Collective Studios announces AI show on Vikram Betal

MUMBAI: One of India’s oldest and most enduring stories is about to get its most technologically ambitious retelling. Collective Studios’ Historyverse has announced Vikram Betal, an AI-enabled show that reimagines the legendary tales of King Vikramaditya and the spirit Betal for contemporary audiences, with Birla Open Minds signing on as knowledge partner.

The source material is as rich as it gets. The Vikram-Betal stories, centuries old and built around philosophical riddles and moral dilemmas, have shaped Indian storytelling across generations and remain among the country’s most recognisable cultural touchstones. Historyverse is wagering that the same narratives, given the right creative and technological treatment, can captivate a new generation just as thoroughly as they did the last.

The show will be produced through Galleri5, Collective Studios’ AI storytelling studio, which will apply emerging tools to visual storytelling while keeping narrative authenticity and rigorous cultural research at the heart of the production.

Birla Open Minds comes aboard as more than a marquee name. The education network will create curated behind-the-scenes learning experiences for students across its schools, introducing them to the role of artificial intelligence in media, storytelling and content creation as the show is made.

Vijay Subramaniam, founder and group chief executive of Collective Artists Network, said Vikram Betal was a perfect example of an enduring intellectual property that continued to spark imagination and critical thinking. “Our partnership with Birla Open Minds allows us to extend this journey into education, creating meaningful ways for young learners to connect with India’s cultural heritage through the power of storytelling,” he said.

Nirvaan Birla, managing director of Birla Open Minds, said the project united cultural heritage and emerging technology in a way that offered students a rare and practical window into creativity, storytelling and the tools reshaping the media industry.

The announcement adds another title to Historyverse’s growing slate, which spans film, series, gaming, consumer experiences and emerging formats, all anchored in Indian history, folklore and cultural narrative.

Vikramaditya has outsmarted Betal’s riddles for centuries. Whether artificial intelligence can do the same for Indian storytelling is the question Historyverse is now putting to the test.