Eminent filmmaker Shekhar Kapur is venturing into uncharted territory with “Warlord,” a science fiction series created entirely through artificial intelligence. The project debuts its first teaser today with the first full episode arriving within two to three months.
Written by Kapur, “Warlord” follows the story of an interdimensional warrior who appears indestructible because his lover in another dimension pulls him to safety whenever he faces mortal danger. “The only time that lover can bring him to her is when he’s absolutely close to death,” Kapur tells Variety. “So if the sword hits him, and he’s so close to death, she shifts him to a different dimension, and you might just see the sword going through him, but he’s not there.”
The cosmic saga centers on warriors who must protect mystical crystals that power an entire galaxy. These crystals represent fundamental particles beyond neutrinos that “create the universe” but exist for only “a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a second,” says Kapur.
Kapur’s vision extends far beyond traditional storytelling. He plans to make the series’ production design and characters available for others to use, creating what he calls “a rainforest of ideas.” Users can adapt elements from “Warlord” for their own projects, with the stipulation that they pay one cent per use and make their creations open source for others to build upon.
“The whole idea is that great stories can become their own platforms,” Kapur says. “They don’t need to be hosted by another platform.”
The director is partnering with Studio Blo, a generative AI company born in Mumbai and represented in Dubai, London, and LA that was established in 2024. Credits include Warner Music India music video “The Heartbreak Chhora,” featuring Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurrana and Music Today’s “Purana Pyar,” featuring Aishan.
Kartik Shah serves as composer for “Warlord.” The project represents a dramatic departure from traditional production methods, with Kapur noting that sequences that would have taken “months and months” to create in the past are now being completed in just two weeks.
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).
The filmmaker sees AI as a democratizing force that will challenge the dominance of major studios and streaming platforms. “I think we’re seeing the end of studios,” he says. “The studios have followed the wrong model. They assumed that big meant power. AI is going to destroy the myth of budgets, destroy the myth of being big.”
He compares the current moment to the disruption Napster brought to the music industry, suggesting that established entertainment gatekeepers are making similar mistakes. “This new technology is empowering the individual,” Kapur says. “It’s pushing power back into the realm of imagination and storytelling.”
The series features innovative design elements, including spaceships inspired by jellyfish that are conceived as living, organic vessels rather than traditional metal craft. “In the distant future, we’ll have materials that will heal themselves,” Kapur explains. “So spaceships will be made out of living materials and organic materials that heal and live.”
These organic ships propel themselves through space using “the force of the particles, the fundamental particles of space” rather than conventional rocket fuel, moving “like sails using the winds of the universe.”
The project will expand beyond the series to include films and games, all built within the same creative universe. The director’s philosophical approach to the project draws from observations of nature, particularly how rainforests sustain themselves through symbiotic relationships. “It’s like putting a seed to create a rainforest of ideas,” he says. “A rainforest of production design, a rainforest of stories. But it comes from one seed, and we are planting the seed.”
While Kapur continues work on two feature films – “Ebony McQueen” and “Masoom… The New Generation” – he notes that the AI-driven nature of “Warlord” allows him to focus on creative direction rather than traditional production demands. “I don’t actually shoot it,” he says. “I look after the design, but by the time you come to the end of the first episode, there’ll be people better at it than I am for this AI design.”
Kapur also has plans to establish a film school in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum district, with a specific focus on AI technology in filmmaking.
Watch the teaser here:
