MAM
Madhuri Dixit joins Oral B for Smile India Movement II
NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor Madhuri Dixit has joined Oral B Smile India Movement as the chief smile officer to promote a mission to ‘Protect a Billion Indian Smiles, One at a time‘ with the help of 10,000 dentists across the country.
The mission was launched Tuesday from the Maulana Azad Medical College here, heralding the cause of protecting the Indian smile. The Oral B Smile Survey conducted by independent researcher AC Nielsen amongst 803 consumers and 201 dentists in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru states that as many as 89 per cent respondents in Delhi, 65 per cent in Bengaluru, 25 per cent in Kolkata and 19 per cent in Mumbai feel that India as a nation smiles less than other countries. A majority of 76 per cent of dentists notice that patients with poor oral hygiene tend to smile less.
Dixit said, “I have always believed that we Indians have such warm smiles – something I missed fervently when I was in the US. It was disheartening to learn from the Oral B Smile survey that Indians feel they are smiling less, and the poor state of oral hygiene could be one of the reasons. I decided to join hands with Oral B and 10,000 dentists across the country to protect billion Indian smiles, one at a time. As I pledge my support to the movement, I urge everyone to pledge their support too and take a step towards more healthy, confident smiles.”
The survey covered people‘s behaviour at the workplace, with their spouses; people have been equally vocal regarding their connotations of smile at their work place and when trying to please their spouses.
Oral B spokesperson Varun Sharma said, “The survey conducted with AC Nielsen clearly points at the need for better oral hygiene among Indians! Through the Oral B- Smile India Movement this year, we hope to build from Smile India Movement‘s success last year, and help protect a billion Indian smiles, one at a time.”
“We are encouraged by the support we have received from 10,000 dentists across India and now Chief Smile Officer- Madhuri Dixit who, for most of us, represents the quintessential healthy, confident smile. The aim is to protect Indian smiles by urging people across India to come forward and pledge their support to this movement,” Sharma added.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
