Mahesh Babu takes stake in Mumbai game studio Shortgun, backing Project Takedown
What's the deal? Telugu film star Mahesh Babu has taken a minority stake in Shortgun Games, a Mumbai studio building PC and console titles. The studio announced the angel investment on November 3; the amount was not disclosed.
What's the endgame? Shortgun, co-founded by Jeet Chandan and Vidhit Mehta, is building Project Takedown, a narrative-driven action adventure for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The studio is targeting players in North America, Europe, and the UK, as well as at home.
Chandan said the backing would help Shortgun grow its technical team and hire more creative talent. The studio has brought in action director Vicky Arora — whose film credits include URI: The Surgical Strike and RRR — to lead combat design and motion capture.
Why now? The investment follows a $1 million seed round in August 2025, after which Shortgun said it planned to raise a further $5 million to move its game from prototype to full production.
Mahesh Babu said India has "extraordinary creative potential" and that "the time is right to build original characters and cinematic worlds from here." He said the founders' plan to make games that match international studios drew him to the company.
What could go wrong? With terms undisclosed, it is unclear whether the backing closes the studio's production-financing needs. Earlier announcements described the flagship title as a shooter rather than an action adventure, and Shortgun has not said whether they are the same project.
The signal: Most Indian studios build for mobile, where most of the country's players are. Shortgun is among the few aiming at PC and console from the start — a market where Indian-made games have rarely broken through — and celebrity backing gives it attention that studios seldom get this early.
Read more: talkesport.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
