The missing tilaka marking in AI-generated movies
Recently, a viewer left feedback on one of my videos mentioning the missing "tilaka" - the sacred forehead marking on the devotees and the Lord. Interestingly, I noticed a similar comment appear on another creator’s AI-generated devotional movie as well. Clearly, this is something that stands out to the audience, and rightly so.
What is a Tilaka?
For those unfamiliar, tilaka is a spiritual marking that devotees apply daily, much like the bindi (red dot) that women wear in Indian culture. But tilaka carries a much deeper meaning.
Both men and women apply tilaka to different parts of the body, commonly the forehead, arms, chest, throat, abdomen, and back. It is created using clay, ash, or powdered minerals. Each application serves as a reminder that the body is not meant for selfish enjoyment, but is a temple of the Divine and a tool for service.
Vaishnavas (devotees of Lord Vishnu, Krishna, Rama, etc.) traditionally wear a “U”-shaped tilaka made of clay, symbolizing dedication to the Lord. Shaivites (devotees of Lord Shiva), on the other hand, typically wear horizontal ash markings.
As someone who personally wears the clay tilaka every day, I know how significant it is to a devotee’s identity and spiritual practice.
Read more about tilaka on Wikipedia
Why are Vaishnava tilakas missing in AI movies?
Here’s the honest answer: AI struggles with it.
I’ve tried multiple times to instruct AI tools to generate the “U”-shaped vaishnava tilaka, but the results are almost always inaccurate.
Instead of the clay vertical mark, the AI often produces the shaivaite horizontal stripes. It seems that the datasets and training models have not yet learned to distinguish or consistently render these subtle cultural details.
Even crafting prompts to specify “U-shaped vaishnava tilaka on forehead” often confuses the system. What feels so simple and natural to us as humans turns out to be extremely tricky for the AI.
My Workaround
To address this, I’ve been experimenting with a manual workaround:
- Generate the character image using the AI tool.
- Manually add the tilaka (a simple “U” mark) on the forehead in a graphics editor.
- Re-upload the modified image back into the AI system for video generation.
It sort of works, but it’s far from seamless. The process is longer and requires extra steps just for a small, yet important, detail.
Looking Ahead
I sincerely hope that as AI technology progresses, it will become easier to integrate devotional and cultural details like tilaka into generated characters. These markings may look small, but their spiritual significance is immense.
Until then, I’ll keep refining my manual process—because to me, the tilaka is not optional. It’s an inseparable part of the devotee’s identity, and I want to reflect that as best as I can in these films.