Hindi
MOMI honours Om Puri
NEW DELHI: Veteran actor Om Puri, has been feted by Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) in the US for his contribution to the Indian cinema. The honour was given to the 63-year old actor on the eve of release of his next international release, The Hundred Foot Journey co-starring Helen Mirren, which is opening on 8 August.
The actor, who has made a name for himself in Indian and international cinema, discussed his long journey to stardom at a conversation moderated by actress Madhur Jaffrey. This was followed by a screening of his latest film.
Based on the book by Richard C Morais and directed by Lasse Hallström, The Hundred-Foot Journey is about the cultural war that ensues the opening of an Indian restaurant in the south of France next to a famous Michelin-starred eatery. Puri plays the role of a patriarch of a family displaced from their native India. The movie also stars Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon and Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla. It is produced by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Juliet Blake.
During the conversation with Jaffrey, Puri revealed that when he first came to Delhi nearly four decades ago with only Rs 120 in his pockets to try his luck in theatre, he could not anticipate the success that lay ahead of him. A versatile theater and film actor, Puri, has made a name for himself in Hollywood as well. The actor also added that he and Naseeruddin Shah were the ‘two idiots’ who joined the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.
Puri made his debut with the Marathi film Ghasiram Kotwal based on a Marathi play of the same name by Vijay Tendulkar. The film was directed by K Hariharan and Mani Kaul in cooperation with 16 graduates of the FTII.
Jaffrey also discussed Puri’s big break in Bollywood – Ardh Satya portraying Puri as a policeman struggling to deal with the evils around and inside him. “This was my lottery in the Hindi film industry. Everybody sort of sat back and noticed me,” Puri said. He also received the National Film Award for Best Actor for the film.
Puri considers himself to be introverted, but he believes acting gave him a voice to convey his emotions. “I had a lot feelings looking at the world around me, particularly, the disparities in society used to disturb me,” he said.
Hindi
AI takes the director’s chair in Rs 100 crore Abundantia-invideo film push
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.
