BENGALURU: Music is an integral part of cinema, so it is for Kannada cinema too. Many movies owe their success to songs, which are a creative collaboration of lyricists, composers and singers.
But now, AI is re-writing that familiar song.
“AI is being used to write lyrics, especially in low-budget movies. Once you get the lyrics, it gives thousands of tunes to render it. It even asks whether you want male or female singers. When you push the button, the song is ready with an AI-based singer belting out an AI-based song of AI-composed music from AI-powered lyrics,” said well-known music composer, actor and film director V Manohar.
“If this continues, singers and musicians will have less or no work in the coming days. But it may not succeed either. A few years ago, dubbing was allowed and people could watch movies in any language they preferred. But not many took to it as they wanted to watch a movie in the original,” he said.
Need to learn and adapt, sooner the better, says Ramesh Aravind
But then what seems unimaginable may be acceptable a few years down the line. Avinash U Shetty, a national award-winning filmmaker, said, “Those who resisted shifting from analogue to digital films years ago have now embraced it. The industry is now using only 10% of the AI potential. If it is scaled up, it can do unimaginable things. What we consider bad now, may not be after five years,’’ he said.
Take the example of Sangamesh, who has created a three-minute video for a mere Rs 4,500, while traditionally it would have cost Rs 15 lakh. From lyrics to music, he has done it all using AI. The only money he spent was for the AI tool’s subscription fee. “The video was completed in just three days, which would have taken weeks otherwise,” he said. Senior stunt master Thriller Manju said the Kannada film industry has over 400 stuntmen and 30 stunt masters.
“These days, it has become difficult to differentiate between the real and AI. AI is creating artistes. Scenes like war, big fights and dance can be shot with a lesser number of artistes. Then with the aid of visual effects and AI, you can achieve what you have in mind,” he added.
Director P Seshadri is keen on making a Kannada movie on Ferdinand Kittel, the man behind printing Kannada dictionaries in the 1890s. “Recreating sets to the likeness of the 1890s and shooting in Germany and other places, my budget would have crossed Rs 100 crore. But with AI, I can make it with Rs 1 crore.
AI will not replace human creativity, but will help us fine-tune visualisation as and when it prompts questions,” said Seshadri. Actor Ramesh Aravind reasoned that change is the only constant. “At the dawn of industrialisation, they said machines will replace humans. But it created new jobs. We need to learn and adapt, sooner the better,’’ he advised.
Actor-director DP Raghuram said making films required much effort earlier. “People would go to theatres and the craze was different. Now, cinema is going to them, but the craze is missing. AI has now made an impact on music. But it feels like it does not belong to us. We need to use AI to improvise and not to create,’’ he said.
Be it a song, or scenes of fight or war, hundreds of junior artistes used to be part of Kannada cinema. For many, more than the wages, the shoot would cover all their three meals. They were happy to see their favourite stars, be it Annavru Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan or Ambareesh. These stars would even sit with them during lunch. There was an emotional bonding that lasted long. But now, technology, especially AI, is reducing creativity to a click.