Bajaj marks 100 years with AI film directed by Rajkumar Hirani

MUMBAI: What happens when Mahatma Gandhi walks into the age of artificial intelligence? At Bajaj Group’s centenary celebrations, the answer arrived not through a speech but through pixels, prompts and a deeply nostalgic screenplay. Bajaj Group has unveiled ‘Kathni Karni Ek si’, a film commemorating its 100-year journey, blending Gandhian philosophy with AI-powered storytelling in what may well be one of corporate India’s most ambitious experiments with artificial intelligence-led filmmaking.

Directed by filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani and conceptualised by Wondrlab, the film revisits the historic relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and Jamnalal Bajaj, the freedom fighter, philanthropist and industrialist whom Gandhi once regarded as his “fifth adopted son”.

But this is no conventional period drama.

The narrative imagines Gandhi returning to modern-day India at Jamnalal Bajaj’s request to examine whether the principles the Group was founded upon still survive across its businesses a century later. The title itself ‘Kathni Karni Ek si’, meaning actions must mirror words reflects the Group’s long-standing emphasis on value-driven business practices rooted in Gandhian ideals.

And fittingly for a story about bridging eras, the entire film has been crafted using artificial intelligence.

The project also marks filmmaker Hirani’s first full-fledged AI-driven production experience. The director said the film became an unexpected creative return to his early advertising and audio-visual filmmaking days albeit this time powered by algorithms instead of traditional production pipelines.

The film features several members of the Bajaj family, including leaders behind the Group’s diverse businesses spanning automobiles, finance and consumer products.

Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto, described the project as a reflection of the values that have guided the Group for generations, while Sanjiv Bajaj, chairman and managing director of Bajaj Finserv, linked the film to the broader transformation AI is driving across industries.

Other senior family members including Shekhar Bajaj and Niraj Bajaj also framed the film as both a tribute to Jamnalal Bajaj’s ideals and a reminder of the Group’s swadeshi roots principles that continue shaping the conglomerate’s identity decades later.

For Wondrlab, the creative challenge was not merely technological, but emotional.

The agency said the idea of Gandhi returning to evaluate Bajaj’s journey created a narrative device powerful enough to blend heritage, business philosophy and future-facing technology into one cinematic experience.

The timing is notable.

As AI rapidly reshapes advertising, filmmaking and digital communication globally, brands are increasingly experimenting with generative technology not just for efficiency, but for storytelling itself. Yet few Indian corporate films have attempted to merge legacy narratives with AI execution at this scale.

In many ways, the Bajaj centenary film feels symbolic of a larger shift underway in Indian business storytelling where heritage is no longer being archived quietly in boardrooms and museums, but repackaged through immersive, technology-driven narratives designed for newer generations.

Because in 2026, even nostalgia has found a software upgrade.