How AI is dividing the film industry

There was a time when AI’s creations drew laughter for its blurry finish and editing errors, but in just two years, the joke has turned into a jolt. Today, the use of AI can conjure up Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom and bring the Mahabharata to life as a major Hollywood production, so seamless it could fool millions.What once belonged to the realm of shoddy parodies restricted to social media shares, is now, not only rewriting the stories we love, but also rewriting the rules of filmmaking.

For Hollywood, Bollywood and every other film industry in between, the subject has become a battlefield, and the question is no longer whether AI can make movies, but whether it will corrupt the very essence of cinema.

From Will Smith eating spaghetti to ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

Back in 2023, one of the most famous benchmarks for AI video was the clip of Will Smith eating a bowl of spaghetti. The grainy footage had Smith’s eyes placed too far apart, his forehead oddly protruding, and the pasta never even reaching his mouth. Fast forward to 2025, and AI tools have become almost frighteningly accurate. When an alleged ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ behind-the-scenes clip surfaced online this summer, it racked up millions of views before fans realised it was an AI fabrication. The footage showed Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, alongside the Fantastic Four, with stunning realism. It was so polished that fans expressed their surprise over being fooled by the clip. “If this was released 5 years ago nobody would have known it was AI. We are entering a very dangerous time. I almost never leave opinion on my posts. This is something that truly terrifies me and keeps me up at night,” @dom_lucre tweeted. AI can now convincingly fabricate entire cinematic moments, challenging how audiences perceive authenticity. Post the release of on-set footage of Tom Holland in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’, AI videos surfaced online, forming an entire action sequence just based on the videos that turned up on social media.

India’s first AI movie sparks a firestorm

While there seems to be no qualms to these AI-generated clips turning up online and garnering likes and views, it makes one wonder why filmmakers turining to technology to generate a feature film would spark outrage. In India, Abundantia Entertainment and Collective Media Network’s Historyverse announced “Chiranjeevi Hanuman – The Eternal”, a theatrical feature touted as the country’s first “Made-in-AI” film, slated for release in 2026. The reactions to this announcement were swift and explosive. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap lashed out at producer Vijay Subramaniam on Instagram, accusing him of ‘betraying artists’ while profiting from technology.“Here is the man heading the @lifeatcollectiveartistsnetwork that represents artists, writer, directors, now producing a film made by AI. So much for looking after and representing the interests of creators,” said Anurag Kashyap in a statement.He went further, branding the move as “the future for the spineless and cowardly so-called artists” of Hindi cinema, and urged actors to walk away from agencies that undermine creators in favour of machines.Yet not all stars are against it. Ranveer Singh, who only a year earlier had filed an FIR after an AI-generated deepfake political video of him went viral, surprised many when he dropped a comment “Wah” on the Instagram post.

The ‘Raanjhanaa’ Controversy

If the future of filmmaking is divisive, the past is now under siege too. Eros International recently re-released its 2013 hit Raanjhanaa, but with an AI-generated twist. The rereleased movie seemed to flip the script and altered the tragic ending so the lead character doesn’t die.Director Aanand L. Rai called the move “devastating” and “deeply upsetting”. In a statement on his handles, the director wrote, “To watch Raanjhanaa, a film born out of care, conflict, collaboration, and creative risk, be altered, repackaged, and re-released without my knowledge or consent has been nothing short of devastating.” Lead actor Dhanush echoed Rai’s outrage, calling the new ending “completely disturbing” and a betrayal of the film’s soul. Rai has since taken the matter to the Directors’ Guild and is exploring legal action, warning that if AI re-writes are normalised, “the impact will be felt by all filmmakers and their films.”

Taking a legal stand

In an interview with ETimes in July, the director was asked about what steps he is taking in the matter, “I have already complained to the directors’ guild. We are exploring legal possibilities.” “What is reassuring is the support we are getting from within the industry. My battle ahead is not for myself alone. If we allow this to happen, the impact will be felt by all filmmakers and their films,” concluded the director.

