THE NEW AICONS OF BOLLYWOOD

Artificial intelligence is making its presence felt in the creative realm of Indian cinema. The fraternity remains divided on its potential, with one side viewing it as a creative force, the other side as a disruptive one

- By SUHANI SINGH

Shakun Batra, writer-director of the emotionally charged Kapoor & Sons and Gehraiyaan, is not the kind of filmmaker you'd expect to deliver riveting car chases. "People see me as an emotional, personal-dynamics filmmaker, so nobody would give me the money to do one [an action sequence]," he says, seated in Dharma Entertainment's office. But after experimenting with artificial intelligence [AI] tools like ChatGPT, Sora and Google Veo, Batra has done exactly that, conjured his first high-octane short, The Getaway Car, and set it in Montreal. "Had I done it the traditional way, it would have required a 50-member crew, cars and permission from local government to block streets, a stunt team, security, flying in actors to Montreal and putting them up in hotels," he says. Instead, a bit of deft prompt engineering (instructing AI precisely for a desired, superior result), and Batra was able to step out of his comfort zone and explore a genre he'd never handled before.

The Getaway Car wasn't Batra's first tryst with AI. He had begun dabbling with advanced AI tools while shooting commercials. "I created an AI-powered shot, which, funnily, the client chose over the one I had actually shot on set," recalls Batra. "I didn't know if I had failed as a traditional filmmaker or succeeded on the AI front." The spark thus lit, Batra soon began sharing AI-generated teasers on Instagram. He'd eventually collaborate with Google Gemini to make The Getaway Car. Today, he uses ChatGPT to generate quick script synopses, character breakdowns and "even to understand the psychological dynamics of a character".