<p>Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the body that awards the Oscars, quietly but significantly amended its rules. It declared that using artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools would “neither help <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx4y1lrz2vo">nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination</a>.”</p><p>Though laced with neutrality, the California-based Academy’s move could become a turning point in world cinema. It signals a global acceptance of AI’s growing role in film-making.</p><p>In March, the Brutalist actor, Adrian Brody, won the Oscar for Best Actor, and the film’s director Brady Corbet confessed to having liberally used Gen AI to improve the actor's Hungarian accent for his portrayal of a Hungarian architect.</p><p>Like any other industry, cinema too is rapidly witnessing wide adoption of AI, be it scripting, casting, production management, and even more so in post-production. Hollywood directors like James Cameron who had been sceptical over AI's potential in film-making, fearing that it would displace human talent, now feel that AI has the potential to drastically reduce production costs.</p><p>This development raises pressing questions for India, a country where cinema is deeply entwined with culture, colour, and emotion. As AI becomes a bigger presence in Indian films, we must ask: Is AI enhancing creativity, or is it beginning to stifle the very human spirit that cinema seeks to celebrate?</p><p><strong>The rise of AI in Indian cinema</strong></p><p>Indian filmmakers have been quick to embrace AI. Big-budget productions such as Brahmāstra Part One: Shiva (2022) used AI-assisted visual effects and motion tracking to create its elaborate ‘Astraverse’, compressing what would have taken months into a far shorter timeline. Regional cinema is not far behind. Notably, Kalki 2898 AD used AI-generated environments to render its futuristic settings, offering a glimpse of how large-scale Indian productions are moving into AI-driven world-building.</p><p>The Kannada film Toby (2023) used AI for post-dubbing voice matching, improving emotional accuracy across languages. Meanwhile, a fascinating milestone has been achieved with Love You, an upcoming Kannada feature directed by S Narasimhamurthy. Billed as among the world’s first fully AI-created feature films, it has no human actors or cameramen and was completed in <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/others/love-you-first-kannada-ai-generated-film-made-by-priest-10-lakh-budget-6-months-no-actors-crew-101745335585123.html">just six months on a budget of ₹10 lakh</a>.</p><p>However, the embrace of AI has also exposed pitfalls. Adipurush (2023), based on the Ramayana, faced intense backlash for its over-reliance on synthetic CGI (computer generated imagery) and lack of emotional depth. Despite high expectations and a big budget, audiences found the visuals disjointed and the storytelling hollow — a cautionary tale about technology overshadowing narrative soul.</p><p><strong>Power and perils of AI</strong></p><p>There’s no denying that AI has opened new creative horizons. Today, Indian directors use tools like Runway ML for scene creation, D-ID for voice synthesis, and Flawless AI for perfect dubbing. Post-production software like Adobe Sensei and Blackbird enables even mid-budget filmmakers to achieve Hollywood-level visual effects at a fraction of traditional costs.</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.naturalspublishing.com/files/published/519fn13620io92.pdf">a recent study</a> published in Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences, AI is impacting every stage of Indian film-making — from script-writing and casting to production management, post-production, audience analytics, and marketing. Tools like ScriptBook and DeepStory can now assess a screenplay’s emotional arc and predict likely audience responses before a single scene is shot.</p><p>In marketing too, AI tools gauge social media trends and search engine patterns to predict a film’s box office prospects even before release, sometimes within hours. Studios today rely heavily on AI to strategize promotions and target niche audiences.</p><p>Yet with such precision and efficiency comes the danger of homogenisation. If AI increasingly guides script revisions and predicts audience tastes, are we not at risk of losing the experimental, the challenging, and the unpredictable elements that make cinema an art form?</p><p><strong>Ethical fault lines</strong></p><p>The growing reliance on AI has also led to ethical missteps. The Telugu film <a href="https://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/hyderabad-chronicle/sp-balus-son-slaps-legal-notice-to-keeda-cola-filmmakers-882573">Keedaa Cola faced controversy</a> when it recreated the voice of the late singer S P Balasubrahmanyam without consent, prompting legal action by his family. Deepfakes, unauthorised image manipulation, and synthetic performances raise critical questions about consent, copyright, and authenticity.</p><p>Moreover, concerns over job losses in traditional film crew roles among — VFX artists, editors, dubbing artists and even actors — are mounting, not just in India but globally. <a href="https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/Research%20Brief%20Media%20and%20AI%20thematic%20English.pdf">A recent report</a> by the International Labour Organisation, 'Generative AI and the media and culture industry', warns that use of AI in generating scenes and managing tasks like animation and VFX can not only cut down production timelines and budgets, but may also ‘change the type of expertise needed, increasingly moving from creative roles to roles that are more able to manage technical and AI tools’. The ILO feels it is necessary to have a ‘balanced approach that embraces technological advancements while safeguarding ethics and the human elements of creativity’. </p><p>As automation deepens, thousands in the film industry ecosystem may find their livelihoods at risk. India, like most countries, currently lacks a comprehensive legal framework governing AI use in entertainment. Until regulations catch up, filmmakers must exercise self-restraint, and ethical responsibility.