PNN
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 6: Mumbai witnessed a historic moment in cinema and technology as the Mumbai AI Filmmaking Festival (MAFF), India's first and biggest AI Film Festival, unfolded grandly at the Royal Opera House. Hosted by LocalHost x InVideo, MAFF has set a new benchmark for the future of filmmaking by merging artificial intelligence with cinematic storytelling.
The one-of-a-kind event brought together some of the biggest names from Bollywood and the tech world, including Shakun Batra, Ram Madhvani, Tanmay Bhat, Apoorva Mehta, Kunal Kapoor, Karan Anshuman, and Vatsal Sheth, who participated as judges, mentors, and panellists. Riteish Deshmukh was also in attendance to support the movement and witness the next era of storytelling.
The festival was the brainchild of Hardeep Gambhir and Chandan Perla, two young entrepreneurs who turned an ambitious idea into a nationwide movement in just 25 days. What started as a late-night brainstorming call turned into a full-scale festival that attracted 1270 applicants from across India and abroad.
The final 15 teams, flown in from 19 cities and 3 countries, received full sponsorship for travel, accommodation, and AI-video generation credits. Over eight days (October 25 - November 2), these teams created AI-powered short films that reimagined the art of storytelling.
The festival's premiere night was a spectacle, complete with a humanoid robot greeting celebrities, robotic dogs interacting with guests, and a star-studded audience that included executives from Netflix India, JioHotstar, and Google. The event went viral on social media, amassing over 4 million video views and 10 million impressions, with #MumbaiAIFilmFestival trending across platforms.
The jury panel featured acclaimed filmmakers Ram Madhvani, Shakun Batra, Kunal Kapoor, and Mukul Deora (Oscar-nominated producer of The White Tiger), who evaluated the entries for creativity, innovation, and storytelling finesse.
The founding team behind MAFF represents India's next generation of innovators: Hardeep Gambhir, co-founder of LocalHost and previously part of a Sam Altman-backed startup; Chandan Perla, co-founder of Podcast Circle; Suhas Sumukh, who sold his first company at 15; Parth Raghav, creator of a lung cancer detection tool as a teen; Kei Hayashi, who raised $1M for global tech parties before 20; Vidhi Mittal & Deon Cardoza, co-founders of Project Carnival; Goku, former creative director at 100xEngineers; and Aryan Yadav, founder of India's largest student entrepreneurship conclave with 70,000+ attendees.
With ₹20 lakh in prize money and an exclusive Japan retreat for winners, MAFF served as a launchpad for young creators exploring the intersection of AI and art -- forming a new creative ecosystem where coders, filmmakers, and dreamers come together to rewrite cinematic rules.
Hardeep Gambhir, Co-founder, LocalHost & Curator, MAFF & Chandan Perla, Co-founder, Podcast Circle & Co-Organiser, MAFF, jointly say:
"The idea was to celebrate AI and the audacity of young filmmakers. To give 21-year-olds a chance to show that storytelling can be soulful while being AI-driven. What we witnessed at the Royal Opera House was a collision of worlds -- Riteish Deshmukh talking about empathy in algorithms, Tanmay Bhat dissecting humour built by machine learning, and Shakun Batra reminding us that 'human truth' will always be the north star, no matter the tool. The festival's core endeavour was empowering kids with a laptop and an idea to stand shoulder to shoulder with studios. Because when you democratize creation, you don't just change the industry, you change who gets to dream."
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