India’s film industry, the most prolific in the world by number of releases, is adopting generative artificial intelligence across production, from creating digital performers to rewriting the endings of old films and dubbing new ones into multiple languages, according to reporting by AFP published in early April.
The shift is being driven by cost pressure. Cinema attendance in India has fallen as streaming services have expanded, and producers are looking for ways to make content faster and more cheaply. Industry figures quoted in the AFP report estimate that AI tools can cut the cost of some productions by as much as fivefold and shorten timelines considerably, though those estimates come from companies selling or using the technology.
Digital actors and AI epics
Talent management firm Collective Artists Network is among the companies developing digital actors, computer-generated performers that can be licensed for productions. In Bangalore, studios are using AI tools to produce new versions of Hindu epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, generating characters and settings that would be expensive to build with conventional effects.
Older films are also being reworked. Eros Media World re-released a film with an ending altered by AI, a move that drew a mixed response from audiences and objections from some of the original filmmakers, who argued they had not consented to the change. The episode has become a reference point in a wider debate in India about who controls a finished film once AI makes alteration cheap.
Dubbing and global partners
AI dubbing is spreading quickly. Companies such as Neural Garage offer tools that translate dialogue and then adjust the on-screen actors’ lip movements to match the new language, making dubbed versions look natural rather than mismatched. For an industry that distributes films across India’s many language markets and abroad, the appeal is obvious.
Global technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Nvidia are working with Indian studios and startups on AI filmmaking tools, according to the report, seeing the industry as a large market for generative video and audio technology.
Criticism from creatives
The speed of adoption has prompted pushback. Writers, actors and directors quoted in Indian and international coverage worry that AI-generated content will erode the craft and originality that distinguish films, and that the savings will come at the expense of jobs. Supporters counter that the tools expand what small producers can afford to attempt.
The question for the industry is no longer whether AI will be used, but how deeply it will reshape production and whether audiences will accept films in which a growing share of what they see and hear was generated rather than performed.
