At the 12th CII The Big Picture Summit, filmmaker Ram Madhvani delivered one of the most philosophical and futuristic talks of the event—bridging technology, spirituality, and cinema in a way only he can. Known for his meditative storytelling and deeply reflective worldview, Madhvani spoke about a unique experiment he recently created: a short five-minute film that merges virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
Madhvani revealed that his team worked on a virtual-reality project six months ago, born out of his concern that VR is slowly getting “shelved” and forgotten. “We did a short five-minute film six months ago on virtual reality because I feel VR is suffering from shelving—nobody talks about what it really is anymore,” he said.
His new exploration takes VR into the realm of AI and spirituality. “We’ve now done it on AI, and it’s based on the Bhagavad Gita. What I wanted was to speak for two minutes with Krishna.” The idea behind the VR film is strikingly imaginative: “I was thinking—what if, on the Kurukshetra battlefield, Krishna is tapped on the shoulder? He turns around, and there is a sentient AI being standing there… asking, ‘May I speak to you about consciousness?’ Because we are getting there soon.”
Madhvani spoke about the shifting societal attitudes surrounding AI, suggesting that the world is entering a new moral category.“Today, if you are not using AI, or if you look down upon it, they now call you a ‘speciesist’—not a racist. We are hopefully not speciesists who look at a different species in a demeaning way.”
This idea, he suggested, forces us to reconsider how we perceive intelligence, consciousness, and the boundaries between human and machine. In a powerful re-framing of cinema’s evolution, Madhvani traced the role technology has always played in expanding creative freedom. “The root word of ‘technology’ comes from the Greek word techne, which means art. Everything we have in cinema has liberated us because of technology—whether it is sound or color.” To him, AI is simply the next chapter in this ongoing liberation.“AI is something that will liberate us. We are here to embrace it.”
Madhvani’s vision pushes both filmmakers and audiences to think beyond the fear-based narratives surrounding AI. Instead, he positions artificial intelligence as a tool that can deepen storytelling and expand imagination.