JioStar's AI-generated Mahabharat series drew 6.5M views on launch. The shift to generative AI in India's film industry cuts production time and cost, with Disney's joint venture leading the charge.
A 100-episode series produced using generative AI drew 6.5 million views on its launch day for JioStar, a joint venture between Walt Disney and Reliance Industries. The mythological retelling "Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh" performed 2.1 times above the platform average, Stephan Bugaj, JioStar's senior vice president of GenAI content and technology, told CNBC by email. Bugaj said the series was the first step in exploring how AI could expand storytelling.
India's media and entertainment market hit $32 billion in 2025 and grows at 9% a year, faster than the broader economy, according to Ernst & Young. Producers face rising content demand and tighter budgets. Generative AI tools let them cut production timelines sharply, said Neil Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Research. "There is a huge demand for content in India," Shah said, calling speed to market crucial.
Prasad Gori, an AI artist working on an Amazon MX Player project called "Made in India: the Titan story," said AI-related production work has boomed in the last eight months. He now fields 10 to 15 offers a week. Three years ago he had to chase firms for work. The project uses over 100 AI shots to recreate 1970s Mumbai.
Cost savings are dramatic. Manesh Muthu Swamy, co-founder of FirstAI Consultancy, said his team shot content with human actors, then used AI to build animated characters based on their facial expressions. Traditional tools for that kind of animation would cost a few million dollars and take six months to a year. With AI, it can be done for a few hundred dollars and within weeks, Swamy said.
JioStar is not the only player. Indian production house Abundantia Entertainment is preparing to release "Chiranjeevi Hanuman – The Eternal," described by local media as India's first AI-generated feature film. Sudharshan Srinivasan, a Tamil film executive producer, said AI makes filmmaking simpler for small teams who cannot find traditional financing. If he does not secure a backer for his film in two years, he plans to produce it using AI and release on a digital platform.
Disney's Alpha Score from AlphaScala sits at 46 out of 100, a mixed reading for the communication services stock. The JioStar venture gives Disney direct exposure to India's AI-powered content pipeline, where production speed and cost advantages are real but competition is also rising.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.