Celebrated filmmaker Shekhar Kapur has revealed plans to establish a film school in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum district, with a specific focus on AI technology in filmmaking.
The initiative builds on Kapur’s decade-long experience running The Dharavi Project alongside Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman, a hip-hop and rap initiative in Dharavi in partnership with Universal Music that has successfully launched several students to national stardom.
“Those kids have become national stars,” Kapur told Variety. “For years, people have told me, ‘Please start a film school.’ I’m going to start a film school in Dharavi, and the reason is because I think that AI is a new push in cinema.”
Kapur is known for his eclectic oeuvre that spans Indian films “Masoom” and “Mr. India,” hard-hitting biopic “Bandit Queen,” the Oscar-winning “Elizabeth” starring Cate Blanchett, “The Four Feathers” starring Heath Ledger, and rom-com “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” He also serves as festival director of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
“AI is the most democratic technology [that] has come in, despite what everybody says,” Kapur continued. “Because I know that my future competition is not with the biggest directors in the world, it is with this 15-year-old girl who lives in a slum in Mumbai who understands prompting and will be able to create one-minute, two-minute, 10-minute films just by sitting at the computer … and will be better than me.”
He added that with access to and an understanding of that technology, someone could become “the greatest filmmaker in the world.”
While the exact timeline for the school’s launch remains unconfirmed, Kapur indicated that he has already begun the preliminary work. Talks are on with high profile partners, but details are being kept under wraps at the moment.
