Mumbai witnessed a historic moment in cinema and technology as the Mumbai AI Filmmaking Festival (MAFF), India’s first and biggest A...
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 in grand fashion 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 panelists.
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, stay, 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 4M+ video views and 10M+ 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-Organizer, 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 endeavor was empowering the
kid 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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