Fortune India MPW 2025: Industry needs to come together and talk about technology, panelists say

At a time when social media has captured attention unlike any other medium, and the discussions have rapidly emerged on the impact of the attention-deficit economy, storytellers across the divide of theatres and OTT should come together and engage in meaningful conversations about the effects of technology, panelists highlighted during a panel discussion titled ‘The Changing Face of Content’ at Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women in Business 2025.

Kiran Rao, the film-maker behind marquee films—more recently Laapata Ladies, said the advent of technology has made people desperate for the next source of dopamine. “It has deadened the sense of wonder that people used to have,” Rao said. “Across the divide, we need to come together and have a conversation about this, because technology is going to make leaps and bounds.”

According to Monika Shergill, vice president of content at Netflix India, this understanding needs to occur on a fundamental level, as social media is changing society more than any other medium of art. “The five-second dopamine hit becomes doomscrolling. We need to differentiate and utilise technology in the right way so that people spend quality time watching meaningful stories and not just getting a fleeting fix that can come from anywhere,” she said.

Quoting the example of Squid Game, Shergill said that it is crucial to nurture new voices that can engage audiences for much more than just a few seconds of laughter, unlike short-form content. “From the moment Squid Game dropped, it became a trending show in 93 countries. Many people think that Squid Game is about mindless killing, but that is not the case. It’s about social inequality, injustice, poverty in Korea, and human greed,” she explained.

Jyoti Deshpande, president-media and content business, Reliance Industries Limited , believes that the future of technology in the industry is bright. “Technology is a sweeping word. We conflate AI with ChatGPT. I dream of a world where tech and AI will enable us to make the Mahabharata. We’ve been meaning to make it for years, but it’s not viable. Technology is going to make all things accessible. It is an enabler,” she said, adding that technology would evolve, and relevant skilling will happen at a vast scale.

Ram Madhvani, founder of Ram Madhvani Films and Equinox, argued that he has utilised technology to move away from the concerns of the attention-deficit economy. “We have made the Mahabharata on VR. It has allowed us to escape the attention-deficit economy to make an immersive experience. It tells you what it feels like to be immersed and move away from the dopamine hit,” he explained. Madhvani also argued that every technology in the world, such as talkies for the movies, for instance, has liberated art.

Vikram Malhotra, founder and CEO of Abundantia Entertainment, also expressed disdain for the attention-deficit economy. “I don’t like the word ‘attention-deficit economy’. We are just competing with a lot of things today. The 10-second content is succeeding. If people were interested in watching 10-second content, then they wouldn’t be binge-watching shows for eight hours or go to the movies,” he said.