Indian Film Rereleased with AI-Generated Ending, Sparking Outrage from Director
In what may be a first for global cinema, an Indian production company is rereleasing a 2013 romantic drama with a newly created ending generated by artificial intelligence—without the original director’s involvement.
Raanjhanaa, a Hindi-language film that tells the story of a doomed romance between a Hindu man and a Muslim woman, is set to return to theaters on 1 August under its Tamil title, Ambikapathy. The rerelease will feature a “happy ending” in place of the original film’s tragic conclusion.
The move has triggered significant backlash, particularly from the film’s director, Aanand L Rai, who said he only learned of the alteration through news reports.
“I’m heartbroken that this is the future we’re heading toward, where intent and authorship are disposable,” Rai told the Press Trust of India. “All I can do is dissociate myself from such a reckless and dystopian experiment.”
The rerelease is being led by Eros Media Group, whose CEO, Pradeep Dwivedi, defended the use of AI as part of a broader strategy to explore new creative and commercial possibilities. Describing the change as an “exploratory baby step,” Dwivedi confirmed that Eros is reviewing its library of over 3,000 titles for potential similar treatments.
“If the technology allows us to do something meaningful, why not?” he said. “There has to be a symbiotic understanding of what technology enables, what creativity can achieve, and what the audience is willing to accept.”
Dwivedi said that the updated Ambikapathy version was created entirely in-house under human supervision and that it’s being offered as an optional alternative rather than a replacement of the original. Promotional posters describe the film as featuring an “AI-powered ending,” though Eros has not clarified whether such a disclaimer appears within the film itself.
The company’s decision has raised major concerns among filmmakers and critics alike. Rai and his team have reached out to the Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association and are reportedly exploring legal options. Neither the director nor the guild responded to further media inquiries.
The original Raanjhanaa starred Tamil actor Dhanush and Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor as a star-crossed interfaith couple, one of whom dies in the film’s original ending. The film was critically acclaimed for its emotional depth and its handling of sensitive religious and social themes.
Eros’s catalogue includes celebrated Indian titles such as Sholay, Mother India, Om Shanti Om, and Bajirao Mastani. Its streaming platform, Eros Now, offers access to more than 11,000 digital titles.
Dwivedi dismissed the director’s objections as “emotional” and argued that the situation had legal complexities. He also cited an ongoing dispute between Eros and Colour Yellow Productions, the company co-founded by Rai.
In a statement to The Guardian, Colour Yellow COO Harini Lakshminarayan said the company’s partnership with Eros ended “some time ago” due to operational issues. She criticized the AI-edit, saying: “To call this a ‘respectful creative reinterpretation’ while excluding the very people who made the film over a decade ago is deeply contradictory.”
She added that the incident highlights “the urgent need for fair, transparent protocols” governing AI use in cinema—particularly when it involves archived or completed works. “If a finished film can be altered and rereleased without the director’s knowledge, it sends a deeply troubling message: that the filmmaker’s voice is dispensable.”
Film critic Sucharita Tyagi echoed these concerns, noting that most Indian directors don’t retain ownership rights to their films. She referenced director Vasan Bala’s unreleased film Peddlers, whose Indian rights were acquired by Eros in 2012 and never released. “If they decide to AI-alter Peddlers and then release it, that’s a completely different film,” she said.
The decision has also drawn attention to how the new “happy ending” could reinterpret the film’s interfaith romance—a sensitive topic in India’s socio-political climate. “The film worked because it portrayed people defying societal boundaries,” Tyagi noted. “To rewrite that ending 13 years later to make it ‘happy’ is unsettling.”
The rerelease of Ambikapathy is also generating interest due to its timing—it will debut just months before Aanand L Rai’s upcoming film, Tere Ishk Mein, also starring Dhanush. Rai has previously described the film as being “from the world of Raanjhanaa,” though not a direct sequel. Eros, which retains the rights to Raanjhanaa, has denied any link between the two films.
This controversy comes amid a broader global debate over the role of artificial intelligence in filmmaking. In Hollywood, AI has already been used for dubbing, voice cloning, and visual effects. The 2021 documentary Roadrunner controversially used AI to simulate the voice of Anthony Bourdain. In 2023, concerns over AI-generated scripts and unauthorized use of actors’ likenesses played a central role in the writers’ and actors’ strikes.
