India’s Mugafi Chief Plots Marvel of the East, Powered by AI: ‘Our Goal Is to Reduce Time and Cost’ (EXCLUSIVE)

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Entrepreneur Vipul Agarwal from India is risking $3 million on his belief that the upcoming superhero realm won’t feature characters with American accents.

In a media-filled universe, Agarwal posits that the next blockbuster franchise, comparable to Marvel or Harry Potter, may arise not from New York City or Hollywood, but rather from the culturally vibrant terrains of India, Southeast Asia, or the Middle East. As the founder and CEO of Mugafi, Agarwal is utilizing artificial intelligence to construct what he terms as “the world’s most exceptional fiction model” while simultaneously nurturing what might one day be the Eastern equivalent of Marvel — innovative franchises based on local folklore that could serve as the cornerstones of a future entertainment industry.

According to Agarwal, the foundation of any great film lies in a compelling story. That’s what our team has been focusing on for the past four years. Now, we have one of the best fiction models globally, which has been appreciated by over 10,000 writers.

Or,

Agarwal explains that the essence of any good movie is a captivating story. Our team has spent the last four years working on this, and today, we’re proud to have one of the top fiction models worldwide, loved by more than 10,000 writers.

The name of the company, “Mugafi,” symbolizes its grand aspirations as it’s constructed using the initial letters of music, games, and film. Lately, it has garnered $3 million in funding, primarily from StartupXseed and Proneur Network. Other investors involved are Auxano, BeyondVP, MarsshotVC (a fund initiated by Razorpay founders), and individual investors like Kunal Shah, Zubin Gandevia, Srishti Behl, and Roshan Abbas. Essentially, Mugafi functions as a technology platform and an intellectual property generator.

Mugafi’s main offering is Ved, an AI-driven composition tool akin to Canva but for storytelling. It aims to democratize the art of storytelling by making it easier for creators, regardless of their technical proficiency, to produce compelling narratives. Key features include expediting script completion, detecting plagiarism, maintaining character and dialogue consistency, and evaluating script quality.

“Agrawal proposes two main objectives:

1. Minimizing expenditure and shortening the production timeline – Could we produce a movie for $10 million instead of $100 million, and complete it in three months rather than two years?

2. Enhancing predictability – This industry is extremely unpredictable with only a 2% success rate. Can we boost that percentage to 5% or even 10%, over time, by employing AI and ML technologies?”

Instead of producing entire pieces of content like certain AI tools do, Agarawal emphasizes that Ved operates more like a “mentor or coach” model, not aimed at replacing human creativity.

When you let AI produce writing, don’t expect masterpieces since AI doesn’t have the ability to create stories,” he notes. “AI is essentially just regurgitating the information we input into it. Achieving true originality from it remains challenging for now.

Rather than replacing writers, Mugafi seeks to empower them by assisting with research and operational tasks, all while preserving the creative authority of human authors. “Our goal isn’t to remove writers from the system – they are vital elements within it – but to improve their lives, increase their efficiency in terms of operations.

The company boasts that over 30,000 individuals have finished stories on their platform, with around 10,000 writers frequently contributing to it. Notable projects that have leveraged Mugafi’s tools include “Fukrey 3” from Excel Entertainment, where Mugafi developed “Choo CPT,” a humorous AI model similar to Chat GPT inspired by the beloved character Choocha from the series. Additionally, they produced “Dhadaam,” a boxing film for Stage, a platform specializing in Haryanvi dialect content streaming. An American studio’s Indian branch has created two trilogies using Ved, though specific details must remain undisclosed due to non-disclosure agreements.

Simultaneously advancing its technological growth, Mugafi is also developing unique intellectual properties inspired by the rich cultural legacies of India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions.

Agrawal discloses that we are creating two distinct realms: ‘Moksh’ and ‘Kali.’ The first, ‘Moksh,’ is heavily influenced by Indian and Southeast Asian mythology. This realm is characterized as a magical universe, while the second, ‘Kali,’ serves as a defense-oriented one.

The business has grand designs for these intellectual properties, as Agarwal mentions they’ve outlined a strategy to produce approximately 1,600 comic books just for “Moksh” alone. It is anticipated that the initial releases will be available at the end of this month.

Agarwal highlights the untouched possibilities in local folklore and tales, using “Arabian Nights” as an illustration: “There are a thousand and one stories, but what’s commonly known is primarily ‘Aladdin.’ Out of these, only three have been brought to life. Therefore, there remains a vast, largely unexplored area of about 998 stories.

A young businessman named Agarwal, who sold his initial venture when he was only 19, finds motivation from his humble beginnings in the small towns of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India. After the loss of his father at age 10, Agarwal spent a significant amount of time at temples, cultivating a spiritual bond with mythology that now shapes Mugafi’s creative vision.

He comments that the world has Marvel, which draws inspiration from numerous Indian characters. He wonders why regions such as India, Southeast Asia, or the Middle East and North Africa can’t have their equivalent of Marvel?”

Or simply:

“He remarks that Marvel derives ideas from many Indian characters, and he questions whether there could be a Marvel-like universe based in India, Southeast Asia, or MENA.

Before starting Mugafi, Agarwal had previously founded a few successful startups: Rutogo, a travel company bought by Ixigo; Cricnwin, a cricket gaming platform boasting over 10 million users; and Randomly Club, a social app with more than 100 million downloads. Despite these ventures achieving impressive statistics, Agarwal considers Mugafi to be his most significant endeavor.

He shares, “I find it challenging to work on something extensively if I’m not passionate about it. Over the past decade, this passion has led me to compose over 100 songs and write several short stories, as well as creating multiple unique universes of my own.

As a passionate cinephile, I find myself excitedly stationed at the forefront of an innovative cinema company – Mugafi. With our offices nestled in India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, we’ve carved out a unique strategic advantage within regions brimming with untapped storytelling potential. In the coming months, we’re set to debut our tools in Arabic and continue our expansion into additional languages, broadening our horizons even further.

Besides Web3 technologies, Agarwal foresees a significant role in revolutionizing the economics of the entertainment industry. He points out that there’s growing interest among people for an alternative investment avenue. In his words, “Is it possible for someone to create an opportunity for us and others to invest in the next big blockbuster like Marvel or Avengers? Could we collaborate with them? That’s where we envision making a breakthrough within the next year, and introducing this niche market in Mugafi.

With the expansion of the company, Agarwal has earmarked 10% of the latest investment towards research and innovation, setting up an R&D team in collaboration with one of India’s top film schools, Whistling Woods. He analogizes the development of AI to sports, stating that achieving around 80% accuracy can be done in just a few days. However, refining this to reach 90-95-96-97% precision will require extensive time and effort, spanning years upon years.

It’s yet unclear if Mugafi will develop the next worldwide entertainment empire, but Agarwal believes that the rich cultures of the East are primed for transformation into future box office sensations – and this time, AI could be a fellow navigator in the process.

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2025-04-09 13:17