The playbook is elegant in its cynicism: take mythology too old to copyright, feed it to generative AI, and package the output as premium streaming content. Galleri5, the Indian AI firm behind Star Plus's "Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh," has now signed a cross-border intellectual property agreement to bring the same treatment to Indonesian mythology, partnering with Collective Studios' Historyverse division to develop film and series properties.
The deal marks a quiet but significant escalation in how AI content companies are thinking about scale. Rather than competing with Hollywood on original IP or licensed franchises, Galleri5 is building a pipeline around stories that belong to everyone and no one—epics, folktales, and religious narratives that carry enormous cultural weight but zero licensing fees.
The Mahabharat proof of concept
Galleri5's Indian series demonstrated that AI-generated visuals could meet broadcast standards for mythological drama, a genre that has historically demanded expensive VFX for divine weapons, cosmic battles, and supernatural transformations. The technology reportedly reduced production costs by roughly forty percent while maintaining the visual density audiences expect from premium Hindu epic adaptations. JioHotstar's streaming numbers, while not publicly disclosed, were apparently strong enough to convince the company that the model travels.
Indonesian mythology offers a similarly rich vein: the Ramayana has deep roots in Javanese and Balinese culture, and local folklore includes everything from the Nyi Roro Kidul sea goddess to the Panji cycle of medieval romances. These stories are taught in schools, performed in shadow puppet theater, and carry genuine emotional resonance for hundreds of millions of people.
The regulatory vacuum
What makes this expansion particularly notable is its timing. AI-generated content remains in a legal gray zone across most of Asia. India has no comprehensive AI content law; Indonesia's creative economy regulations were written for human artists. Galleri5 is essentially building market position before the rules arrive, betting that once audiences accept AI-assisted mythological content, regulators will be reluctant to ban it.
The company is also navigating a cultural minefield more carefully than Western AI firms have managed. By focusing on stories that are already public domain and widely beloved, Galleri5 avoids the copyright infringement lawsuits currently plaguing companies like Anthropic, which was sued just this week over allegedly training models on Elvis Presley's catalog. Mythology is safer territory—the Bhagavad Gita's estate is not going to file a complaint.
Our take
Galleri5 has found something genuinely clever: a content category where AI's weaknesses matter less and its strengths shine. Mythological epics are supposed to feel slightly inhuman, larger than life, visually overwhelming. The uncanny valley becomes a feature, not a bug. If this model works in Indonesia, expect to see AI-generated Greek myths, Norse sagas, and Chinese classics within two years. The question is whether audiences will eventually notice they are watching the same algorithm wearing different cultural costumes—or whether, for stories this old, that has always been the point.
