MAM
Media Maniac’s launched charity drive for underprivileged kids
Mumbai: Volunteering your time to assist a cause you care about is something you will never regret. It will improve your life, acquaint you with your neighbourhood, and link you to people and ideas that will favourably affect your viewpoint for the rest of your life. Helping your community allows you to grow as a person and better understand how you fit into the world around you.
Media Maniacs Group organised a new year charity drive to help underprivileged kids with food, clothes, and stationary in association with the Dulari Devi Foundation. The drive aimed to aid the well-being of the children and provide essential support to those in need. The drive provided the children with food, clothing, and an opportunity to enjoy fun activities. The Media Maniacs group doubled the amount of total donation generated for the charity drive.
Dulari Devi Foundation strives to become the vital link and reach out to those who need help and uplift them as a whole. The foundation aims to uplift education and contribute towards women welfare. The foundation believes the change in society begins with individual effort, and if your cause is good people will automatically connect. The foundation has been actively working for the upliftment of women and children for many years. They believe every child has the right to education and every woman has the right to her individuality. Their purpose encompasses the development of the lifestyle of women and children of all sections and tirelessly strive to achieve that.
Founder Dulari Devi Foundation – political analyst, national media panellist & motivational speaker Preeti Pandey said, “We are delighted with the generosity of Media Maniacs Group in supporting such a noble cause. The drive has helped us to support our children better and fulfil vital requirements. We believe with determination and hard work nothing is impossible,” said
Media Maniacs co-founder Surabhi Trivedi said, “This drive aimed to bring joy in the lives of orphaned children during festive season. Our effort was to provide care and bring a sense of togetherness in these children’s lives. While we may not be able to provide financial assistance, we can make a significant impact in their lives by organizing a charity drive. It’s our duty to help those in need, and this event is an excellent way to do so.”
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.
