Avataar AI has launched Varya, a video model designed to understand local context in India. The model is built on top of Wan 2.2, a publicly available video generation model, and uses a technique called distillation to compress its capabilities into a leaner, faster version.
Varya can generate a 5-second 720p clip in 45 seconds, compared to 1,230 seconds for Wan 2.2, and will be priced at ₹0.48 ($0.005) per second, significantly cheaper than other models.
The launch of Varya reflects India's AI ambitions, focusing on creating applications and a robust developer ecosystem rather than competing on foundation models. The model will be released as an open-weight model on India's AI Kosh portal, allowing developers to self-host or modify it for their own needs.
