streaming platforms for five consecutive weeks upon its 2021 launch on Disney+ Hotstar, according to the studio's website.
Devarajan's other credits include the Baahubali animated series — Baahubali: The Lost Legends and Baahubali: Crown of Blood — and the co-creation of Pavitr Prabhakar, the Indian Spider-Man character who appeared in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. He also collaborated with the late Stan Lee on Chakra The Invincible, which accumulated over 40 million mobile views outside India through the Angry Birds' ToonsTV platform.
No release date, budget or distribution partner has been announced for Shiva: The Adiyogi. The film is in production at Graphic India's animation studio.
