MAM
Apollo puts tyres to the test as Team India’s grit gets the big screen
MUMBAI: From dusty maidans to packed stadiums, every great cricket story begins with a long drive and Apollo Tyres is betting that journey is where the real drama lives. The tyre major, lead sponsor of the Indian cricket team, has rolled out a new brand campaign, Har Safar Mein Dum Hai, placing endurance and discipline at the heart of both Indian cricket and its own brand philosophy. The film brings together Sachin Tendulkar and current Team India stars Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Arshdeep Singh, all appearing in official Team India jerseys.
Directed by filmmaker Abhinay Deo and set to A R Rahman’s Maa Tujhe Salaam, the film traces the real-life journeys of the players from childhood ambition to the weight of wearing the India jersey. The narrative places as much emphasis on family sacrifices and personal discipline as it does on talent, underlining the standards required not just to reach the top, but to stay there.
Running through the story is Tendulkar, not merely as a brand ambassador but as a living benchmark, a reminder of the values and expectations that continue to shape Indian cricket across generations. The campaign draws a parallel between this legacy and Apollo Tyres’ own evolution from a domestic player to a global brand built on performance and reliability.
“This campaign reflects a core belief at Apollo Tyres that excellence is built through resilience, discipline and consistency,” said Apollo Tyres Ltd vice chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar describing Har Safar Mein Dum Hai as a tribute to the Indian spirit and the commitment it takes to be the best.
Scriptwriter and conceptualiser Simran Kanwar said the film focuses on the relentless pursuit of excellence rather than the moment of arrival, calling it one of the rare campaigns to unite multiple global sporting icons from a single sport, anchored by a song synonymous with Indian cricketing pride.
The cricket establishment has also thrown its weight behind the narrative. Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Devajit Saikia said the film captures the hard work, sacrifice and endurance required to represent the country at the highest level, adding that the association reflects a shared belief in nurturing talent from the grassroots up.
For Apollo Tyres, the campaign is more than a star-studded spectacle. According to Apollo Tyres Ltd Group head of marketing Udyan Ghai, the film reinforces the brand’s positioning around performance and reliability, while mirroring Indian cricket’s journey from local beginnings to global stature.
In a country where cricket is measured as much in emotion as in runs and wickets, Har Safar Mein Dum Hai makes a clear pitch, greatness is not about the destination, but the road and having the stamina to stay the course.
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.
