MAM
Essence hires Sonali Malaviya as VP – client partner
MUMBAI: Essence, a data-driven global agency and a part of GroupM, has announced the appointment of Sonali Malaviya as the vice president – client partner. She will be reporting to Anand Chakravarthy, managing director, Essence India and will lead the Google relationship, based in the Gurgaon office.
With experience of more than 15 years, Malaviya is a seasoned marketing professional working with global brands and companies. Prior to Essence, she was the COO of Colorbar Cosmetics. She was also the India Country Marketing lead at Twitter and helped set up and navigate the company’s marketing offering to some of the biggest domestic and international brands in the market. Malaviya was also a principal partner at Mindshare Delhi and has done stints in leading media agencies and a research firm.
“Sonali’s diverse experience and her width of exposure working on both the agency and the client side, makes her a real asset to have at Essence and the ideal choice to steward our longstanding relationship with Google. Bring onboard key leadership like Sonali is priority to Essence building a strong differentiated offering in India,” said Chakravarthy.
Sonali Malaviya, Vice President, Essence India said, “I am excited to join the team at Essence in building an integrated, world class marketing product in India. As one of the few digitally led full service agencies, it gives us the opportunity to create breakthrough work for our clients, and I look forward working with this dynamic team of professionals.”
As the agency continues to scale globally, India and APAC remain a key growth region due to Essence’s commitment to deliver its proposition to its existing client roster across greater geographies, and to support the abundance of new business activity. India, in particular, holds strong strategic importance given its status as a dominant and dynamic growth market within the region.
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Digital
Galleri5 launches India’s first AI cinema OS at India AI Summit
Collective Artists Network unveils end-to-end production platform powering Mahabharat series and Hanuman teaser.
MUMBAI: India’s cinema just got an AI operating system upgrade because why settle for tools when you can have a full production command centre? Collective Artists Network and Galleri5 today unveiled Galleri5 AI Studio at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, billing it as the country’s first cinema-native production technology platform. Launched on 20 February 2026, the system acts as an end-to-end orchestration layer for film and television, integrating generative AI, LoRA-driven character architecture, controlled shot pipelines, 3D/VFX tools, lip-sync, upscaling, quality control, and delivery, all tuned for theatrical and broadcast standards.
Unlike piecemeal AI tools, Galleri5 controls the entire stack from script and world-building to final master output. Filmmakers retain creative authorship, continuity, and IP security while slashing timelines from years to months.
The platform is already in live use at scale. Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh, an AI-powered series produced under Collective’s Historyverse banner, is airing on Star Plus and streaming on JioHotstar, ranking among the top-watched shows in its slot. Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi Hanuman – The Eternal (produced by Star Studios 18) dropped its teaser on IMAX screens, leveraging Galleri5’s infrastructure for the visuals.
Collective Artists Network founder and group CEO Vijay Subramaniam said, “For India to lead in the next era of storytelling, we have to think beyond tools and start building systems. This is about putting durable production infrastructure in place so creators can dream bigger, producers can execute faster, and our stories can travel further.”
Galleri5 partner at Collective and CEO Rahul Regulapati added, “Cinema requires precision, repeatability, and control. Off-the-shelf AI doesn’t solve that. Orchestration does. We built an operating system where technology bends to filmmaking, not the other way around.”
Under Historyverse, Collective Studios is developing a slate including Hanuman, Krishna, Shiva, and Shivaji blending advanced AI systems with traditional craft. The summit session featured directors from Hanuman, Krishna, and Shiva alongside Collective leaders, diving into real-world case studies: what delivers on screen, what glitches, and how production economics are shifting.
At a summit packed with global tech brass and policymakers, Galleri5 stakes a bold claim, cinema’s future belongs to integrated systems, not isolated gadgets and India is building one right now. Whether you’re a filmmaker eyeing faster workflows or just curious about AI remaking epics, this OS could be the script-flip the industry didn’t see coming.
