Actor-director Aryan Santosh is cautiously optimistic about the role of artificial intelligence in filmmaking as he prepares to take his latest two-part film Chenkol to the floors. In an interview, Santosh emphasized that while AI can be a powerful tool, filmmakers must use it with restraint and purpose to maintain authenticity and consistency.
Authenticity and Consistency Remain Key Challenges
Santosh noted that AI can be especially useful for independent filmmakers working with limited budgets, enabling them to create larger canvases. However, he pointed out that creating believable worlds and maintaining consistency remains a significant challenge. “You can prompt AI to generate a 16th-century Indian fort or a magical kingdom floating above water, but it usually gives you a pre-built version of that world. The more prompts you add, the more unpredictable the results become. You may spend months refining prompts to achieve a specific visual. Even something as simple as an eagle flying can be difficult. I would have to specify exactly how it should look, the direction it should fly, and the mood it should convey. There has to be a touch of reality. Audiences must believe what they are seeing,” he explained.
AI-Generated Visuals Often Lack Precision
Discussing the technical demands of Chenkol, Santosh revealed that while he plays a DJ in the first part, the second instalment is set in 526 AD and revolves around the Mushika dynasty. “When you’re building a kingdom, a palace, or a massive fort, you need complete control over the composition. In CGI, we decide where every pillar stands, where the stairs lead, what angle the camera takes, and how the environment supports the story. There is a basic set that’s built physically, and beyond that, CGI helps extend the world and reinforce the theme. But with AI, the entire palace and its surroundings are generated by the system. It often doesn’t feel convincing because everything looks too perfect. Take Baahubali, for example. The reason audiences connected with it was the visual world that was painstakingly created through collaboration between directors, cinematographers, art directors and VFX teams. It wasn’t a world built entirely by AI,” he said.
AI Can Create a Temporary ‘Wow Factor’, But Spectacle Alone Isn’t Enough
Santosh acknowledged that AI can generate stunning visuals, but cautioned against relying solely on spectacle. “When I launched the motion poster for Chenkol, I used AI selectively because it needed to blend organically with real footage. If Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt are fighting in a scene, audiences still want to see real images of them performing stunts, riding bikes and interacting physically. They don’t want everything to feel artificially generated. Similarly, AI can create stunning visuals for something like a temple scene. But when you zoom in, you can often tell the diyas aren’t real from the way the flames flicker. AI can create a temporary ‘wow factor’, but spectacle alone isn’t enough. Our audiences will not accept visuals that are 100 per cent AI-generated. It is a powerful tool that can democratise filmmaking, but technology should support the story, not become the story itself,” he concluded.
