International
Puducherry to felicitate Ang Lee and team of Life of Pi to put it on Tourism map
MUMBAI: In felicitation of Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi that was partly shot in its locales winning four Oscars, the Puducherry Government has planned to honour Ang Lee and his team, according to their convenience, averred Puducherry Tourism Minister P Rajavelu.
Expressing his joy and jubilation over the film bagging Oscars at the 85th Academy Awards Sunday, the minister said that the film had brought to focus Puducherry (Pondicherry) abroad.
The film has met with good response in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and a few other countries, he said, "We hope that we would be able to attract a large number of foreign tourists and we would also develop the locations where the movie was filmed here into excellent tourist spots with the assistance from the Union Tourism Ministry," he added.
The locations where the film was shot include more than a century old botanical garden, the 12th century temple of Tirukameeswar at Villianoor near here and the 136-year-old Calve College Higher Secondary School.
Tourism Secretary W V R Moorthy, who was also present when the minister talked about the felicitation, said that a Life of Pi campaign would be held on a sustained basis in Puducherry and a hop-in tourist vehicle would also be pressed into service in the Union Territory through its Tourism Department.
International
Utopai Studios unveils 4K three-minute video generation for PAI platform
New Story Agent and editing tools aim to streamline AI-led filmmaking workflows
MUMBAI: Utopai Studios has announced a major upgrade to its PAI storytelling AI platform, introducing what it claims is an industry-first capability to generate three-minute videos in 4K resolution, alongside enhancements to its Story Agent feature.
The update, rolling out from April 15, expands the platform’s capabilities across the filmmaking process, from early concept development to post-production. The company said the new features are designed to help filmmakers maintain continuity across characters, scenes and visual styles, a key challenge in AI-driven storytelling.
At the heart of the release is a next-generation model that enables more structured narrative development, allowing creators to move more seamlessly from idea to execution. With tools such as multi-shot sequencing and multi-turn editing, the platform aims to give both studios and independent creators greater control over complex storytelling workflows.
Commenting on the launch, Utopai Studios co-founder and CTO Jie Yang said, “The next phase of AI in media will not be defined by isolated tools, but by systems that can carry story, continuity and collaboration across the full creative process.” He added that the update is a step towards enabling more practical, end-to-end narrative development at a professional level.
Echoing this, Utopai Studios co-founder and chief scientific officer Zijian He said, “Generative video is opening the door to a new production model, where creative ambition is less constrained by traditional cost and complexity.” He noted that the platform combines multimodal models with iterative editing to give creators more speed, control and consistency.
The company said PAI is already being used in professional film and television productions, particularly in Hollywood, for tasks such as pre-visualisation, scene design and post-production refinements. The latest update adds features including improved voice options, character consistency, unlimited editing and more flexible asset management.
Utopai also emphasised that its models are not trained on copyrighted material, positioning the platform as a cleaner alternative for creators and rights holders navigating the evolving AI landscape.
As AI continues to reshape content creation, Utopai’s latest push signals a shift from standalone tools to integrated systems, aiming to make high-quality filmmaking faster, more flexible and increasingly accessible.
