Built by
Filmmakers.
“OpenFrame AI Lab is not a technology company that discovered cinema. We are a cinema company that embraced technology.”
Where Cinema
Meets Intelligence.
OpenFrame AI Lab was founded by Rajesh Bhatia and Bharat Arora — two filmmakers who came to artificial intelligence not from Silicon Valley, but from decades of working with cameras, scripts, light, and actors.
Rajesh Bhatia brought 35 years of television, documentary and socially conscious cinema. Bharat Arora brought 25 years of commercial and narrative cinematography, trained under the late Shri Dharam Chopra at B.R. Films, Mumbai.
Together, they built a studio on a single belief: that the most important thing about AI filmmaking is not the AI. It is the filmmaking.
In 2026, OpenFrame AI Lab was formally incubated at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune — the first AI filmmaking studio to carry that distinction. In the same year, the studio won the Best Short Film Award at the 19th Mumbai International Film Festival, the Best AI Film Award at IFFD 2026, and the Runner Up at the CinemAI Hackathon co-organised by NFDC and LTM.
Three Principles That
Guide Everything We Do.
Craft First
Every frame we generate begins with the same question that has guided cinematographers for a hundred years: does this serve the story? Technology changes. The question does not.
“Cinema has always evolved with technology — from sound to colour, from film to digital.”
Human Vision, Machine Intelligence
We use artificial intelligence as a tool, not a crutch. Our directors bring intention, emotion and narrative instinct to every project. The AI brings scale, speed and possibility.
“Artificial intelligence is not a replacement for creativity. It is the next toolset through which creative intelligence expands.”
Responsible Innovation
We believe AI should expand what storytellers can do — not replace the storytellers. Every production decision at OpenFrame AI Lab is made by a human being with a creative point of view.
“We believe in responsible, practical, and artist-driven applications of AI — ensuring technology always serves narrative intent.”
The People Behind
Every Frame.
Rajesh Bhatia
Founder & Director · OpenFrame AI Lab · FTII AlumnusRajesh Bhatia is a director, producer, writer, and educator with over 35 years of experience across television, documentary, and socially conscious cinema. An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune (1987–90), he has built a career that bridges popular storytelling with historically rooted documentary work.
His television credits include directing Kkusum, Kutumb, and Kabhi Sautan Kabhi Saheli for Balaji Telefilms — among the most-watched shows of their era. His documentary work includes Voice of Cinema for the National Museum of Indian Cinema and the acclaimed Unparalleled, which documents the endangered Rudra Veena tradition across India.
As faculty at FTII, NID, and NMIMS, Rajesh has shaped the careers of hundreds of filmmakers. He is now a pioneer in AI-enabled filmmaking methodologies — bringing the same rigour and craft that defined his traditional work to the emerging frontier of generative cinema.
Bharat Arora
Co-Founder & Cinematographer · OpenFrame AI LabBharat Arora is a cinematographer, colorist, and AI film director with over 25 years of experience across commercial, industrial, narrative, and generative filmmaking. An instrumentation engineer by qualification and a diploma holder in Camera and Lighting Techniques, he represents a rare combination of technical precision and cinematic instinct.
Professionally trained under the late Shri Dharam Chopra at B.R. Films, Mumbai, Bharat worked on major television productions before establishing himself as a cinematographer. His IMDb credits include Geetiyan, Khalil, and Main Dilli Hoon.
Today, Bharat works at the intersection of traditional cinematography and generative AI — using Sora, Veo 3, Higgsfield, Seedance and other advanced tools to build cinematic worlds frame by frame, with the same intentionality he brings to a live-action set. He serves as an Official Canon India Mentor and as Course Director for FTII’s AI Cinema Masterclass programme. Based in Jammu, J&K.
Shine Jaya Rajan
Creative Director · Experiential Design & AI Visual Production · OpenFrame AI LabShine Jaya Rajan is a Creative Director and visual experience specialist with over 12 years of GCC experience across events, exhibitions, brand activations, experiential design, CGI, VFX and immersive visual production. His work bridges creative direction with production execution — translating ideas and brand objectives into visual narratives, spatial experiences and technically achievable creative environments.
Over the years, Shine has worked on major projects across the UAE and Saudi Arabia, including the Urban Cycling Championships 2025 in Riyadh, AlUla Tour, Saudi Sports Expo, Saudi Tour, UAE Tour and Dubai Tour, alongside projects for government, tourism, luxury and automotive brands. He also contributed to the design and production of the Guinness World Record-winning World’s Largest Standing Lantern at Souq Al Jubail, Sharjah.
Today, Shine combines his expertise in 3D visualization, CGI, VFX, motion graphics and experiential design with generative AI filmmaking and advertising workflows. At OpenFrame AI Lab, his strength lies in transforming concepts into sophisticated visual worlds — from moodboards and storyboards to cinematic environments, brand films and AI-assisted production — while ensuring that technology remains grounded in strong design thinking and practical execution.
Harsh Rathod
AI & Creative Technology ExecutiveHarsh Rathod works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, automation, and creative technology, developing technical workflows and solutions for AI-driven projects at OpenFrame AI Lab. His work spans generative AI, workflow automation, API integrations, AI tool evaluation, and technical experimentation across filmmaking, events, and digital platforms.
At OpenFrame AI Lab, he contributes to the technical execution of projects by researching emerging AI capabilities, integrating platforms and APIs, building automation systems, and designing practical workflows that translate creative requirements into effective technology solutions.
His technical work spans Python, AI/ML, generative and multimodal AI, APIs, automation, and cloud-based workflows, with a focus on evaluating emerging technologies and turning them into reliable, real-world applications.
He is particularly interested in AI agents, computer vision, NLP, multimodal AI, and AI-powered creative production, and continues to explore how these technologies can expand the capabilities of creative teams and transform the way projects are developed, managed, and executed.
India’s Premier
Film Institution.
OpenFrame AI Lab was formally incubated at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune in 2026 — under the Centre for Open Learning. Established in 1960, FTII is India’s most prestigious institution for film education and the alma mater of some of the country’s greatest filmmakers.
This incubation places OpenFrame AI Lab within a lineage of serious, craft-driven Indian cinema — and marks the first formal partnership between FTII and an AI filmmaking studio. It is a recognition not just of what we have built, but of the direction we believe Indian cinema is headed.