MAM
Coke to unveil second campaign with Aamir in double role
NEW DELHI: Manno Bhabhi is back …this time with Dinu Kaka! In continuation of the ‘Ghar Pe Rakhiye Thanda … Matlab Coca-Cola’ campaign, the flagship brand of the company is all set to launch its second advertisement in the series.
The new advertisement, which is part II of the Thanda tele-series, has Aamir Khan essaying the roles of Manno bhabhi and Dinu kaka and goes on air today.
Since the launch of the new `thanda’ campaign earlier this summer, Manno bhabhi’s character and portrayal of a real life situation has endeared her to millions of Indians, especially housewives, an official statement from Coca-Cola India claimed. The new ad, “Manno bhabhi aur Dinu kaka” continues to pursue the central idea of driving in-home consumption.
According to Vikas Gupta, VP, marketing Coca-Cola India, “We are launching the second TVC in continuation of the ‘Ghar Pe Rakhiye Thanda … Matlab Coca-Cola’ campaign. The first commercial in the series had a fabulous response and has strengthened Coca-Cola’s position in the home consumption market as per our market research.”
He further added, “The basic idea behind this year’s series of ads is to re-affirm the fact that Coca-Cola is a beverage for all occasions.”
Scripted in a musical parody, the advertisement captures the routine interactions between the quintessential home-maker – the Indian bahu or the daughter-in-law (Manno bhabhi), and the trusted-but-crotchety servant (Dinu kaka), of the household.
The advertisement delves on how Manno Bhabhi sweetly, but firmly, convinces the grumpy Dinu Kaka to keep Coca-Cola at home, thus reinforcing the fact that Coke is the real Thanda and also delves into consumer insights of how Coke plays a part in everyone’s lives, especially in-home situation.
The latest ‘Ghar Pe Rakhiye Thanda … Matlab Coca-Cola’ series takes on from the earlier campaign, in which Aamir Khan featured as Manno bhabi and a NRI. The TVC conceptualized by Prasoon Joshi, national creative director of McCann Erickson and directed by Abhijit Chaudhri of Black Magic Productions, goes on air today.
The `thanda matlab Coca-Cola’ campaign launched in 2002 has featured Aamir Khan essaying six distinctive characters that revolved around outdoor situations – Tapori at an Irani Café, Punjabi Framer in his field, a Nepali guide,etc.
The series has also won several awards in the past. To name a few, EFFIE gold for the second year in succession at ‘the EFFIES 2004’; Best TV Campaign ‘Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola’ at the ‘Indian Marketing Awards’; Campaign of the Year Awards presented by Advertising agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Advertising Club Mumbai (ABBY); Golden Lion Award at Cannes Festival and the most prestigious marketing award of Coca-Cola Company – “Don Keogh Marketing Mastery Award”, bringing global recognition for Indian talent.
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.
