Mumbai, Dec. 1 -- On a surprise rainy November evening, Mumbai's Royal Opera House teemed with twenty-somethings grabbing snacks, dodging a drenched Rolls-Royce, and posing with a humanoid robot strutting along the red carpet.

The occasion was Mumbai's first ever 'AI Film Festival', where teams of young creatives from across India (and even abroad) flew in to participate in a 'hackathon', making short films using generative AI tools, to be judged by a panel of entertainment professionals.

Creator Tanmay Bhat was a part of the jury, as were Hindi film directors Karan Anshuman and Shakun Batra. Just days earlier, the event had generated much dismay on social media; many film critics and enthusiasts rued that in the very year the Mumbai Ac...