Hindi
Reel world takes Rs 160 bn hit from piracy, seeks stringent laws
MUMBAI: Stung by a loss of Rs 160 billion to piracy in 2008, the Indian entertainment industry needs to work out an effective legal system to combat the menace. In short, the ‘reel world‘ should meaningfully shake hands with law.
“We need to have more regulation of content and should create more stringent and effective laws to stop the infringement of intellectual property in TV and cinema. But this cannot be a unilateral affair. The industry, the government and the lawmakers need to mutually discuss and agree on this,” said Ministry of Information & Broadcasting joint secretary (films), V B Pyarelal, while speaking here today at the third edition of ‘Reel World and the Law,‘ an annual seminar organised by CII.
The idea of the government working jointly with the stakeholders to create a common pool of resources was taken forward by Big Music vice president Sanjay Tandon. “Piracy is widespread through video, cable, internet and rentals. Effective Digital Rights Management is virtually impossible in today‘s world. We need a perfect sync between the reel world and the law in order to have a happy ending to all our stories,” he said.
For making that happen, the industry has been ‘more barking‘ rather than putting in serious efforts. A common pool of capital is yet to be created. The different industry bodies also need to come under one umbrella.
Moser Baer COO G Dhananjayan has come up with another solution. “Though we make optical discs, I am of the view that the government should levy a tax of an optical disc by Rs 10 that would make piracy unviable. In return, the government can give some kind of relief to the film industry by reducing the entertainment tax. This measure will, on one hand, help in killing piracy while on the other will make cinema going less costly.”
Saying that there was an increased complexity in the industry today due to the advent of more sophisticated technology, more segmentation and the coming of social media, Eros International Films executive director Biren Ghose said that there were wider avenues today for producers to raise capital – the industry having moved from traditional to institutional capital. There is also extensive regulation.
“But all this poses increased challenges for the industry. How does one protect intellectual property in an age of the internet and control content in television and films,” Ghose asked.
However, AZB and Partners managing partner Zia Mody was of the view that the acid test for the government today was to strike a balance between zealous protection of the Copyright law and encouraging innovation and creativity.
“Ten years ago, there was an apathetic approach towards legal aspects of intellectual property rights. Today there is increased realization of value and monetization and IP infringement,” she averred.
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.