A global debate

The battle over AI isn’t just raging in Indian cinema — it’s dividing Hollywood too, with some stars praising its possibilities and others warning of its perils.Tom Hanks has leaned into the technology. In Robert Zemeckis’ film Here, he and Robin Wright are digitally de-aged to appear decades younger. Hanks defended the choice, marvelling at the speed and efficiency of AI in filmmaking. “We knew that this supercomputer was going to do all the work of six months of postproduction in a nanosecond,” Hanks told Radio Times. “So we shot the scenes at Pinewood and we could look at them immediately.”For Hanks, AI is a tool to serve the story and save time, not an enemy of creativity. But his co-star, Robin Wright, warned that AI is already being weaponised without actors’ consent. She said, “It’s happening already. People are using AI without consent and creating actors saying things they never said. So this isn’t new. That’s the scary part.”Ben Affleck, meanwhile, took a pragmatic middle ground when speaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha summit in 2024. He acknowledged that AI could revolutionise the economics of filmmaking.“What AI is going to do is it’s going to disintermediate the more laborious, less creative and more costly aspects of filmmaking,” the actor-director said. He went on to explain, “That will allow costs to be brought down. That will lower the barrier for entry. That will allow more voices to be heard. That will make it easier for the people that want to make Good Will Hunting to go out and make it.”But he also drew a sharp line between imitation and true artistry. According to Affleck, “AI is a craftsman at best.” Explaining his stance on the subject, he said, “Craftsmanship is knowing how to work. Art is knowing when to stop. And I think knowing when to stop is going to be a very difficult thing for AI to learn, because it’s about taste.”However, if Affleck sees AI as a craftsman, Scarlett Johansson sees it as a trespasser. After her voice was mimicked without permission in OpenAI’s “Sky” system, resembling her role in the Oscar nominated film, ‘Her’, she went the legal route, filing a lawsuit against the AI company. When a viral deepfake video placed her alongside other Jewish figures protesting Kanye West’s antisemitism, she went public again, urging lawmakers to step in. Johansson warned in a statement, “The potential for hate speech multiplied by AI is a far greater threat than any one person.”

Anil Kapoor’s landmark case

India has already set a legal precedent in this debate. In 2023, actor Anil Kapoor secured an injunction from the Delhi High Court banning the unauthorised AI use of his name, voice, image, persona, and iconic catchphrase “jhakaas.” The court granted an interim order restraining multiple defendants from using his likeness for GIFs, merchandise, deepfake videos, or commercial gain without consent—specifically including AI-generated content. The court order empowers him to demand takedowns of deepfakes or commercial misuses of his likeness. Kapoor hailed it as a victory not just for himself, but for all public figures in India.

Democratisation or disruption?

For some filmmakers, AI is less a threat than an opportunity. Director Shekhar Kapur has called AI a “democratising force,” comparing it to Napster’s disruption of the music industry. He argues “The studios have followed the wrong model… AI is going to destroy the myth of budgets, destroy the myth of being big” thus, opening space for independent voices.In 2023, the American actors’ union SAG-AFTRA won a crucial victory, securing protections around the use of actors’ images and likenesses in AI. It was a landmark moment, signalling Hollywood’s first real attempt to draw boundaries around synthetic media.Yet, even as contracts are rewritten, scholars and technologists argue that the cultural gatekeeping of Hollywood itself may be eroding. Elizabeth Strickler, professor at Georgia State University, believes AI is shifting power away from the studios. “AI is diminishing Hollywood’s role as the arbiter of creation and taste, instead allowing more artists and creators to reach a significant audience,” she said to AP.

Priyanka Chopra’s strategic use of AI

Priyanka Chopra on the other handle has embraced AI in a very different way. Her team reportedly used AI tools like Grok and ChatGPT to analyse audience sentiment around Prime Video’s ‘Heads of State’. The findings claimed that Chopra generated 50–60% of the online buzz, more than double that of her male co-stars John Cena and Idris Elba, who each accounted for around 20–25% as the leads.“I don’t think she would normally be credited for [the film’s success] because she’s not the lead. She’s not a ‘head of state.’ But in this case, the data doesn’t lie,” said her manager Anjula Acharia-Bath to Variety.

A house divided

The global film industry now finds itself torn between two visions. For some, AI represents a threat to artistry, consent, and the sanctity of stories. For others, it’s a tool of liberation, cutting costs and empowering new voices. Go to Source