MAM
Ad Club Calcutta inducts Agnello Dias into its ‘Hall of Fame’
MUMBAI: The Advertising Club Calcutta, the oldest advertising club in India, has inducted Agnello Dias, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer – Taproot Dentsu, into its ‘Hall of Fame’ for the year 2019.
The other famed recipients who have been inducted with this honour earlier include names such as Alyque Padamsee (Lintas), R.K.Swamy (BBDO Advertising), Ram Sehgal (Contract), Ms. Simone Tata (Trent Ltd), Mohammad Khan (Enterprise), Mike Khanna (HTA), A.G.Krishnamurthy (Mudra Communications), Arun Nanda (Rediffusion DY&R), Dr. V.J.Kurien (Amul), Roda Mehta (O&M), Aroon Purie (India Today), Ranjan Kapur (WPP India), Sam Balsara (Madison India), Prem Mehta (Lintas), R Balki (Lowe), Prasoon Joshi (McCann) and Piyush Pandey (Ogilvy & Mather) amongst others.
Speaking on being inducted into the Hall of Fame, Dias said, “It is a privilege to be in the shadow of giants and I am grateful that an institution as respected as the Ad Club of Calcutta considered me worthy of this honour. It feels a tad intimidating to be honest and am truly grateful to the many hands that guided me along this journey.”
Established in 1953, Advertising Club Calcutta is a non-profit society that has been catering to the advertising fraternity of Kolkata for the past 62 years. 45 years ago, it hosted India’s first advertising symposium. Today it remains a relevant and engaging platform that encourages fellowship among the fraternity through a plethora of programmes like debates, corporate quiz shows, educational workshops(Masterclass), etc.
Advertising Club Calcutta recognises and awards not just creativity or the strategy behind campaigns but also iconic professionals through bestowing the Hall of Fame. It is the highest and the most prestigious award that is given periodically to leading advertising professionals
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.
