Imagine If’s Kaliyug Rising – The Beginning, directed by award winning filmmaker Prataya Saha, becomes India’s only film in Global Top 10

In a landmark moment for Indian AI cinema, Kalyug Rising – The Beginning secured a spot among the Top 10 at the prestigious Higgsfield “Make Your Action” Competition — ranking 9th globally among over 9,000 entries from over 100 countries, emerging as the only Indian AI film to achieve this feat.

The project brings together AI-first creative studio Imagine If and filmmaker Prataya Saha, combining storytelling ambition with cutting-edge technology. What started as an exploration into AI’s creative potential rapidly scaled into a globally recognised benchmark for cinematic storytelling.

Launched with Kalyug Rising – The Beginning, Imagine If marks the evolution of a viral creative journey into a full-fledged AI-first studio. The project itself grew out of early experimental videos that amassed over 60 million views within weeks — laying the foundation for a studio built on the belief that AI can power stories at a global cinematic scale.

At its core, Kalyug Rising – The Beginning is driven by a strong creative trio — Prataya Saha (Writer/Director), Krishna (Founder, Imagine If), and AI artist Ankush Deva — each pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve in narrative filmmaking, while keeping realism and story at the forefront.

Krishna (Founder, Imagine If), shares, “We didn’t set out to go viral. We set out to understand how far AI could push storytelling. The virality and global recognition came as a byproduct of focusing on quality, realism, and storytelling from day one. With Imagine If, we’re building a studio that doesn’t just use AI, but redefines how films and brand stories are created.”

Prataya Saha (Writer/Director – Kalyug Rising: The Beginning) adds, “I’ve always believed AI and live-action hybrid filmmaking is the future. With Kalyug Rising, the story came first — AI simply allowed us to push its scale and ambition further. Collaborating with Imagine If enabled that vision to be executed at a global standard.”

Ankush Deva (AI Artist – Kalyug Rising) notes, “For me, AI is not just visual output, it’s about building a cinematic language. With Kalyug Rising, the goal was to push realism to a point where the medium disappears, leaving only the story.”

With a growing slate of AI-led films and brand storytelling projects, and the expansion of the Kalyug Rising universe already underway, Imagine If is signalling a powerful shift — where AI doesn’t just support storytelling, it helps redefine it at a global scale.