MAM
Ad creatives react to Star Plus’ 3D innovation
MUMBAI: Star India is coming up with its one of the most expensive show – Mahabharat – and it is surely spending a lot of moolah in promoting it.
When you have a mega property, you probably have to think mega-plus while trying to communicate its scale to your consumer. That‘s something many a company follows. And that‘s the tack even Star India took today to announce the launch of its epic Mahabharat which is slated to air on its Hindi GEC Star Plus from tonight.
A four page false cover ad adorned today’s Bombay Times (an advertorial, entertainment, promotional supplement of The Times of India). It featured the epic show‘s characters (Arjun, Draupadi and Duryodhan) of Mahabharat. And to top it all, it was all in 3D! Yes, you read it right.
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KV Sridhar and Viral Pandya feel that the 3D effect was unnecessary
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In fact, the network is leaving no stone unturned to create enough and more buzz related to it. From 3D innovations on OOH platforms across cities to promos on 25 other channels apart from the Star network, the channel wants to make sure that people don’t miss out on its blockbuster epic.
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The show is estimated to have a budget of Rs 100 crore and out of this, 20 per cent has been allotted to marketing.
The innovations which have been conceptualised by Contract Advertising, however seem to have failed to dazzle other creative heads. Leo Burnett NCD KV Sridhar feels that there is nothing new in the so-called innovation. “It’s an old concept and will only attract small children’s attention especially today when 3D is a common phenomenon,” he says while emphasising on the fact that innovations today have moved up a notch with augmented reality.
He’s not alone. Even Out of the Box CCO Viral Pandya feels that there was no need for a 3D effect when the message would have been effective enough in 2D which Star did with the Mumbai morninger Mid-Day and The Hindustan Times Café did. “If one looks at the Volkswagen Talking newspaper (again TOI and The Hindu) innovation which appeared three years back, this is just plain blah! There is no idea in it expect for showing that one has enough money to spend.”
The two innovations most can’t get over are the ones created for the German automaker (Volkswagen) which got everyone talking. As per reports, the Das Auto company spent close to Rs 6 crore on that exercise. The other one (2011) was the integrated 3D campaign for Audi A8 L.
However, there are a few who feel that the innovation did encourage them to pick up and try on the 3D glasses. “It did manage to create a little bit of noise,” says Lowe Lintas & Partners NCD Arun Iyer who adds, “It surely would have cost them a bomb!”
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Whereas Arun Iyer and KS Chakravarthy say that it did manage to create a little bit of noise
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Draftfcb Ulka NCD K S Chakravarthy (Chax) too believes that Star‘s innovation – something which no other channel has attempted before – is bound to have had an impact. “It‘s not as if 3D hasn’t been done before but the scale at which at which it has been done by Star could have worked in getting it noticed,” he says.
One just hopes that for Star‘s (it has been pushing the pedal on marketing and has been showing chutzpah just like Levers or P&G or Coke ) sake that 3D translates into TVT.
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.