</p><p><strong>Creativity must stay human-centric</strong></p><p>The arrival of AI in cinema is not a villainous development. At its best, like any technology, AI can be a powerful assistant — enhancing storytelling, broadening visions, and democratising high-quality film-making. It allows filmmakers to dream beyond logistical and financial limits. AI has shown that it can break the language barriers and make regional cinema compete with the best in the world.</p><p>However, creativity must remain human-centric. Awards should recognise films for their emotional resonance, narrative depth, and original artistry — not for their algorithmic sophistication. The heart of cinema lies not in machine learning models, but in human experiences, emotions, and imaginations. After all, technology is only a brush, not the artist.</p><p>Cinema awards have historically honoured human creativity. Allowing films extensively shaped by AI to compete equally and pre-empting the audience’s likes or dislikes carries the risk of diluting this principle. In the Indian context, prestigious awards like the National Film Awards, Filmfare Critics' Awards, and selections under the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) have often recognised artistic merit over box-office success.</p><p>Hindi cinema is full of shining examples where films that failed to pull crowds into the cinema halls were masterpieces and depicted directional brilliance. Do Bigha Zamin (1953), directed by Bimal Roy, struggled commercially against mainstream entertainers of the time, yet went on to win the prestigious International Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Similarly, Ankur (1974), directed by Shyam Benegal, had a modest box office run but became a landmark of Indian parallel cinema, winning the National Film Award and gaining recognition at international film festivals. Sparsh (1980) was a commercial under-performer but won the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi for its sensitive portrayal of a visually impaired principal’s emotional world.</p><p>Similarly, regional language films like Court (2015, Marathi), which won the National Award for Best Feature Film, and Ship of Theseus (2013) were not commercially successful but lauded internationally. These and many more such films were rich in emotional and artistic ambition, and exemplify why awards must remain anchored to the core values of human creativity and a celebration of original human expression.</p><p>As AI becomes more embedded, award juries must tread carefully. Should a screenplay optimised by AI sentiment analysis compete with one that is an unfiltered human outpouring? Should AI-generated characters win acting awards? These questions, once academic, are now immediate. If we aren't cautious now, cinema could become a contest of algorithms rather than creative artistry.</p><p><em>Abhishek Patni is a New Delhi-based senior journalist. X: @Abhishek_Patni.</em></p>
<p>Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the body that awards the Oscars, quietly but significantly amended its rules. It declared that using artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools would “neither help <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx4y1lrz2vo">nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination</a>.”</p><p>Though laced with neutrality, the California-based Academy’s move could become a turning point in world cinema. It signals a global acceptance of AI’s growing role in film-making.</p><p>In March, the Brutalist actor, Adrian Brody, won the Oscar for Best Actor, and the film’s director Brady Corbet confessed to having liberally used Gen AI to improve the actor's Hungarian accent for his portrayal of a Hungarian architect.</p><p>Like any other industry, cinema too is rapidly witnessing wide adoption of AI, be it scripting, casting, production management, and even more so in post-production. Hollywood directors like James Cameron who had been sceptical over AI's potential in film-making, fearing that it would displace human talent, now feel that AI has the potential to drastically reduce production costs.</p><p>This development raises pressing questions for India, a country where cinema is deeply entwined with culture, colour, and emotion. As AI becomes a bigger presence in Indian films, we must ask: Is AI enhancing creativity, or is it beginning to stifle the very human spirit that cinema seeks to celebrate?</p><p><strong>The rise of AI in Indian cinema</strong></p><p>Indian filmmakers have been quick to embrace AI. Big-budget productions such as Brahmāstra Part One: Shiva (2022) used AI-assisted visual effects and motion tracking to create its elaborate ‘Astraverse’, compressing what would have taken months into a far shorter timeline. Regional cinema is not far behind. Notably, Kalki 2898 AD used AI-generated environments to render its futuristic settings, offering a glimpse of how large-scale Indian productions are moving into AI-driven world-building.</p><p>The Kannada film Toby (2023) used AI for post-dubbing voice matching, improving emotional accuracy across languages. Meanwhile, a fascinating milestone has been achieved with Love You, an upcoming Kannada feature directed by S Narasimhamurthy. Billed as among the world’s first fully AI-created feature films, it has no human actors or cameramen and was completed in <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/others/love-you-first-kannada-ai-generated-film-made-by-priest-10-lakh-budget-6-months-no-actors-crew-101745335585123.html">just six months on a budget of ₹10 lakh</a>.</p><p>However, the embrace of AI has also exposed pitfalls. Adipurush (2023), based on the Ramayana, faced intense backlash for its over-reliance on synthetic CGI (computer generated imagery) and lack of emotional depth. Despite high expectations and a big budget, audiences found the visuals disjointed and the storytelling hollow — a cautionary tale about technology overshadowing narrative soul.