Hindi
I&B Minister wants IFFI dates to be changed
MUMBAI: The Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said that the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) would be approached with a proposal to change the dates of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) as the concluding day – 3 December – clashes with the St. Francis Xavier feast.
Soni was speaking after presenting renowned French filmmaker Bernard Tavernier with the Lifetime Achievement Award, a tradition revived after a decade. The award includes a shawl, a scroll and a cash prize of Rs 1 million at the 42nd IFFI in Margao.
Accepting the award, Tavernier said he had tried through his films to share his vision and the pleasure and joy of filmmaking. Films opened the windows of the world, he said, adding that ‘films can be weapons of massive construction‘.
Soni wanted the film festival to become a people‘s festival and promised that two more theatres would be ready by the time of the next festival in 2012.
She expressed the hope that the market section should be strengthened to reach out internationally. IFFI has become an agent of the growing acceptance of Indian cinema and has given an impetus and an identity to the industry making it one of the most prosperous film industries of the world, she added.
Earlier, Shah Rukh Khan, who was the chief guest at the inauguration of the Festival, said that one should not be afraid to destroy systems and try new things in cinema, which “is food for the soul and the singular experience to which all relate.” Khan, however, did not like to demarcate between art and commercial cinema since all films were mirrors of the world.
Speaking on the occasion, Goa chief Minister Digambar Kamat said that the state is being developed into a major film centre with a film culture of its own. He has already introduced single-window clearance for producers wanting to make films here. He said he had himself had the privilege of hosting the Festival for the fifth time in a row.
After the vote of thanks by Film Federation of India President (FFI) TP Aggarwal, the opening film The Consul of Boredeaux directed by Francisco Manso and Joao Correa was screened.
Others present at the inauguration included I&B Secretary Uday K Varma and Joint Secretary DP Reddy, Margao Mayor Sushila Nayak, Goa chief secretary Sanjay Srivastava, Festival Director Shankar Mohan, Entertainment Society of Goa CEO Manoj Srivastava and the five-member International Jury headed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan.
Also present were producer-directors Ramesh Sippy, Jahnu Barua and Sudhir Mishra, Dharmesh Tiwari who represents a workers association in the industry, Oscar awardee Resul Pokkutty, Steering Committee Chairman Mike Pandey, and Prem Chopra.
In a change of tradition, the IFFI, being held for the eighth time in a row in Panaji had its inauguration at the Rabindra Bhavan in Margao.
Hindi
Jio Studios unveils AI-powered Krishna teaser at NAB Show 2026
Global first look of Krishna uses Galleri5 AI pipeline on Azure, Historyverse slate as Jio’s Dhurandhar crosses Rs 3,000cr worldwide.
MUMBAI: Krishna has just dropped a divine teaser and this time the gods are powered by silicon, not just scripture. Jio Studios and Collective Studios’ Historyverse stole the spotlight at the NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas with the world’s first teaser for their upcoming theatrical feature Krishna, directed by Manu Anand. The big reveal happened during Microsoft’s keynote “Powering Intelligent Media, From AI Experimentation to Real-World Impact,” where the film’s AI-native production pipeline took centre stage alongside Collective Artists Network’s in-house platform, Galleri5.
At the heart of this mythological spectacle lies a fresh cinematic workflow built by Galleri5 on Microsoft Azure’s advanced AI and cloud infrastructure. Forget bolting AI onto traditional VFX or animation, this is an end-to-end, production-grade system woven into every layer: world-building, character creation, shot design and final output. Yet the storytelling remains firmly director-led, emphasising emotional depth, stillness, music and performance rather than pure spectacle. The result? Large-format theatrical cinema rooted in Indian history and culture, but conceived in ways that were simply not possible before.
Collective Artists Network runs Galleri5 natively on Azure, leveraging Microsoft Foundry and cutting-edge AI tools to handle film, episodic and advertising workflows in a secure enterprise environment. Microsoft highlighted Collective as a “Frontier” organisation successfully moving AI from pilot projects to real production-scale deployment in cinema. The technology is also on display at Microsoft’s NAB booth in the West Hall (Booth W1731).
Jio Studios (Media & Content Business, Reliance Industries), president Jyoti Deshpande said the project advances the studio’s mission to take Indian stories global with scale, ambition and authenticity, “With Krishna, we are embracing cutting-edge AI-led filmmaking while democratising these tools to make them more accessible, intuitive and cost-effective for storytellers everywhere.”
Collective Artists Network founder & group CEO Vijay Subramaniam added, “We’re using technology developed in India to carry our culture and history to audiences worldwide at a scale never seen before.”
Microsoft, vice president for telco media & entertainment, gaming Silvia Candiani noted that the media industry has reached an inflection point, “AI is no longer about experimentation but delivering real impact at production scale… By building AI-native creative systems on Microsoft Azure, Collective exemplifies how storytellers can unlock new formats, move faster and realise a true return on intelligence while keeping human creativity at the centre.”
Krishna forms part of Historyverse, Collective Studios’ ambitious slate of history and culture-driven IPs. The slate draws from iconic figures and traditions that shaped the Indian subcontinent, including stories inspired by Kali, Karna and Durga. It builds on the already-released Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh series, showing how ancient narratives can be reimagined for modern screens.
Jio Studios, India’s leading content studio and the media and content arm of Reliance Industries, continues its blockbuster run. The studio’s Dhurandhar franchise led by Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar: The Revenge has become the first Indian film series to cross Rs 3,000 crore worldwide. It also delivered three consecutive years of India’s highest-grossing Hindi films: Stree 2 (2024), Dhurandhar (2025) and Dhurandhar: The Revenge (2026). In just eight years, Jio Studios has assembled a library of over 160 films and series, with more than 60 titles winning over 500 awards. Other notable successes include Laapataa Ladies (India’s official Oscar entry 2025), Stree, Article 370, Shaitaan and Mrs.
The NAB unveiling marks another step in Jio Studios and Collective’s push to blend Indian storytelling talent with frontier technology proving that the future of cinema may well be both ancient in spirit and thoroughly modern in execution. For audiences who love epic tales with a fresh twist, Krishna promises to deliver divine drama, this time with a little help from the cloud.
