Anurag Kashyap didn’t mince words as he spoke against the makers of Chiranjeevi Hanuman for using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create the film. The mythological film has been produced by Vikram Malhotra and Vijay Subramaniam and made entirely using AI.
Anurag took to Instagram and congratulated Vijay sarcastically. “Here is the man heading the Collective Artists Network that represents artists, writer, directors, now producing a film made by AI. So much for looking after and representing the interests of creators. End of the day, all these agencies are only interested in making money off you and since they choose turkeys after turkeys for you and you’re not making enough for them, they are going all AI.”
He added, “Any actor or anyone who calls themselves artists and has a spine will be and should be either questioning him or leaving the agency since he has proved that he thinks you’re no match for his AI performance. This right here is the future for the spineless and cowardly so-called artists in the Hindi Film industry. Well done Vijay Subramaniam. Shame is not enough on you. You should be in the gutter.”
The film was announced recently by the makers, which, as per an IANS report, is described as, “a new-age production which draws deeply from the sacred epic of the Ramayaṇa and revered Puraṇic texts, and re-creates centuries-old stories, using cutting-edge AI, into a visual odyssey.”
Earlier today, Vikramaditya Motwane took to social media to express his concerns on the film. “And so it begins… Who TF needs writers and directors when it’s ‘Made in AI',” he wrote.
It is to be noted that there seems to be no director or editor for Chiranjeevi Hanuman. The film has apparently been “anchored by a team of over 50+ engineers, who work closely with cultural scholars and literary experts to script an authentic narrative.”
Recently, a controversy erupted when the climax of Aanand L Rai’s Raanjhanaa was AI-altered into a ‘happy’ one by the film’s production house Eros International. Criticising the move, Aanand had said, "Let me say this as clearly as I can: I do not support or endorse the AI-altered version of Raanjhanaa. It is unauthorised. I had no role in it. Neither did the team that made the film. And whatever it claims to be, it is not the film we intended, or made."
"To cloak a film’s emotional legacy in a synthetic cape without consent, is not a creative act. It’s an abject betrayal of everything we built," he had said.