</p><p><strong>Power and perils of AI</strong></p><p>There’s no denying that AI has opened new creative horizons. Today, Indian directors use tools like Runway ML for scene creation, D-ID for voice synthesis, and Flawless AI for perfect dubbing. Post-production software like Adobe Sensei and Blackbird enables even mid-budget filmmakers to achieve Hollywood-level visual effects at a fraction of traditional costs.</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.naturalspublishing.com/files/published/519fn13620io92.pdf">a recent study</a> published in Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences, AI is impacting every stage of Indian film-making — from script-writing and casting to production management, post-production, audience analytics, and marketing. Tools like ScriptBook and DeepStory can now assess a screenplay’s emotional arc and predict likely audience responses before a single scene is shot.</p><p>In marketing too, AI tools gauge social media trends and search engine patterns to predict a film’s box office prospects even before release, sometimes within hours. Studios today rely heavily on AI to strategize promotions and target niche audiences.</p><p>Yet with such precision and efficiency comes the danger of homogenisation. If AI increasingly guides script revisions and predicts audience tastes, are we not at risk of losing the experimental, the challenging, and the unpredictable elements that make cinema an art form?</p><p><strong>Ethical fault lines</strong></p><p>The growing reliance on AI has also led to ethical missteps. The Telugu film <a href="https://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/hyderabad-chronicle/sp-balus-son-slaps-legal-notice-to-keeda-cola-filmmakers-882573">Keedaa Cola faced controversy</a> when it recreated the voice of the late singer S P Balasubrahmanyam without consent, prompting legal action by his family. Deepfakes, unauthorised image manipulation, and synthetic performances raise critical questions about consent, copyright, and authenticity.</p><p>Moreover, concerns over job losses in traditional film crew roles among — VFX artists, editors, dubbing artists and even actors — are mounting, not just in India but globally. <a href="https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/Research%20Brief%20Media%20and%20AI%20thematic%20English.pdf">A recent report</a> by the International Labour Organisation, 'Generative AI and the media and culture industry', warns that use of AI in generating scenes and managing tasks like animation and VFX can not only cut down production timelines and budgets, but may also ‘change the type of expertise needed, increasingly moving from creative roles to roles that are more able to manage technical and AI tools’. The ILO feels it is necessary to have a ‘balanced approach that embraces technological advancements while safeguarding ethics and the human elements of creativity’. </p><p>As automation deepens, thousands in the film industry ecosystem may find their livelihoods at risk. India, like most countries, currently lacks a comprehensive legal framework governing AI use in entertainment. Until regulations catch up, filmmakers must exercise self-restraint, and ethical responsibility.</p><p><strong>Creativity must stay human-centric</strong></p><p>The arrival of AI in cinema is not a villainous development. At its best, like any technology, AI can be a powerful assistant — enhancing storytelling, broadening visions, and democratising high-quality film-making. It allows filmmakers to dream beyond logistical and financial limits. AI has shown that it can break the language barriers and make regional cinema compete with the best in the world.</p><p>However, creativity must remain human-centric. Awards should recognise films for their emotional resonance, narrative depth, and original artistry — not for their algorithmic sophistication. The heart of cinema lies not in machine learning models, but in human experiences, emotions, and imaginations. After all, technology is only a brush, not the artist.</p><p>Cinema awards have historically honoured human creativity. Allowing films extensively shaped by AI to compete equally and pre-empting the audience’s likes or dislikes carries the risk of diluting this principle. In the Indian context, prestigious awards like the National Film Awards, Filmfare Critics' Awards, and selections under the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) have often recognised artistic merit over box-office success.</p><p>Hindi cinema is full of shining examples where films that failed to pull crowds into the cinema halls were masterpieces and depicted directional brilliance. Do Bigha Zamin (1953), directed by Bimal Roy, struggled commercially against mainstream entertainers of the time, yet went on to win the prestigious International Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Similarly, Ankur (1974), directed by Shyam Benegal, had a modest box office run but became a landmark of Indian parallel cinema, winning the National Film Award and gaining recognition at international film festivals. Sparsh (1980) was a commercial under-performer but won the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi for its sensitive portrayal of a visually impaired principal’s emotional world.</p><p>Similarly, regional language films like Court (2015, Marathi), which won the National Award for Best Feature Film, and Ship of Theseus (2013) were not commercially successful but lauded internationally. These and many more such films were rich in emotional and artistic ambition, and exemplify why awards must remain anchored to the core values of human creativity and a celebration of original human expression.</p><p>As AI becomes more embedded, award juries must tread carefully. Should a screenplay optimised by AI sentiment analysis compete with one that is an unfiltered human outpouring? Should AI-generated characters win acting awards? These questions, once academic, are now immediate. If we aren't cautious now, cinema could become a contest of algorithms rather than creative artistry.</p><p><em>Abhishek Patni is a New Delhi-based senior journalist. X: @Abhishek_Patni.</em></p>