Telugu film star Mahesh Babu has invested in Shortgun Games, a Mumbai studio that makes games only for PC and consoles. The studio announced on 3 November that he has joined as a strategic investor, however, the size of the investment has not been disclosed.
Shortgun Games was co-founded by Jeet Chandan and Vidhit Mehta. Its main project is Project Takedown, which the studio describes as a high-budget, narrative-driven action adventure for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, built to compete in North America, Europe and the UK as well as at home.
What Mahesh Babu and the founders said
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 Chandan and Mehta’s plan to make PC and console games that match international studios was what drew him to the company.
Mehta said the studio was founded to “prove that India can engineer world-class interactive entertainment” for PC and consoles. Chandan said the backing would help Shortgun grow its technical team and hire more creative talent.
Who is building Project Takedown
Shortgun brought in action director Vicky Arora, whose film credits include URI: The Surgical Strike, RRR and Tanaav, to lead the game’s action design. The studio says his team has handled motion-capture choreography, combat pre-visualisation and stunt work, which is then built straight into the game’s character animation.
The studio has been working towards a big PC and console release for at least two years. In July 2024, former members of the Rogue Heist team joined Shortgun to build a PC and console shooter, and the studio said it was looking to raise a $6.8 million seed round. Vicky Arora came on board as action director in July 2025, and a month later Shortgun was reported to have raised $1 million from angel investors for pre-production of a cinematic third-person shooter. Mahesh Babu’s investment now comes with Project Takedown named as the flagship game.
Earlier announcements described Shortgun’s main game as a shooter. The new release calls Project Takedown an action adventure, and the studio has not said whether they are the same project. Shortgun also lists a smaller co-op indie game, Roll ’em Out, in its pipeline.
While on one part, most Indian studios build for mobile, where most of the country’s players are, naturally. Shortgun, on the other hand, is one of the few aiming at PC and console from the start, a market where Indian-made games have rarely broken through internationally. A backer with Mahesh Babu’s following gives Project Takedown a level of attention that Indian game studios seldom get this early, long before the game has a trailer.
