Mahabharat, the musical, in Hindi soon

Asia's leading animation studio Toonz has signed a memorandum of understanding with Mumbai-based production house Impact Vision to produce the Indian epic 'Mahabharat' in Hindi as a combination of animation, lyrics and music.

Geet Mahabharat, as the project is titled, is an animated show that completely hinges on music.

"The song sequences will be suitably strung together to create standard half-hour episodes for television," Toonz CEO P Jayakumar said in a release in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

Impact Vision CEO Satish Mutatkar, who wrote lyrics for the animated feature film Hanuman, will be the creative director of the Geet Mahabharat project.

"Mahabharat is simply the greatest story ever told. With modern animation and music, we have the right tools to take it to any audience," Mutatkar said.

There is a huge family audience for animated mythological subjects presented in contemporary format and it is a privilege to team up with a world-class studio like Toonz, he said.

Toonz, based at the Thiruvananthapuram Technopark, is Asia's premier multimedia studio. It is working on a slew of projects with top-notch production houses and entertainment companies across the globe. It is currently working on its home productions The adventure of Hanuman, Paddy's Pages and Frog School.

Impact vision has produced TV serials, docudramas and more than 25 documentaries in the last 12 years and was consultant to the Indian Space Research Organisation for its science channel project.