MAM
Roshni Kavina joins L&K Saatchi & Saatchi as national creative director
Mumbai: Publicis Groupe India’s L&K Saatchi & Saatchi has strengthened its creative leadership by appointing Roshni Kavina as national creative director. As the national creative director, Roshni will be instrumental in further elevating the agency’s creative output, driving innovation, and advancing brand success for clients. Based out of the agency’s Mumbai office, Roshni will report to Kartik Smetacek and Rohit Malkani, the agency’s chief creative officers.
With two decades of experience in advertising and design, this move marks Roshni’s return to Publicis Groupe. She served as the executive creative director at Publicis Ambience from 2015 to 2021, managing coveted accounts such as Lakmé, Enamor, and Ferrero Rocher. She has also earlier been with Publicis Groupe at Saatchi & Saatchi and BBH India. Roshni joins L&K Saatchi & Saatchi from Byju’s International, where she was brand strategy and creative head for North America and Canada. In addition, she founded ‘The Nextdoor Artist,’ an art studio, in 2013.
Roshni has supported several global luxury brands as an independent creative consultant and played a key role in shaping design communications for brands such as The Body Shop, Burberry, Elle18, Vaseline, Pantaloons, Irasva, and Marico, among many others. Her work has received extensive recognition and accolades at platforms such as Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, Adfest, Abbys, and Effies.
L&K Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis India CEO Paritosh Srivastava said, “It is heartwarming to see Roshni returning to the team, especially as we continue to expand our portfolio with new lifestyle and luxury brands. Having worked with her in the past on some major brands, I am confident that her expertise in lifestyle and luxury branding, and her design capability will further boost our creative excellence.”
“Roshni comes in at exactly the right time to partner with the creative leadership on a couple of large accounts we’ve recently won. Her skillset greatly enhances the agency’s creative firepower, and we look forward to big things from her in the months to come,” added L&K Saatchi & Saatchi chief creative officers Kartik Smetacek and Rohit Malkani, in a joint statement.
“I believe that no matter which path we take, as long as we visit new worlds and learn along the way, the journey is well lived. Having worked with Paritosh on some of the most coveted brands in my earlier stint, I am thrilled to return to familiar grounds. It is a pleasure to be a part of a team where each member brings unique strength, and I am excited to help build the lifestyle and luxury brands portfolio for L&K Saatchi & Saatchi. I am honoured to be a part of the family and can’t wait to get started,” said L&K Saatchi & Saatchi NCD Roshni Kavina.
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.
