New Indian film reanimates star of yesteryear, sparking debate on use of AI

Legendary actor Uttam Kumar is back on the screen four decades after his death

- Debarshi Dasgupta

Like most Bengalis of his generation, 54-year-old Aveek Sarkar grew up on a steady diet of Bengali films featuring the legendary actor Uttam Kumar.

These include the 1966 classic Nayak, in which he plays a deeply troubled matinee idol who pours his heart out to a journalist, as well as the 1961 hit Saptapadi, in which Kumar plays a young Bengali Hindu medical student in love with a talented Anglo-Indian Christian woman.

Not surprisingly, Kumar remains Mr Sarkar's favourite actor.

"I love the life he brought to each of his characters," said Mr Sarkar, a Kolkata-based financial consultant.

That heady rush of watching the Bengali superstar on screen is back for him and millions of other Kumar fans after the release on March 22 of Oti Uttam ("Exceedingly Good"), a new film featuring the actor.

But Kumar died in 1980 at the age of 53, and it is his artificial intelligence (AI) avatar that is regaling audiences this time.

Oti Uttam, directed and written by award-winning filmmaker Srijit Mukherji, features Kumar as a friendly ghost who helps a young man win over the girl he has fallen in love with.

Kumar's character was developed using footage from as many as 56 of his past films that was picked out after six years of painstaking research to match the new storyline.

Wherever necessary, the audio was enhanced with an Al-generated clone of Kumar's voice.

The technology was also used to generate fresh dialogue for his character.

Oti Uttam is not an outlier. It is part of a wider shift in the film industry across India to use AI to breach new frontiers.