The re-release of Raanjhanaa in theatres with an AI-reimagined climax has stirred something radical in the hearts of cinephiles. For a film whose ending was as devastating as it was poetic, the idea of an alternate resolution crafted by artificial intelligence forces us to reconsider the finality of endings we once accepted. What if a machine, absorbing every frame, character nuance, and cultural resonance, chose to rewrite destiny? Could it be more just, more tragic, or simply more satisfying?
We took this provocation seriously and imaginatively and asked: What if AI were tasked with rewriting the climaxes of some of the most iconic films across world cinema? The results range from redemptive to ruthless, from healing to haunting. Here are ten classics, reimagined not by screenwriters, but by our in-house writers imagining on behalf of speculative AI, invoking a narrative logic along with a bold human touch.
1. Sholay (1975)
2. Deewaar (1975)
3. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
4. Titanic (1997)
5. Inception (2010)
6. Pyaasa (1957)
7. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)
8. The Sixth Sense (1999)
9. Piku (2015)
10. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988)
1. Sholay (1975)
Original Ending:
After a bloody battle, Thakur avenges his family by brutally killing Gabbar Singh, finally finding closure for his personal loss.
AI Reimagined Climax:
As Thakur corners Gabbar, he stops not out of mercy, but clarity. He delivers Gabbar alive to the villagers of Ramgarh. In a communal trial, each villager testifies. Gabbar is sentenced not to death but to build the very infrastructure he destroyed brick by brick, in chains. The legend of Ramgarh is no longer one of revenge but of justice without bloodshed a Gandhian twist to a spaghetti western.
2. Deewaar (1975)
Original Ending:
Vijay dies in the temple, bleeding, finally reaching the sanctum he always rejected symbolising his spiritual and moral reckoning.
AI Reimagined Climax:
Just as Ravi prepares to arrest his brother, he receives a call: their mother has died. The two brothers, devastated, confront their futility. Ravi lets Vijay escape but plants evidence that forces Vijay into exile. Years later, Ravi visits an ashram and finds an older Vijay, now a humble gardener, silent and reformed. The temple is not where he died, but where he learned to live again.
3. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
Original Ending:
After much resistance, Simran’s father lets go of her hand on the train platform, finally accepting her love for Raj.
AI Reimagined Climax:
Simran does not run. She walks away from the platform leaving both Raj and her family behind. She chooses herself, deciding to study architecture in Paris. Years later, at a European design expo, Raj sees Simran again confident, independent, thriving. They share a quiet smile. Love doesn’t always conquer, but it can evolve into selfhood.
4. Titanic (1997)
Original Ending:
Jack dies in the freezing Atlantic, while Rose survives to tell their story decades later.
AI Reimagined Climax:
AI questions the age-old “there was no room on the door” dilemma. In this version, Jack survives barely and they are rescued together. But Jack is never the same. Years later, Rose finds him in a sanitarium, unable to speak, haunted by those he couldn’t save. She realises survival is not triumph but trauma. She writes not just about their love, but about memory, guilt, and the myth of romantic heroism.
5. Inception (2010)
Original Ending:
Cobb spins the top to test if he’s in a dream, but we never see whether it falls leaving reality ambiguous.
AI Reimagined Climax:
The top falls. Cobb is in the real world but not the one he left. His children are older, the house is the same, but slightly off. A wall clock ticks backward. AI posits this: Cobb escaped one dream only to enter a deeper one the dream of closure. The final frame zooms into Cobb’s eye… and inside it, Mal is still waiting.
6. Pyaasa (1957)
Original Ending:
Vijay rejects the world that once rejected him, walking away from fame with Gulabo by his side.
AI Reimagined Climax:
Instead of leaving, Vijay stays but only to dismantle the literary establishment that co-opted his death. He starts an underground press that prints poetry by the forgotten: cobblers, widows, refugees. He dies penniless but is remembered as the man who democratized art not just for the elite, but for everyone broken by society.
7. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)
Original Ending:
Nandini chooses her husband Vanraj over her first love Sameer, valuing loyalty and duty over passion.
AI Reimagined Climax:
This time, the heart wins. Nandini runs to Sameer not just out of nostalgia, but clarity. She realises that her marriage to Vanraj, though kind, was never truly her choice. In a rare moment of courage, Vanraj steps aside, allowing her the happiness she never claimed. Nandini and Sameer do not reunite in a sweeping musical flourish, but in quiet understanding older, changed, still in love. In this AI-reimagined version, the film honours the weight of tradition but chooses to free its heroine from it.
8. The Sixth Sense (1999)
Original Ending:
Dr. Malcolm Crowe realises he’s been dead all along, a ghost guiding young Cole through his trauma.
AI Reimagined Climax:
Crowe knows he’s dead far earlier but continues to stay, not for Cole, but for himself. He becomes addicted to being needed. Cole must now exorcise Crowe telling him that even ghosts must let go. The final scene shows Crowe vanishing not into light, but into silence unresolved, like a memory you can’t quite place.
9. Piku (2015)
Original Ending:
Piku loses her father, finally unburdened but emotionally raw. The film ends with a smile and possibility.
AI Reimagined Climax:
Bashkor doesn’t die. Instead, he slips into dementia. Piku’s caregiving intensifies. She never gets her solo trip. Yet, AI injects warmth into this ending: Bashkor begins painting again, abstract, wild art. Piku hangs one in her clinic. It becomes her anchor. The film ends not with death, but with the slow, beautiful erosion of identity and the daughter who finds new meaning in it.
10. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988)
Original Ending:
Raj and Rashmi die in each other’s arms, victims of a generational blood feud, echoing Romeo and Juliet.
AI Reimagined Climax:
They don’t die. They fake their deaths. A sympathetic postman helps them escape. Years later, they’re seen in a small Himalayan village, running a library for runaway lovers. A child reads their story aloud, unsure if it’s fiction or truth. Tragedy becomes myth, and myth becomes hope.
Final Word:
As AI enters the cinematic conversation not just through VFX or dubbing, but through narrative reinvention, we must ask, ‘Are endings sacred? Or are they fluid, like memory and interpretation?’ These alternate climaxes don’t aim to overwrite the originals, but to offer parallel universes, where closure takes on new shapes, and the audience becomes the co-author.
Also Read: 10 Iconic Characters from Karan Johar Films
