Bollywood film's ending altered with AI leaves director 'heartbroken'

The production company's decision to alter the tragic ending of the 2013 hit "Raanjhanaa" using artificial intelligence has drawn sharp criticism from its director, who was not consulted. Rai, who called for respecting the filmmakers' consent, is being urged.

The poster for “Ambikapathy,” the new version of the hit film “Raanjhanaa,” whose ending was altered by AI. Photo by Eros Media Group

“What if, in a remake of James Cameron’s Titanic, the ship hit the iceberg, but Rose and Jack survived?” asks The Hollywood Reporter . “Imagine a world where Romeo and Juliet’s relationship wasn’t threatened by their family.” The ending of a 2013 Bollywood tragedy was altered with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to give audiences a happy ending.

Raanjhanaa , a Hindi film about the doomed romance between a Hindu man and a Muslim woman, returns to cinemas on August ¹ , in Tamil under the title Ambikapathy . The tragic ending of the original film will be replaced by a “happy ending,” explains The Guardian .

The catch is that this romantic drama will be re-edited “without the involvement of its director, which could be the first case of its kind in world cinema,” warns the British daily. For the director of the production company Eros Media, behind this rewrite, technological innovation would be part of the company's long-term creative and commercial vision. He judged it to be simply a “small exploratory step” and confirmed that Eros was “significantly evaluating” its library of more than 3,000 films, including great classics from