Hindi
Deepika Padukone, Taurani patch up for Race 2
MUMBAI: After two days of negotiations, Deepika Padukone has finally decided to jump back on board for Ramesh Taurani‘s ‘Race 2‘, though she has set some conditions.
It is being said that after meeting Taurani yesterday, Padukone realised that it wouldn‘t be in her best interest to contest the filmmaker on monetary grounds.
Though the official CINTAA (Cine and TV Artistes‘ Association) meeting was called off 30 minutes before its scheduled time on Wednesday, the actress did end up meeting CINTAA general secretary Dharmesh Tiwari who asked her to stay away from monetary hassles and say ‘yes‘ to Taurani.
The conditions that Padukone has set are that she will not allot fresh dates to ‘Race 2‘, as she will be busy with Rajinikanth‘s ‘Kochadaiyaan‘ and the Ranbir Kapoor starrer ‘Jawaani Diwani‘. She has asked both Taurani and director Abbas-Mustan to not work with middlemen; she will only work with her chosen set of designers, hair stylist and makeup artist; she wants the makers to consult her for the release of their film because she wants no misunderstandings during the promotional phase of the film; and in case of a foreign schedule, the actress wants to be informed a month in advance.
Hindi
Abundantia and invideo join hands for Rs 100 crore AI films
Studio Aion and global video tech leader join forces for 5 AI-driven films over 3 years.
When Hollywood meets artificial intelligence, the credits might soon read “Directed by Algorithm” but Abundantia Entertainment wants to keep the human spark in the frame. The Mumbai-based studio’s AI-powered division Aion has teamed up with generative-video pioneer invideo in a Rs 100 crore strategic partnership, billed as India’s largest structured commitment to AI-driven filmmaking to date.
Announced at the India AI Film Festival (IAFF) beside the historic Qutb Minar in New Delhi on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, the alliance pools Abundantia’s creative and production muscle with invideo’s cutting-edge AI video tech. The duo will channel the Rs 100 crore development and production corpus into a slate of five AI-driven films over the next three years, blending human imagination with machine-powered tools to craft stories that aim to be both emotionally rich and technologically bold.
Abundantia Entertainment founder & CEO Vikram Malhotra framed the move as cinema’s next big leap, “AI in film-making is now real! Every major leap in cinema from sound to colour to digital has expanded storytelling possibility. AI represents the next inflection point. With Abundantia Aion, we are building a future where AI strengthens and amplifies the filmmaker’s voice, not substitutes it.”
Invideo founder & CEO Sanket Shah echoed the sentiment: “At invideo our mission has always been to democratize high-quality video creation through AI. Partnering with a top-notch studio like Abundantia Entertainment enables us to extend this capability into the world of high-quality filmmaking by building tools and workflows that allow creators to move from idea to cinematic expression faster and more freely than ever before.”
The collaboration already has momentum. Abundantia Aion is developing India’s first AI-generated Hindi feature film, Chiranjeevi Hanuman, slated for release in 2026, alongside its next AI-powered project, Jai Santoshi Mata, as part of a broader slate. The partnership will explore OpenAI-style workflows, advanced generative pipelines (bolstered by invideo’s recent Google Cloud tie-up), and new ways to accelerate everything from concept to final cut.
Backed by Tiger Global and Peak XV, invideo brings deep generative-video expertise to the table, while Abundantia’s track record in storytelling ensures the tech serves the narrative rather than stealing the show. In a year when AI is rewriting rules across industries, this Rs 100 crore bet signals India’s ambition to shape not just follow the future of cinema. Lights, camera, algorithm… action.
