Anand Gandhi and Zain Memon on creating a mythology for the 21st century

In ‘MAYA’, trees function as an information network, species other than humans build cultures, and a snake-like people experience the world through heat. The Indian transmedia project places familiar South Asian beings in a new mythology set on the Earth-like planet Neh.

Created by filmmaker Anand Gandhi and game designer Zain Memon, ‘MAYA’ will unfold through novels, films and games. Its creators say the wider project will form a mythology for the 21st century. The first novel, ‘MAYA: Seed Takes Root’, came out on August 26.

Gandhi describes Neh as a world that followed an evolutionary path similar to Earth’s, but with different trajectories for millions of species. The intelligent species, known as Svaankas, can develop advanced thought and culture. The project includes 14 languages, each linked to the evolutionary pressures that shaped the species speaking it.

A Naag, for example, understands its surroundings through heat-sensing organs. Gandhi says that would produce a form of logic unlike the human mind and a language unlike anything people have experienced. Neh’s biological information infrastructure also allows inhabitants to tether themselves to trees, which immerse them in fables, play and the company of the dead.

The interview presents ‘MAYA’ as an attempt to explore how mythology can be deliberately created. Its world includes Vaanars, Gandharvas, Naags and Garudas, but the project recasts them through evolutionary science rather than simply reproducing traditional forms. Gandhi is known for the films ‘Ship of Theseus’ and ‘Tumbbad’, while Memon created the board games ‘SHASN’ and ‘AZADI’, played in more than 70 countries.

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MAYA is an expansive story universe with hundreds of stories already written into it, and more to come.