As AI-made series hit OTT, filmmakers weighs creativity against convenience

When Mahabharat Ek Dharmayudh directed by Nitesh Tiwari recently rolled its credits there werenrsquot 300 names listed as is typical for a mainstream epic in India but just 15 to 20On one hand this is a mythic story retold on the other it is a new business model This was a series made via artificialintelligencedriven workflows where massive crews are replaced by algorithms and lean teamsMorgan Stanley Research projects that GenAI can trim overall mediaproduction expenses by about 10 per cent and cut costs in television and film by as much as 30 per cent when the technology will be fully integrated into scripting previsualisation and postproduction workflows The question at the heart of this transformation is is AI poised to become Bollywoodrsquos biggest costcutting tool For some filmmakers it promises creative liberation enabling stories without giant budgets For others it signals an industrial shakeup of seismic proportionsCostume designer Rick Royrsquos concern with using AI in films is losing humanness PicAshish RajeThis AIreimagined series has opened the floodgates of a new era but the real disruption is already unfolding in the backrooms of production studios Across the globe AI tools are quietly trimming timelines and budgets Indian studios too are adopting these systems a 2025 Broadcast and Film industry report estimates that AI could reduce overall production costs by 20ndash30 per cent by 2026 especially in postproduction and set designFor filmmaker Shakun Batra who founded the experimental studio Jouska AI is an invitation to rethink access apart from being a technical shortcut ldquoFor Indian cinema I think AI opens up a space for risk Wersquove always had incredible storytellers but access mdash financial logistical or geographic mdash has been a real barrier It creates a space where experimenting at scale becomes possiblerdquo he says His own experiments began out of curiosity but soon evolved into a hybrid workflow model where human storytelling meets algorithmic precisionIn traditional filmmaking hundreds of people handle lighting costume and continuity With AIassisted systems Batra envisions small agile teams capable of producing nearstudioquality films for a fraction of the cost The technology he argues may finally give independent filmmakers a seat at the table giving access to what was once an exclusive capitalheavy industry Globally studios are calling it a ldquobusiness rebootrdquo In India itrsquos beginning to look like a creative revampPrevisualisation that used to take three to four weeks will now be completed in less than five days Crowd simulations were once considered a logistical nightmare requiring hundreds of extras Now they will be generated by neural renderers that create lifelike digital bodies moving emoting and even reacting to camera angles Lighting grids that took an entire crew half a day to set up will now be mapped virtually through AIled scene design tools like Wonder Dynamics and RunwayA still from the AI series Mahabharat Ek Dharamyudh PicInstagramjiohotstarThe result is staggering time compression Where a traditional shoot could span 90 days AIassisted workflows are reducing production schedules by up to 40 per cent according to the Broadcast amp Film industry report Indiarsquos AIinentertainment market is projected to grow at 22 per cent annually through 2030 with potential savings of 70ndash80 crore on largescale productions as stated in Pwcrsquos 2024 Entertainment and Media OutlookBatra describes it as ldquoa meeting point between art and algorithmrdquo His teams run like creative startups where AI handles the grunt work freeing humans to focus on taste pacing and emotion A 100crore fantasy once requiring multiple studios and financiers could now be visualised for 30 crore or less And that doesnrsquot just save money It redistributes power The question is no longer who can afford to tell a story but who dares toFor all the speed and savings that AI promises a debate runs beneath the surface about what is lost when technology begins to stand in for the human touch Actor and director Anshuman Jha who has spent nearly two decades in cinema calls AI ldquoa music box pretending to be a violinistrdquoAmish Tripathi Anshuman Jha Anuradha Raman and Shakun BatraldquoArtificial intelligence may perfect imitationsrdquo he says ldquobut it can never capture the tremor of a human heartbeat Breath is at the base of acting where every emotion has a rhythm every performer a pulse Replace that with code and the notes may still play but the soul that wavers between them disappearsrdquoJha sees the value in AIassisted VFX and animation But to use it to make a film from scratch mdash devoid of a set tangible costumes and human faces mdash is simply a shortcut ldquoItrsquos laziness if used 100 per cent to createrdquo he says ldquoAI can function off information but filmmaking is built on knowledge which you earn through experience not through prompts In todayrsquos age you can shoot a film using a mobile phone Filmmaking is hard work You canrsquot find a short cut way out of thatrdquoAddressing the loss of imagination and sensitivity of a human Batra comments ldquoYes people will use AI to outsource creativity But honestly Thatrsquos the laziest way to use these tools AI can speed things up yes but that doesnrsquot mean it brings meaning That still has to come from the filmmaker For me the human touch isnrsquot just about emotionmdashitrsquos about decisions Why does a scene pause Why does the silence matter These are questions AI canrsquot answer unless we feed it something real to begin