Hollywood is debating AI. Indian filmmakers are adopting it

Hello, I am Priyanka Salve, writing to you from Singapore.

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India is home to the world’s most prolific film production industry. This week, industry executives told me that generative AI adoption is accelerating as creators look to meet growing content demand in the country’s $32 billion media and entertainment sector with smaller budgets.

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Whereas Hollywood is constantly working on how to best use AI and debating its impact on jobs, filmmakers in India – the highest in the world Prolific film production industry -The next step has been taken.

JioStar in October last year, a joint venture Between the ownership of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries And Walt Disneylaunched a 100-episode series that used generative AI to create a retelling of the Indian mythological epic “Mahabharata.”

The series, “Mahabharata: Ek Dharmayuddha,” was viewed 6.5 million times on launch day, its performance 2.1 times higher than the platform average, Stephen Bugaj, senior vice president of GenAI content and technology at JioStar, told CNBC by email.

Bugaj said that the series was never intended to be a “one-off experiment” for the platform and that it is a first step in exploring how AI can “expand the boundaries of storytelling”.

And they are not alone.

Indian production house Abundantia Entertainment is preparing for the theatrical launch of “Chiranjeevi Hanuman – The Eternal”, which is based on the mythology surrounding an Indian deity and is touted to be India’s first. AI-generated feature film By local media.

The series “Made in India: The Titan Story”, streaming on Amazon’s MX Player, uses more than 100 AI shots to recreate 1970s Mumbai, said AI artist Prasad Gori, who worked on the project with his colleagues Anurag Tiwari and Sagar Chogle.

Ghori said there has been a surge in AI-related production work in the last eight months and he now gets 10-15 offers for such jobs every week. Three years ago, he had to chase production companies for work.

India’s media and entertainment market was worth $32 billion by 2025 and is growing at 9%. faster rate than the broader economyAccording to a report by consultancy firm Ernst & Young in March.

According to Neel Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Research, generative AI tools can create films and content at scale at a much lower cost than traditional methods, but the real benefit is that it cuts production timelines.

“There is a huge demand for content in India,” Shah said in a telephone interview., Adding that this makes “time to market” a critical element for success.

AI provides filmmakers with quicker turnaround times and unleashes creativity at lower costs.

Manesh Muthu Swamy, co-founder and chief creative officer of Indian content production firm FirstAI Consultancy, told CNBC said that his team has discovered a new approach to creating animation projects using AI.

First, the team shot the content using human actors, then used AI to create animated characters based on those actors’ facial expressions, Swamy said, explaining that the technology is not yet able to generate expressions well.

Creating this kind of animation from scratch would cost a few million dollars with traditional equipment and take six months to a year to produce, he said, but with AI, it could be done for a few hundred dollars and within a few weeks.

At movie studios, television networks and content production firms, AI creators CNBC noted use a variety of generic AI tools, with MidJourney, Adobe Firefly, Cling, Minimax, Seedance and Google’s AI Studio being mentioned repeatedly.

Platforms like Higgsfield are also popular because they allow creators to work with multiple generative AI tools.

Technology is also reducing barriers for new entrants.

Sudarshan Srinivasan, who has worked as an executive producer in the Tamil film industry, has spent several years hoping to direct his own feature film. Like many outsiders, he is finding it difficult to break into an industry where access to financing, stars and distribution often depends on relationships built over decades.

AI has given him a new path.

“AI has made filmmaking easier for small teams who are struggling to find producers or investors,” Srinivasan told CNBC. He said that if he does not find any backers for his film in the next two years, he plans to make it using AI and release it on digital platforms.

India’s central bank cuts growth outlook, raises inflation forecast
India’s central bank on Friday kept interest rates at 5.25% but raised its inflation forecast by 50 basis points to 5.1% for the fiscal year ending March 2027, while The economy’s growth forecast for the year was cut to 6.6%, down from a previously estimated 6.9%.