MAM
Made in lockdown: The story of Airtel’s ad film
NEW DELHI: Covid2019’s impact on ad houses and production companies has been massive. It’s been quite challenging with all shoots halted for more than two months now. However, many production houses showed great resilience against the odds, drafted newer ways of working and came out with some exceptional shot-at-home campaigns, because the show must go on.
Recently, Equinox Films with Taproot Dentsu launched a new campaign for Airtel, shot across Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Noida while adhering to all the lockdown norms and guidelines.
The film’s producer Annum Waris talked to Indiantelevision.com and shared how different the experience was for her to get the whole film ready. “It was a very challenging job as everything that we had learnt about production and shooting ad films over years stood at test. Production department’s job is to pre-empt problems that might occur during the whole process of creating a campaign and be ready with solutions. However, this time, the feeling was handicapping as there was no way we could have guessed the problems that we could be facing.”
She added, “However, it was very thrilling to manage things remotely, work across hurdles, and come out with the final product.”
According to Waris, the coordination within the team helped them create the film in around a week. “We had to work with a much smaller team than we are used to. So, we decided that we will involve all the HODs to process the workflow and ensure a pro-level quality. We were 5-6 people, including the cinematographer, the director, and the production design. We all worked in close collaboration.”
While each and every moment of working on the film was challenging, what was most difficult was to find the right cast. “As the process goes for ad films, we audition for people, do screen tests, and that’s about it. However, this time we did not just require the right face and good acting skills, we wanted people who had a good house, the right wardrobe, and room to shoot the way we wanted to.”
Waris feels she got lucky with the cast she managed to get, as all of them were very supportive. “They knew and understood that they would have to go out of their way to complete this. They were so beautifully cooperative, I must say, from presenting wardrobe options to learning ‘jugaad’ for keeping the camera still, they worked really hard.”
She continued, “And not just them (the cast), even people around them were so supportive. The old lady you see in the film, her husband was handling the camera and we were facing issues to find a spot where he can sit and record. I must mention that their house help, a young boy, did so much of running around for us, finding the right frame and spot. It was heart-warming.”
Asked if she would continue shooting remote projects like this, even after lockdown, she replied, “I don’t think that it can become a norm, as being on a set is a different feeling altogether. You get to manage everything on your own, you can plan the frames on your own, discuss with the team personally, and it just eases the process. While we are capable of giving a pro-quality film shooting remotely, it comes at the expense of time. So, I believe we still could be working on a few special projects now and then, but it will not be a regular thing.”
Though she feels that it will take some time to get back to the same routine and hustle. “The ray of hope is that our government is open to dialogue and we are hoping that we will be able to give a slight start soon. However, it might be some time before we get there.”
She added, “Right now, we are looking for smaller crews, and safeguard measures on the sets and offices to start. At Equinox, our belief is that we don’t organise a shoot but host a shoot and we share the responsibility for everyone involved in the process. This is how it is going to be in future as well.”
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.
