The Issue of Deepfake Technology in Bollywood

Despite the unclear attitude of Bollywood towards deepfake technology, the international market presents a different picture, where deepfakes are almost normalized.

When Paul Walker suddenly passed away, leaving the producers of the "Fast and Furious" film series in a dilemma, they used deepfake technology to complete the parts that required his presence. That was ten years ago.

Deepfake technology has sometimes become the focus of notorious activities, and then quietly disappeared as if it had never existed. The misuse of this technology in the wrong hands has mostly tarnished its reputation.

Recently, actors in the Indian film industry have become victims of this artificial intelligence application, once again bringing regulatory issues into the spotlight. However, ironically, deepfakes have been widely used in the film and creative industries.

Hesitant Bollywood

Famous Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor recently protected his digital identity and won a legal battle regarding the use of his identity in artificial intelligence, including name, image, voice, etc., effectively cutting off any possibility of creating deepfake works of this actor.

On one hand, Anil Kapoor is taking measures to prevent potential use of deepfakes, while on the other hand, Bollywood superstars like Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan allow their digital identities to be used in advertisements through deepfake technology.

Last year, PepsiCo created original and personalized advertisements for small business owners, featuring Shah Rukh Khan, or rather a deepfake version of Shah Rukh, speaking the names of stores or brands. Salman Khan also appeared in a commercial for Pepsi, where a younger version of him was showcased through deepfake technology.

Actor Ayushman Khurrana also appeared in an advertisement for Wakefit, where he appeared as his childhood self through deepfake technology. Interestingly, all of these point to an increase in the use of deepfakes in the advertising industry, with Bollywood actors slowly accepting it.

International Recognition

While Bollywood is still trying to figure out its adoption strategy for deepfake technology, internationally, its adoption has become more frequent. The late actor Paul Walker appeared in his final film through deepfake technology, which is just one of the many instances where Hollywood has found uses for this artificial intelligence technology.

Rejuvenation is one of the main use cases, with major production studios, including Disney, collaborating with visual effects design studios to use deepfake technology to make actors look younger. From making Al Pacino and others appear younger in the movie "Irishman" to showcasing a young version of Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker in Disney's "Star Wars" series, deepfakes have found a comfortable position in Hollywood production.

Sports celebrities are also not far behind. Football star Lionel Messi has signed agreements with major brands, allowing them to use his image and likeness in any way they deem necessary. A younger version of Messi is presented through deepfake in an advertisement for Mastercard.

Deepfakes Will Only Get Better

When Rashmika Mandanna's face was synthesized onto the body of an Instagram influencer and circulated online, a user pointed out the technicality of the video, mentioning the exact points where the original face turned into the victim's face. In this process, it is implied that deepfake videos can currently be identified, but it will only become more difficult.

Although Hollywood's use of celebrities is with their consent, there are also numerous viral videos without proper permission. A few years ago, clips featuring "deepfake Tom Cruise" circulated on the internet. They were created by visual effects expert Chris Ume, who specializes in creating deepfake videos of celebrities, in collaboration with actor Miles Fisher, who impersonates Tom Cruise.

Left: Miles Fisher, Tom Cruise impersonator. Right: Deepfake Tom Cruise. Image source: Verge

Chris Ume mentioned that deepfakes have many production uses and emphasized how this technology is becoming more realistic and easier to create. However, this technology cannot operate independently. In order to create a nearly perfect work like the one shown in the image above, Chris Ume spent over two months training an artificial intelligence model based on Cruise's material using a pair of NVIDIA RTX 8000 GPUs, followed by several days of further processing for each clip.

Interestingly, Tom Cruise did not sue anyone because of these deepfakes, but simply designated his account as an official account.

Although this technology has serious issues of misuse, specific industries such as the film industry are championing its use. While the discussion about the use of deepfakes and its ethical implications in Bollywood is still ongoing, others are quietly accepting it and making the most of it.