In a recent panel, Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane spoke on the impact of AI in cinema and what it means for the future of the movie-watching experience.
Artificial Intelligence is not the future… it is the present, and it has started playing a vital role in many businesses, including cinema.
In a recent conversation at Synapse Conclave, some of the most leading voices of Indian films spoke on the impact of AI in cinema. Anurag Kashyap, who seems to use every opportunity to take a dig at mainstream Hindi cinema, did not miss this opportunity either.
Anurag said, “If you are talking about the impact of AI in Hindi cinema, they have not made anything original lately. It is mostly remakes, and honestly, AI can help them make better copies and better remakes.” He also pointed out that his issue with AI is not just limited to the technology’s impact on the creative side.
Anurag pointed out that AI servers need a lot of water to cool down, and to illustrate his point, recalled an anecdote about the shooting of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. “When Danny used small cameras to shoot in the slums, and the feed was going back to the laptop.
They had icepacks to cool the system. Imagine how much coolant an AI server would need. In fact, research shows that every AI prompt uses 16 ounces of water, and if it continues to be used at the rate it is being used now, by 2027 we will be using the same amount of water that Denmark uses to cool servers,” Anurag said, hoping to open people’s minds about the disadvantages of excessive reliance on AI.
His fellow panelist, filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane, pointed out that AI is actually better for end users, not for filmmakers. Vikramaditya said, “For end users, AI is great. You can use it to create a movie for someone. AI can help you watch a Star Wars movie, with the user playing the role of Luke Skywalker. AI will make things easier.” He stressed that AI will not ring the death knell for cinemas.
Esserting that mass gatherings will not end, Vikramaditya said cinema theatres have been in a similar situation before. “We have been hearing about the end of movies since the time of the advent of VHS tapes, satellite television and the internet.
Of course, the regularity may be less, but you will still go to watch movies,” the Udaan filmmaker said. Concluding this conversation about the movie-watching experience, he took a dig at multiplexes like PVR and said, “If Ajay Bijli (PVR CEO) continues to run a 45-minute ad, then obviously you will not go to the theatre.”
Anurag agreed, saying: “Ajay’s reason for being in films is very different from why all of us are in cinema.”
Anurag Kashyap said ‘Hindi cinema is not making anything original’, Vikramaditya Motwane feels 45-minute ads are killing cinemas