withrdquoJharsquos critique points to a cultural crossroads AI filmmaking is undeniably cheaper and faster but the danger lies in what those efficiencies normalise A creative process where irregularities like the slight tremor in a voice the unplanned shadow in a frame all get edited out in pursuit of polish As the industry leans toward automation Jha reiterates that ldquoat best it is a tool to make the process easier but it canrsquot replace the human connect in traditional filmmakingrdquo In this new cinematic economy the question is whether the stories will still breatheSimilarly the bustle of a set with its tailors stitching brushes sweeping fabrics rustling may be replaced by keyboards and prompts For costume designer Rick Roy this efficiency carries a cost ldquoArt has always been a human creative expression of emotionsrdquo he says ldquoWith AI itrsquos visual algorithmic and devoid of humannessrdquoRoyrsquos concern is anatomical The way silk moves under studio lights or the quick fix of a safety pin before a take canrsquot be coded Yet hersquos pragmatic about what comes next ldquoIf AI takes over wersquoll have to adapt Designers will move from stitching to guiding mdash learning to teach AI what to createrdquo The craft he believes will survive as long as physical filmmaking does the designer may just evolve into an AI stylist a curator of digital texture and silhouette rather than cloth and threadMakeup artist Anuradha Raman a decade into her career sees a similar fault line ldquoAI can replicate faces with eerie precisionrdquo she says ldquobut it loses the rawness that imperfections bringrdquo For her makeup brings about emotional scaffolding ldquoWhen an actor wears a scar Irsquove created it changes how they perform AI symmetry doesnrsquot bring the rawness to onersquos characterrdquoThe first revolution in Indian cinema was perhaps the arrival of colour and the second might just be code Author Amish Tripathi who has watched AI transform video game development through his upcoming title Age of Bhaarat calls it ldquothe next leap in storytelling logisticsrdquo Hersquos not talking about automation as replacement but augmentation ldquoAI wonrsquot replace creativesrdquo he says ldquobut creatives with AI will replace those without itrdquoWhile labour in the film industry may continue to have jobs each stint will get shorter For Tripathi the promise lies in scale What took game developers two years can now be done in five months ldquoYour biggest cost is timerdquo he explains ldquoIf yoursquore paying people monthly cutting that timeline changes the entire businessrdquo In film that means a writer in Bhopal or a regional director in Kochi could now build an AIrendered world and walk into a studio meeting with a 20 minute proofofconcept mdash a tool once reserved for those with millions in preproduction fundsEvery technological leap in cinema carries its shadow AIrsquos efficiency is rewriting the economics of labour Actor Vinayak Vasudeva sees the shift as more existential than financial ldquoAlready our mainstream cinema is made for reels Visuals that are flashy fast and give you an easy dopaminerdquo he says ldquoWersquore AIrsquos ideal customers because what actors hesitate to do can now be generated An item song without paying anyone for it mdash thatrsquos hard to think aboutrdquo For him the biggest loss from AI isnrsquot employment but individuality ldquoAI canrsquot bring emotion or human complexity Acting is built on individuality which is everything that AI lacksrdquoTripathi compares this to the transition from practical effects to CGI ldquoThere was panic then too However with computer graphics coming in peoplersquos imagination became even bigger Stories that werenrsquot even attempted started being made possiblerdquo The same may hold true here As AI lowers costs it could multiply the number of films being made The industry may lose some roles but gain entirely new kinds of creatorsWhen Shakun Batra looks ahead he sees not machines replacing artistes but a new industrial chain forming around them ldquoWersquore already experimenting with hybrid workflows that bring traditional filmmaking and AI together not as opposites but as collaboratorsrdquo he says ldquoThe hope is to find a balance thatrsquos not just efficient but creatively honestrdquoGlobally that vision is already taking shape Netflix is using AI to forecast content success and tailor thumbnails to viewer emotion Disneyrsquos virtual production units like StageCraft cut shooting costs by up to a third India has always been at a disadvantage globally in terms of graphics and perhaps this will even out the playing field Indian studios are watching closely The Broadcast and Film report estimates that AIdriven production could add nearly 5000 crore to the media economy by 2030 spawning an entire ecosystem of AI designers creative engineers and virtual production specialistsYet the irony is picturesque Mahabharat a 5000yearold tale of gods and men has become the countryrsquos first AImade epic The technology that claims to simulate emotion has retold the story that once defined itSpot boy Pinto who fortunately did not realise that the advent of AI may cost him his job said ldquoIf there is no work here wersquoll simply go back to our hometown and take up farmingrdquoPerhaps the question for Indiarsquos film industry isnrsquot whether AI can make better movies but whether it can still make us feel If cinema is the art of human reflection how much of that humanity are we willing to trade for costeffectiveness203037Amount by which AI could reduce overall film production costs by 2026 especially in postproduction and set design