Mahesh Babu Backs Shortgun Games as Strategic Investor

Actor Mahesh Babu has joined Mumbai game studio Shortgun Games as a strategic investor. Neither the amount nor the size of his stake has been disclosed.

The studio is building original games for PC and consoles only.

What the studio is building

Shortgun Games was founded by Jeet Chandan and Vidhit Mehta, and it describes itself as a Mumbai studio focused only on PC and console titles, including PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Its flagship project is Project Takedown, a narrative-driven action-adventure game aimed at North America, Europe and the United Kingdom. The Week reported that the game is set in a near-future Mumbai, may run 10 to 15 hours and is expected by the end of 2028. The studio has not confirmed those details, and coverage so far has not mentioned a trailer. A smaller cooperative indie game called Roll 'em Out is also in the studio's pipeline, according to the release.

Hollywood-style combat from an Indian film team

Shortgun has brought in action director Vicky Arora, whose film credits include Uri: The Surgical Strike, RRR and Tanaav, to lead the game's action design. His team has handled motion-capture choreography, combat pre-visualisation and stunt mechanics, and the studio says it is feeding live stunt work directly into its character animation pipeline. How that translates into a playable game is not yet visible, because no gameplay has been shown publicly.

Combat feel is the hard part of any action game.

Why a film star in a games studio

Mahesh Babu said he was drawn by the founders' clarity of ambition and their aim of building high-end PC and console experiences that match international studios. Mehta said the actor's grasp of large-scale storytelling and mass appeal strengthens the studio's vision. Chandan said the backing gives the team confidence to expand its technical capability and hire more creative talent.

The studio's money story so far has been small. We reported its $1 million seed round in August 2025, which funded pre-production and a short vertical slice, and the studio said then that it planned to raise about $5 million next to move into full production. A strategic investor can help with attention and publishing introductions, but the release does not say whether any new money came in or how much.

India's games money is moving to bigger bets

Film and sports names are now putting money into game studios. Cricketer Rohit Sharma invested in Lightfury Games, and mobile studios such as Spill Games are raising money for global audiences. Meanwhile the online gaming business in India has been shaped by regulation, as we covered in our piece on how the industry was banned and billed at the same time.

I think the real test for Shortgun is shipping, not signing. Console-grade games take years and a lot of cash, and a celebrity backer does not change that. Until the studio shows a trailer, a playable build or a publishing partner, Project Takedown remains an ambition that investors and gamers can only judge from the studio's own description.