Rajesh Naiksatam was born and raised in Mumbai, India. At age ten, while on the school playground, Rajesh was hit by a powerfully thrown but misguided javelin. By the grace of God, the javelin wobbled at the very last moment and lost its momentum, fortunately leaving Rajesh with nothing more than a half-inch-deep hip wound.

Rajesh’s late father, Shrikant Naiksatam, was one of the finest animators and visual effects artists India has ever produced. Shrikant wanted Rajesh to become a computer engineer, but Rajesh was more interested in following in his father’s footsteps and joining the creative field. Eventually, Rajesh convinced Shrikant to let him work with him. While training with his father in animation and visual effects, Rajesh had the privilege of working with Prahlad Kakar, India’s advertisement guru. Prahlad gave Rajesh an opportunity to direct his first stop-motion animation film for a commercial, which won an Advertising...