MAM
Weekend Unwind with: Unmisha Bhatt co-founder & chief strategy officer of Tonic Worldwide
MUMBAI: Another weekend is upon us, and so is the time to unwind with yet another edition of IndianTelevision.com’s Weekend Unwind – A series of informal chats that peek into the mind of a corporate executive to get to know the person behind the title a little better.
In this week’s session, we have Tonic Worldwide co-founder & chief strategy officer Unmisha Bhatt opening up the windows to her mind and heart, to offer a glimpse of what’s behind her professional persona.
A marcom professional with over 20 years of experience in developing brand communication & strategies across consumer touch points, she leads strategy on all brands and enables new markets & global expansion as chief strategy officer of Tonic Worldwide. A founding member of the agency’s Dubai office for the Middle East region, and a key driving force for her team across both markets, she divides her time between Dubai and India. Her goal is to bring out the best in her team members, while setting new benchmarks & supporting them with mentorship and support as required. From the last couple of years, Unmisha has also been guest faculty for management students and conducts several training & development workshops to build young talent.
So here goes:
– Your mantra for life
Live and Let live.
-A Book you are currently reading/plan to read
Loads of them. I have this habit of reading many books at one time. Keep jumping to my mood. Current ones that are ongoing are ‘Radical Candor’, ‘Everybody Lies’. Also, Archie comics! They are fun and take me back in time. Then there’s my all-time favourite which I keep re-reading all the time, ‘One + One = 3’. The ones on my lists are “No Rules Rules”, “Pandeymonium” and some fiction mystery novels. They help me switch off.
-Your Fitness mantra, especially during the pandemic
There’s no better way to be fit then house work! The lockdown taught me that
-Your comfort food
Home-cooked food made by my mother-in-law. She’s the best chef ever. She can give every Michelin star chef a run for their money.
-When the chips are down a quote/ philosophy that keeps you going?
Count your blessings
-Your guilty pleasure
Vadapav, beer & end a cocktail evening with Chai. Lol yes, odd but that’s me.
-When was the last time you tried something new?
December 2019, jumped into the sea and swam to the shore of an island where the boat couldn’t hit the shore, in Maldives. Was a fun experience. Been long time since I tried something new yet again.
-A life lesson you learnt the hard way
All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy (in this case Jill)
What gets you excited about life?
Travel, meeting, new people, and exploring different cultures in different countries
What’s on top of your bucket list?
Guest lectures in an international management college. Teaching is the best form of learning, and international teaching will help me learn about different cultures too
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
Spend more time with parents.
An activity that keeps you motivated / charged during tough times
Gratitude and keeping busy at work. I love what I do. I love my brands. I am very competitive and that keeps me motivated to do better.
What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?
For me it’s “who” lifts my spirits: My best friend, my partner-in-crime at work, my husband, Chetan Asher
Your go-to stress buster
Binge-watch any thriller series on OTTs or binge-read fiction. Helps me switch off and transport to another world.
One thing you would most like to change about the world
Call for peace. Live and let live.
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.
