MAM
Axis Bank launches its festive campaign asking ‘Diwali Hain Kya’
Mumbai: Axis Bank has rolled out a multi-film campaign to promote ‘Dil Se Open Celebrations,’ offering exciting deals and discounts on more than 1,00,000 products on purchase through its credit and debit cards. The short format films, conceived by Lowe Lintas Mumbai, are set in typical backdrops of Diwali, highlighting the range of offers extended by the private sector bank.
Diwali is a time of festivities and cheers when people indulge in shopping, feasting or having fun. In India, we often tease our friends and family by asking a rhetorical question ‘Diwali Hai Kya?’ (Is it Diwali?) whenever they indulge to their heart’s desires. The campaign uses this popular remark to talk about the bank’s Diwali offers and reinforce how Diwali is indeed a time to indulge and celebrate.
“It’s in the name – Dil Se Open Celebrations an idea of not just celebrating but celebrating wholeheartedly. That’s what Axis Bank’s range of festive offers has been curated to deliver on. And that’s what this campaign conceived by Joshua Thomas, Prathamesh Gharat and Tejas Dangre has been designed to convey. Employing the commonly used phrase ‘Diwali hai kya?’ in a manner that hopes to hold the viewers’ interest and give them a reason to smile,’’ shared Lowe Lintas regional creative officer Amar Singh, commenting on the campaign idea.
The campaign comprises three films, two of which focus on offers through the bank’s debit cards, credit cards and its grab deals platform, and the third one promotes the bank’s flagship home loan product.
“Our campaign on Dil Se Open Celebrations is firmly entrenched in the cultural relevance of festivals and captures the nuance of festivals as a license to indulge and celebrate to our heart’s content. And we have just the relevant offers across cards, Grab Deals and loans among many others to make these celebrations even grand,” said Axis Bank chief marketing officer Anoop Manohar. “This campaign is not just about offers, it serves as a reminder to all of us to celebrate and be open to happiness, whether big or small, kyunki Diwali roz roz nahi aati.”
While the campaign will be predominantly aired on television, the brand will also run it on digital, OOH, and other offline mediums communicating offers to its customers. The campaign will also run during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup series, said the statement.
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.
