Amita Madhvani on $300 million micro-drama market, AI story, and why India's next boom is vertical format | Interview

THe path people observe stories is ever so-changing faster than ever. Patch films and long-format web series continue to dominate traditional streaming, a new format designed entirely for smartphones is quietly reshaping the entertainment business. Vertical micro-dramas, fast-paced serials with episodes that last just a couple of minutes, are finding a massive audience among mobile-first viewers. According to Lumikai's Interactive Media Report, India's micro-drama market has already crossed $300 million and is projected to touch $4.5 billion by 2030, making it one of the fastest-growing segments in digital entertainment.Among the companies trying to shape this new space is Equinox Virtual, led by CEO and Co-Founder Amita Madhvani. The studio recently launched Mohini, a musical, culturally rooted micro-drama created in collaboration with Google Cloud. In a conversation with Hindustan Times, Amita spoke about experimenting with AI, building stories for vertical screens, and why she believes technology should support creativity instead of replacing it.AI should support the story, not replace itEver since Mohini premiered on Instagram and YouTube, it has sparked conversations around whether AI-generated content can truly deliver emotional storytelling. While critics argue that AI lacks the depth needed for stories driven by human emotions, Amita believes the conversation often misses the bigger picture."It’s not like we just decided to use AI on a whim," Amita explains. "We chose AI for Mohini specifically to test its viability within a micro-drama structure, knowing fully that it is an Indian, culturally rooted story packed with music. The core character might be an AI format, but the narrative itself was written by human beings, generated by human beings, and engineered specifically for human beings."She stresses that technology was never responsible for creating the emotional core of the series. “I did not generate this over ChatGPT or whatever. I have written the story. The story has been executed by me. The story has resonated so deeply precisely because it is grounded. It follows a 25-year-old Indian girl navigating severe internal conflicts and outside-world chaos—the exact things our youth live through every single day,” she explains.For Amita, AI is simply another stage in the evolution of content creation and distribution. "TV, movies, VHS, DVD—this is just another loud link in that chain," she notes. “Having been part of these technological shifts throughout my career, I look at it with a pure business lens: if a technology is here to stay and the market adapts, it stays. As a creator, if you aren't actively running ahead of the curve, the technology will simply come and wipe you over,” she adds. Building a series with a five-member teamOne of the biggest surprises behind Mohini is how lean its production has been. The series has been developed by a small in-house team of just five people, allowing the company to experiment quickly while learning how AI production evolves in real time. The team combines different technologies, including Suno for music generation and Google Cloud and Google Gemini for its AI workflow. Since generative AI tools continue to improve rapidly, every stage of production has also become part of the learning process."The technical workflow we faced two or three months ago is vastly different from the capabilities Google offers today," Amita shares. "The system updates so quickly. As a creator, you see the subtle imperfections in the early episodes, but I refuse to let tech constraints destroy the flow of the narrative. We treat it as a lesson: next time, we don't spend hours tweaking a detail here; we optimize it there."She says one of the biggest technical challenges has been maintaining consistency across episodes, especially when the same AI-generated character has to appear repeatedly without losing visual or emotional continuity. "To consistently generate the exact same character across multiple episodes—ensuring those same eyes carry genuine, recognizable feeling—takes immense technical discipline," she admits.While the compact team was enough to build the first season, she says larger productions and future seasons will naturally require bigger teams and expanded production capabilities.Looking beyond AI to build long-term IPAs major entertainment companies continue exploring vertical storytelling, Amita believes micro-dramas are moving beyond experimentation and becoming a serious business opportunity. Equinox Virtual is already in discussions with multiple platforms interested in licensing or acquiring its original formats.However, she does not see AI-generated characters as the final destination. Instead, she views them as a way to build strong intellectual property that can later expand into bigger productions."Everything we are building has been structured from day one as a sustainable business model," says Amita. "Right now, Mohini is an authentic, 12-episode proof of concept. If a streaming platform looks at this template tomorrow and wants to transition it into a premium OTT series with a live, human actress stepping in to play the character 101% live, we can execute that flawlessly. We already own the foundational tail, the music, and the script depth."Beyond Mohini, the company is developing projects across multiple genres, including fantasy, mythology, food and contemporary dramas. It is also working on a Virtual Reality experience based on mythological storytelling, reflecting its broader focus on emerging formats."For me as a business owner, it is vital to shed a scarcity mindset and move boldly toward flow and abundance," Amita concludes. “When OTT first landed in India, audiences were initially skeptical and curious; today, a Fire Stick or a streaming app is an expected part of daily life. The exact same shift is happening right now with vertical micro-dramas. The audience is holding the phone, their curiosity is captured, and the platforms are ready to back the format. Why wouldn't we walk this path and build the future of Indian storytelling?”