Democratise films: Bhumi Pednekar on ideas to build a better future
Davos (PTI): Democratising filmmaking with use of artificial intelligence can help build a better future for everyone, actor and climate activist Bhumi Pednekar said here.
One of the five young global leaders who were asked one transformative idea each for a better world in 2025, Pednekar said AI has the potential to democratize filmmaking, expand access to educational films, and improve the industry for marginalized groups.
Along with several others named as 'Young Global Leaders' by the World Economic Forum for helping improve the state of the world, Pednekar is here to participate in the WEF Annual Meeting that will continue till January 24.
Giving an example of her 2017 film Toilet Ek Prem Katha (Toilet, A Love Story), which addressed the issue of open defecation (ODF), she said the film used a comedic and romantic tone to comment on various themes, from how lack of sanitation creates gender disparity and puts women at risk, to the health hazards of a lack of indoor plumbing.
"The film became a catalyst for change in India and was used as part of the government’s campaign to eradicate ODF," she wrote on the WEF blog.
The film was used across rural India, where the problem primarily existed, as an easy-to-understand educational tool. The proportion of the population defecating in the open declined significantly from 2016 to 2022, following government efforts and the film's release, she said in her response.
She pitched for advances in technology and visual effects to help such stories become more impactful.
"Imagine showing the same film, but modified by AI for global audiences, ensuring the message resonates across languages and regions," she said.
"As an actor and an advocate for equality, I’m most excited about how AI is going to democratize storytelling. I have chosen roles that challenge prevalent beauty standards and centre women and marginalized groups like the LGBTQ+ community. But there are still too few films made with the female gaze or telling queer stories," she said.
Pednekar lamented that studios avoid investing in such films due to high costs and so-called market risks, but AI can change that with lower costs and shorter filmmaking process.
AI can make female-centric films a sustainable business model and also help make the industry safer for women and marginalized groups by automating unbiased casting processes and identifying patterns of misconduct.
"And tools could even assist in determining an individual's fair and impartial compensation," she said.
Among other five young global leaders who were asked the same question, Canadian entrepreneur and founder of social enterprise Localised, Ronit Avni called for investing in African talent to build a better future.
She said employers often prefer to hire engineering and business talent from long-established tech hubs such as India, Poland, Israel, and the United States, but African job seekers remain under-utilized despite the presence of a growing, highly skilled talent pool.
"Much as India has risen as a formidable engineering hub, Africa has the potential to lead the way in carbon and ESG talent," she wrote in the WEF blog.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance.
Achieving this will require strategic investment to build candidates' carbon intelligence now, while raising employers' awareness of this talent pool, so that the continent can seize on this transformative moment, Avni said.
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Sanjoy Roy sentenced to life imprisonment till death in rape, murder of RG Kar hospital doctor
Kolkata: A Kolkata court sentenced Sanjoy Roy to life imprisonment till death on Monday after he was convicted of rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das in Sealdah had on Saturday held Roy guilty of the crime committed against the postgraduate trainee doctor at the hospital on August 9 last year, which sparked off unprecedented and prolonged nationwide protests.
Judge Das said the crime did not fall under the "rarest of the rare" category as justification for not giving death penalty to the convict.
The court also directed the state to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor.
The sentence was passed after the judge heard the final statements of the convict and his counsels placed in self-defence as well as those of the victim’s family, and the CBI.
Roy, a former civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, was held guilty under Sections 64 (rape), 66 (punishment for causing death), and 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
