MAM
Booking.com ropes in Shanaya Kapoor for the Booking Explorers campaign
Mumbai: Booking.com has launched the second edition of its award-winning “Booking Explorers” campaign with gen-z celebrity Shanaya Kapoor. The campaign aims to inspire everyone to rediscover themselves and reignite their desire to travel.
It also celebrates the adventurers and trailblazers among us who have kept the spirit of travel alive, despite the struggles and disruptions we continue to face post-pandemic.
Through the “Booking Explorers” campaign, Booking.com is bringing to life the compelling stories of five explorers across APAC, including the up-and-coming Bollywood actress Shanaya Kapoor, along with other leading travel personalities from Australia, South Korea, Vietnam and Japan.
As part of the campaign, these APAC explorers share their travel stories and the desire to explore all things new and familiar, whether it’s in their own backyards or around their home countries.
Shanaya Kapoor, who is gearing up for her acting debut, shares her love for India – its colourful cities and picturesque countryside, Instagram-worthy destinations, and most importantly, the need for responsible travel among millennials.
Apart from Shanaya, this year’s campaign also features four new personalities from Australia, South Korea, Vietnam and Japan. Former MasterChef Australia grand finalist, Simon Toohey, takes us on a culinary adventure through Victoria, Australia. Multidisciplinary artist MY Q brings us through every nook of South Korea—from underground music scenes to contemporary art galleries. A nature-loving lifestyle personality, Tran Quang Dai advocates sustainable living and travel as he takes us through Vietnam. And finally, Japanese supermodel Ai Tominaga, a familiar face in haute couture, shares her love for tranquillity, the beauty of nature, and the countryside.
Booking.com Asia Pacific managing director Laura Houldsworth said, “Our explorers are truly inspirational with their desire to keep exploring the world sustainably, despite the challenges they face. I hope these stories stir travellers everywhere to open their hearts and minds to new experiences and put sustainability at the forefront of all they do.”
Shanaya Kapoor commented, “I am really excited to be associated with Booking.com and be a part of the “Booking Explorer” campaign that celebrates the relentless spirit of travel in a more meaningful and responsible way. I personally love to travel, and I feel, as a young actor trying to work on my craft, there is no better drama school than travelling into the unknown. Find inspiration in new cultures, meet new characters and learn from new friends. Even if you are not an actor, knowing yourself, finding out qualities about yourself, about your personality, you will always learn one new thing when you travel, and that, for me, is a great achievement.”
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.
