INDIA'S BOLLYWOOD INPUTS * : FILM INDUSTRY ESSAY

INDIA produces the most movies of any country and stars such as Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachan command cult-like followings.

But shifting audience habits, including the rise of streaming, and squeezing production budgets, many industry players say. The number of moviegoers fell to 832 million in 2025, from 1.03 billions in 2019, according to consulting firm Ormax Media.

WELCOME to the new-look movie set - where the quiet hours of a coding floor has replaced the  cacophony of cameras, clapper boards and shouted directions.

The Collective Artists Network, a top talent agency for Bollywood A-listers, has long brokered the careers of real-life superstars. Now, its engineering digital ones.

In its Bengaluru premises, filmmakers use artificial intelligence tools to create content based on Hindu mythology a popular genre in India.

One movie, based on the religious text, Ramayana, has a scene showing the god Hanuman flying while carrying a mountain. A show based on a separate ancient epic, Mahabharat, figures a sequence depicting the sequence Gandhari, who blindfolded herself upon marrying a blind king.

But now as A.I. unfolds Box-office sales hit a record $1.4 billion last year, revenue has been choppy since the pandemic and reliant on a handful of hits and pricier tickets.

Studios in India are responding by deploying A.I. on a scale unseen elsewhere creating full-fledged A.I, generated films using A.I. dubbing to release movies in numerous languages, and recutting endings of older titles to eke out additional sales.

Vikram Malhotra, founder of Abundantia Entertainment, said the Bollywood production house, which recently announced investment in an $11 million AI studio, is building its AI capability from scratch and expects content generated or assisted by AI to account for one-third of its revenue within three years.

American and British studios have experimented with AI filmmaking producing the first full-length AI animated features in 2024 and an AI-generated immersive version of The Wizard Of Oz last year.

But the ambitions of India's filmmakers are on a different level, said Dominic Lees, a film and AI researcher at Britain's University of Reading.

If they can deliver, then the shift in AI Filmmaking will be to India, he said. The pivot to AI reflects India's embrace of the technology broadly.

The World Students Society thanks Reuters.