Hindi
Permanent secretariat opened in Panaji for International Film Festival of India
NEW DELHI: Even as the country gears up for the 42nd International Film Festival of India, a permanent secretariat has been established in Panaji for the Festival.
Until now, officials of the Directorate of Film Festivals and other units of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry move to Panaji around two months before the Festival commences in the third week of November.
However, the permanent secretariat has been set up following the decision to de-link IFFI from the Directorate. Shankar Mohan, joint director in the Directorate of Film Festivals, has been appointed as IFFI director.
The Directorate will, thus, not only function all year round for IFFI, but will also ensure greater coordination with the Entertainment Society of Goa, set up by the state Government to coordinate with the Centre for IFFI.
The decision to de-link IFFI from DFF followed the recommendation of an expert panel set up by the Government last year to suggest improvements in IFFI. The panel, originally appointed with actor Kamal Haasan as its chairperson, ultimately functioned with media magnate Pritish Nandy at its head after the actor withdrew because of professional commitments.
The panel gave interim recommendations in mid-2010 which were implemented in the IFFI last year. These included increasing the ambit of the Competition section to include films from all over the globe instead of just the third world, and institution of awards for best actor and actress. The winner of the award will be given a Silver Peacock, a certificate and cash prizes of Rs 1 million each. The total cash awards would now amount to Rs 9 million.
These changes marked a return to a pattern that had been followed in the competitive IFFI until 1987.
The Panel submitted its final report in August last year.
With a view to positioning the festival to be at par with international standards, the committee has recommended that workshops may be held at IFFI to discuss new technology initiatives and Master Classes should be conducted by eminent people from world cinema.
As part of the exercise, the Committee constituted four sub committees to study issues that would enable the upgradation of the festival: Technical Sub-Committee chaired by Bir, Sponsorship Sub-Committee chaired by Pooja Shetty Deora, Events Sub-Committee chaired by Nihalani, and Structural Reforms Sub-Committee chaired by Nandy.
The Technical Sub-Committee has given a list of technical upgrades required to improve the quality of the viewing experience at IFFI. The Sub-Committee‘s report along with Mr. Bir’s report for IFFI 2009 prepared for the Madgaon auditorium and his ‘Future Viewpoint’ document for a new auditorium in Goa were also placed before the Expert Committee. The Sponsorship Sub-Committee outlined measures for building brand IFFI internationally.
The Events Sub-Committee has proposed a series of initiatives under the aegis of New Products Platform (NPP). The committee recommended upgradation of the web site for IFFI on the lines of other international film festivals. It also suggested that the Film Market must be developed to international standards and provide business opportunities to Indian film makers. It also felt that International studios and sales agents should be invited for IFFI.
The Committee also recommended that in the Indian Panorama section, the Jury should not be bound to select five films from among 20 recommended by FFI and the Film Producers Guild and may pick a lesser number if it so chooses, if the standard of excellence were not met. To enhance participation, the Committee recommended Q&A sessions to be held post Indian Panorama screenings at IFFI.
The sub committee on Structuring has outlined a roadmap regarding IFFI‘s future structure keeping in mind its mandate and responsibilities in the future.
Other members of the Committee were: Kamal Haasan, Shabana Azmi, Karan Johar, A K Bir, Govind Nihalani, Kishwar Desai, Prasoon Joshi, Nandita Das, Maithili Rao, Lakshmikant Shetgaonkar, C.S. Sapra, Chief Secretary of Goa, and the Director in the Directorate of Film Festivals. The Joint Secretary (Films) was the Member Secretary.
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.
