Naina Avtr and Bollywood.AI Prove India’s AI Era Has Officially Begun

There is a 22-year-old from Jhansi who relocated to Mumbai, landed brand deals with Nykaa, Puma, and Pepsi, sat down with Bollywood’s biggest names on her own podcast, and made her full acting debut in a drama series. She has more than 377,000 Instagram followers. She is also 100% AI-generated. Naina Avtr, India’s first virtual influencer, has been getting serious global attention on her own. And now, with media mogul Sheeraz Hasan’s Bollywood.AI formalizing the space into a full platform, what Naina proved possible is now an industry in its own right.

Who Is Naina Avtr?

Naina Avtr is a virtual celebrity created by Avtr Meta Labs in 2022. The company is part of the Concept Communication Group and is led by co-founder and CEO Abhishek Razdan. Her virtual persona is designed as a 22-year-old from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. Her backstory is that of a girl who relocated to Mumbai with dreams of making it in Bollywood, a setup that millions of young Indians recognize instantly.

She was developed using CGI, generative AI, and hybrid motion capture, where a human performer’s movements are digitally paired with Naina’s appearance. Her AI-powered voice can communicate in 120 languages. Her brand deals include Nykaa, Puma, Pepsi, and Nike.

Naina and Bollywood: Already Happening

Naina’s Bollywood connection is not a campaign talking point. It is a track record.

She hosts a podcast where she engages with celebrities from Bollywood, sports, and music. The first episode featured Sobhita Dhulipala of Made in Heaven and The Night Manager fame, released on February 8, 2024. Additional guests have included Richa Chadha and Kritika Kamra. She also met with Manoj Bajpai at the promotions for his 100th film, Bhaiyya Ji, where she asked him to translate Gen-Z slang into Bhojpuri.

In September 2024, Naina was linked to Bigg Boss 18, Salman Khan’s flagship reality franchise. The show’s theme centered on past, present, and future, with Naina reportedly positioned as part of its “Future” segment.

Then in October 2025, she made her full acting debut. The 12-episode micro-drama “Truth and Lies” is the first time an AI character headlines a full drama series. Set against a single intense night in Mumbai, it delivers fast-paced storytelling in cinematic episodes formatted specifically for Instagram Reels, presented with Nature4Nature as its title sponsor.

In 2024, she collected the NDTV WhosThat360 AI Creator Award, the Midday Showbiz AI Influencer Award, and the International Iconic AI Influencer title.

Bollywood.ai: Sheeraz Hasan Is Going After the Same Market

Naina Avtr showed the demand is real. Bollywood.AI is now going after it at scale.

Sheeraz Hasan is a global fame strategist who has worked with figures including Kim Kardashian, Logan Paul, Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Priyanka Chopra, Paris Hilton, and Justin Bieber. He is the founder of Hollywood.ai and Bollywood.ai, initiatives focused on the next phase of entertainment, talent, and influence creation through artificial intelligence. Famebysheeraz

Bollywood.ai is tailored for South Asia, MENA, and the global Indian diaspora, providing culturally adaptive frameworks for virtual talent, influencer marketing, and branded storytelling. The platform uses advanced text-to-video capabilities to produce cinematic-quality content from simple prompts, with Hasan describing it as a driving force in the future of Indian entertainment and content creation.

The platforms made their public debut at SuperAI 2025, drawing immediate attention from high-profile investors, media executives, and insiders at Google, sparking industry-wide speculation about a potential acquisition or strategic partnership. Reports also indicate that China’s DeepSeek has expressed interest in acquiring the platforms, prompting Hasan to declare publicly, “Let’s see who will control Hollywood and Bollywood. Let the ultimate tug of war between the US and China begin.”

Hasan currently operates out of the US and Dubai, positioning Bollywood.ai at the intersection of South Asian entertainment, Gulf investment, and global tech capital, exactly where this conversation is headed.

Naina Avtr started as India’s first AI influencer experiment. As of 2025, she has a podcast with verified Bollywood celebrity guests, a drama series, and three industry awards. Bollywood.ai, helmed by one of the entertainment world’s most connected operators, is now institutionalizing what Naina made possible. For Dubai, sitting at the center of South Asian culture, global capital, and tech ambition, this is not something to monitor from a distance. It is already here.

Cover Image: @naina_avtr/Instagram