After Dhurandhar (2025), Saumya Tandon will be seen in the short film, Vispala: India’s Forgotten Warrior Queen. What drew the actor to Ishan Modi’s directorial venture is that it merges generative AI and live-action performance to tell an age-old story. The 25-minute film revolves around Vispala, believed to be India’s first warrior queen who returned to battle with a prosthetic leg, contrasting her story with that of Ishani, a modern woman.
Tandon’s first brush with generative AI was “challenging”. “I’m used to internalising a character and emoting naturally. Here, you create a digital avatar, and then you have to teach it to express emotions. In the beginning, it was so frustrating that I wanted to abandon the project,” she recalled.
The AI team helped her keep going as they built the ancient world together. She added, “I enjoy real-life filmmaking far more. But AI can enhance filmmaking, especially in areas that are impossible to achieve without massive budgets.”
Feb 26When the short film will stream on YouTube
previous post
