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Actor Rana Daggubati foresees AI-driven personalised cinema experience
Mumbai: AI will disrupt everyone’s lives. You will see interactive cinema getting personalised on devices through OTT, said actor Rana Daggubati at ABP Network’s The Southern Rising Summit. He was speaking during a session titled ‘So Many Cinemas: Celebrating India’s Diversity.’ The event also witnessed the presence of popular actor and director Revathy, and music composer, environmentalist and three times Grammy Award Winner Ricky Kej who shared their thoughts on various aspects during the Summit.
Speaking about tech enhancements such as the shift from film to digital and various facets of the filmmaking and entertainment industry, he said, “Artificial Intelligence will disrupt everyone’s lives like the Internet was very quickly applicable to us. The entertainment industry picks up tech at a very early stage. But at least in our lifetime, it is humans who will run the AI, and not AI that will run our world. You will start to see interactive cinema, and it will start to get personalised on devices through OTT. OTT is already changing the entertainment industry landscape.”
Speaking on the upcoming elections in India, he observed “There was never a time when elections were different. You should choose a side you want to be on.”
Speaking during a session titled ‘India on the World Stage: Rhythm Divine’, Ricky Kej, Music Composer and Environmentalist, 3 times Grammy Award Winner said,” When it comes to climate change, India is making significant strides. Concern in India on climate change is much larger than anywhere in the world. The Solar Alliance initiative taken by our government is path-breaking and PM Modi’s LiFE mission is a game changer. When I won a Grammy, I was invited by the Prime Minister’s Office for a five-minute meeting. PM Modi was fascinated by my passion for the environment and music and encouraged me to focus completely on creating environmental consciousness and social impact with my music. This was really the push I needed.”
He added,” Today, the biggest threat humanity faces is climate change. Addressing environmental challenges is all about individual actions. We always talk about changing the world but we don’t want to change ourselves. The golden question is how we can take concrete actions within our times and what difference it can make. This is what I want to share through the emotional language of music.”
Versatile actor and director Revathy shared her experience of acting and film-making in the session titled ‘Time Traveller- 40 Years on the Big Screen.’ She said,” I was introduced by Director Bharathiraja, who helped and taught me to listen to scripts, decide, and also learn to say no. It was a learning process, and I always had mentors like him. Mani Ratnam’s 1986 film Mouna Raagam is very close to my heart. Nobody wanted to do it. It was the first film in my career where the performance was very realistic. I’m very passionate about filmmaking. It took me 18 years to make my first film. I did not plan to become a director. It just happened.”
Sharing her journey and experience of working with different languages, she added, “Tooth Pari, a Netflix series, challenged me as an actor. The story has changed, storytelling has changed, filmmaking, and aspects of filmmaking have changed. Society has transformed in many ways which has brought a change in the film industry. My father is a retired army officer. We moved to places from Mathura, Dehradun, Hyderabad, and Kashmir, all over India. You tend to adapt easily. I didn’t have an accent, and I was not really fluent in any language. It took me time to understand languages.”
These multi-faceted sessions during the Summit celebrated India’s artistic and cinematic achievements, reminding of the incredible depth and diversity found within the country’s cultural landscape.
The Southern Rising Summit was conceptualised and instituted by ABP Network as a tribute to the exceptional growth, cultural opulence, and societal harmony exemplified by the southern states of India. It aimed to celebrate the spirit and richness of southern states, united on a singular mission of driving a transformative journey for India. The summit witnessed profound deliberations and sharing of insights by the movers and shakers of South Indian states and Union Territories.
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Times Network to air JVC Exit Poll across 5 regions on April 29
Four-hour broadcast spans states and Puducherry with data-led analysis
MUMBAI: Times Network is set to roll out what it calls one of its most expansive election programming efforts yet, culminating in the JVC Exit Poll on 29 April, with a multi-hour broadcast spanning key poll-bound regions.
The exit poll will air across Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, beginning at 5pm and 4pm respectively. Co-powered by Vedanta and Jindal Stainless, the programming aims to combine on-ground reportage with data-driven projections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
The network has deployed over 50 journalists across these regions, gathering voter sentiment and local insights in the run-up to polling. The effort builds on its ongoing election formats such as Election Yatra and Election Premier League, which have tracked campaign narratives and community-level issues.
In parallel, Times Now Navbharat has focused on constituency-level reporting in West Bengal through its Jan Gan ka Mann series, capturing voter opinions across diverse segments.
The coverage has also featured interviews with prominent political leaders. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan have appeared on the network’s election specials. From Tamil Nadu, voices including deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, BJP leader K Annamalai and NTK’s Seeman have also featured in discussions.
On the day of the exit poll, the network’s primetime anchors, including Navika Kumar, Zakka Jacob and Sumit Awasthi, will lead the coverage. They will be joined by a panel of political analysts, psephologists and senior journalists offering real-time insights and interpretation of trends.
The programming will integrate grassroots reportage with analytics from the JVC Exit Poll, aiming to give viewers an early sense of electoral outcomes ahead of the official results on 4 May.
With its combined English and Hindi broadcast reach, Times Network is positioning this effort as a comprehensive look at voter sentiment, blending field reporting, data and debate to decode what could lie ahead when the final mandate is revealed.
